Sana'a, Yemen - US authorities have decided to set free a prominent Yemeni cleric and his assistant who are serving custodial sentences in the United States for alleged complicity with al-Qaeda, Yemen's Defence Ministry reported on Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that the Yemeni embassy in Washington was officially informed by US authorities about the imminent release of Sheikh Muhammad al-Moayyad and his assistant Muhammad Zayed.

It said the decision to release the two men was based on time served, and was a "result of efforts exerted by President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Yemeni government to persuade the US authorities to release them."

The two men were arrested in Germany in 2003 and extradited to the United States. A US court sentenced al-Moayyad in 2005 to 75 years in prison and Zayed to 45 years over alleged financial support to al- Qaeda.

A US Court of Appeals overturned the convictions last October and ordered a retrial because of inflammatory testimony about unrelated terrorism cases in the first trial.

Yemen has repeatedly called for the release of the two men. (dpa)