Yemen’s Houthi rebels Saturday said they executed nine people for their alleged involvement in the killing of a senior Houthi official in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition more than three years ago.
The public executions by firing squad were carried out in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa, according to the Iranian-backed Houthis who distributed photos apparently showing the executions.
The executions took place despite repeated calls by rights groups and lawyers to stop the killings.
The nine were among more than 60 people the Houthis accused of involvement in the targeted killing of Saleh al-Samad in April 2018. Former President Donald Trump was also accused, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press. Also accused were top Western, Israeli and Gulf officials.
The nine, including a 17-year-old boy, were arrested months after al-Samad’s killing. They had been forcefully disappeared for months in undisclosed places where they suffered inhuman treatment, according to Abdel-Majeed Sabra, a Yemeni lawyer representing one of the people executed.
Hundreds of people, mostly Houthis and their supporters, attended the executions, which were also broadcast on big screens early Saturday in Tahrir Square in the capital of Sanaa. The executions and their display cause outrage across the country, including Sanaa, where people refrain from criticizing the rebels for fear of reprisals.
Several rights groups, including the U.S.-based American Center for Justice, which follows human rights abuses in Yemen, had called Friday for the U.N. to intervene to stop the executions.
(With The Associated Press)