On the footsteps of Iran, 16 Yemenis sentenced to death

A Sanaa-based attorney said that a Houthi-run court has condemned 16 Yemenis to death on grounds of working with the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen and the militia’s Yemeni opponents.

Abdul Majeed Sabra, a Yemeni lawyer who defends abductees held in Houthi prisons, said that the Specialized Criminal Court of First Instance has commuted the death sentences of 16 Yemenis, including seven held by the Houthis, and sentenced 13 others to prison terms of varying lengths after convicting them of communicating with the coalition and sending the locations of military facilities and leaders.

The same group of individuals was placed on trial for the first time in October, when a Houthi court accused them of communicating with the coalition and Yemeni governments between January 2014 and December 2020.

Sabra said that the ruling is the primary one and that he filed an appeal against it, adding that the convicts being detained by the Houthis are civilians, including teachers and farmers.

A Yemeni government official and other activists have branded the charges as “malicious” and intended as retaliation against Yemenis who oppose the militia and the confiscation of their property in Houthi-controlled regions.

Since the first day of their military coup against the Yemeni government in late 2014, the Houthis have abducted hundreds of Yemenis, severely tortured them in jail, and charged them with collaborating with the Yemeni government and the coalition.

A large number of politicians, including the former president, top government officials, activists, journalists, and military and security personnel were also punished in absentia by the Houthis, who took their houses and property in Sanaa and the other places they control.

Separately, the UN’s International Organization for Migration reported that 9,849 Yemeni families (59,094 individuals) had been displaced from their homes in war-torn provinces from Jan. 1 to Dec. 10, 2022, despite the significant cessation of hostilities over the past eight months as a result of the UN-brokered ceasefire.

Eighty percent of the displaced individuals in Marib, Lahj, Dhale and other Yemeni cities were forced from their homes owing to safety concerns, while 20 percent left for economic reasons, according to the organization.

More than 2 million people who have escaped Houthi repression and conflict in their homes reside in camps and buildings in the government-controlled city of Marib, which has the highest concentration of displaced persons in Yemen.