Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/AL-MUKALLA: A Houthi-run court has condemned 16 Yemenis to death and 13 others to prison for working with the ‘Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen’ and the militia’s Yemeni opponents, according to Arab News.
Yemeni lawyer, Abdul Majeed Sabra, said that the Criminal Court of First Instance had commuted the death sentences of 16 Yemenis, including 7 held by the Houthis, and sentenced 13 others people to prison terms of different lengths after convicting them of talking with the partnership and sending the place of armed forces facilities and leaders.
Sabra said that the ruling is the primary one and that he has filed an appeal against the sentence and that the convicts being detained by the Houthis are civilians, including farmers and teachers. He said that the trial and appeal would go before the same court and added if it sustains the ruling, they will file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Yemeni government authorities and other activists have branded the charges as spiteful and intended as retaliation against the Yemen government, who oppose the militia force and the confiscation of their property in Houthi-controlled areas.
Undersecretary of the Yemeni Ministry of Justice, Faisal Al-Majidi accused the Houthis of using the court system to punish the Yemeni official’s supporters and legitimize rampant property looting of militia opponents.
Court used as a glove to settle rivalries
Al-Majidi said that the court was used as a glove to settle rivalries with individuals who oppose the principles of the Houthi militia. A large number of political personnel, including the former president of Yemen, top government authorities, journalists, armed forces, and security personnel, were also punished in absentia by the Houthi militia, who took their homes and property in Sanaa and the other residents they controlled.
More than 2 million people of Yemen who have escaped Houthi repression and tussling in their houses reside in camps and buildings in the government-controlled city of Marib, which has the highest concentration of displaced persons in Yemen.
