Yemen's Houthis sentence 44 people to death accused of collaborating with Saudi-led coalition

CAIRO — A court run by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday sentenced 44 people, including a businessman working with aid groups, to death for espionage, a defense lawyer said.

The 44 people were among 49 people arrested by the Iran-backed rebels and accused of “collaboration with the enemy”, a reference to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, a statement said. declared lawyer Abdel-Majeed Sabra. . Four of them were sentenced to prison terms, Sabra said.

Sixteen were sentenced to death in absentia, while 28 were brought before the specialized criminal court in the capital Sanaa, Sabra said.

Among those sentenced to death was Adnan al-Harazi, CEO of Prodigy Systems, a Sanaa-based company that has developed systems to help humanitarian groups record and verify the distribution of aid to people in need in that country struck by the war.

The Houthis arrested al-Harazi in March last year after throwing stones at his business. Saturday's court decision included the seizure of al-Harazi's properties, Sabra said.

Sabra accused the Houthis of torturing the suspects “physically and psychologically”, adding that they disappeared in solitary confinement for nine months.

He said the defense team withdrew early in the trial after judges refused to allow them to obtain a copy of the case documents, calling the trial “unfair.”

A Houthi spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thousands of people have been imprisoned by the Houthis during Yemen's civil war. An AP investigation found that some detainees were burned with acid, forced to hang themselves by their wrists for weeks or beaten with batons.

Courts in Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen were handing out harsh sentences to those accused of collaborating with the Saudi-led coalition. In September 2021, rebels executed nine people found guilty of involvement in the killing of a senior Houthi official, Saleh al-Samad, during a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in April 2018.

Yemen was plunged into devastating conflict when the Houthis descended from their northern stronghold in 2014, seizing Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forcing the government into exile.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and including the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government. The conflict has transformed in recent years into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.