SAN’A, Yemen — A Yemeni judge has ordered the country’s security forces to arrest a radical U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaida.

Judge Mohsen Allwan told police to deliver Anwar al-Awlaki dead or alive. The order comes as Yemen faces heavy U.S. pressure to crack down on the country’s al-Qaida offshoot after a mail bomb scheme that was thwarted a week ago.

The United States has already authorized the CIA to capture or kill al-Awlaki, who has been linked to the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in December 2009.