Sana'a, Yemen - A court in north-western Yemen on Monday convicted a former air force pilot of shooting to death a Jewish man, but said he was "mentally unstable" when he committed the crime.

The court also fined the convict the equivalent of 27,000 dollars in blood money.

Abdul-Aziz al-Abdi, a 40-year-old retired Yemeni Air Force pilot, has confessed to the killing of Moshe al-Nahari, a member of the Jewish minority in the north-eastern town of Raida last December.

The victim's family said it would appeal the verdict as it has been expecting a death sentence to be handed on al-Abdi.

"We will appeal the ruling. Even if you give me the whole Sana'a (the capital city) in blood money, I would not accept," Moshe's father, Yaish al-Nahari, told the judge who pronounced the verdict.

Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence defendant to death, but the court said medical tests concluded that he was "mentally unstable."

The crime triggered anger among the Jewish minority in Yemen, that is estimated to number around 400 people. dpa kal ds