Houthis commit mass executions in Saada to eliminate opponents

Without any judicial rulings, the Iran-backed Houthi militia has relied on executing death sentences against Yemenis on political charges, without referring to any laws, since their coup against the ruling regime in September 2014.

Elimination of opponents

During the past few days, the Houthis carried out the death sentence against 16 detainees from Saada Governorate, which Yemeni Minister of Information Moammar Al-Eryani described as a mass liquidation of its political opponents.

He stressed that these death orders are an extension of the acts of killing and terrorism practiced by the Houthi militia against Yemenis since its inception in its stronghold, Maran, Saada Governorate, in northern Yemen.

Iranian method

Eryani likened the practices of the Houthi judiciary to what is happening in Iran.

He pointed out that the death orders on fabricated charges following sham trials in illegal courts are a reproduction of the practices of the mullah regime in Tehran, which continues its campaign of repression and abuse, issuing and executing death sentences against Iranian youth, girls and children, who are rising up in all Iranian provinces to demand their natural right to freedom.

Condemnation

Following the frequent verdicts issued by the militia against anyone whose loyalty is suspected, Yemenis recently launched a widespread campaign on social media under the hashtag “Houthis kill the people of Saada,” recalling the series of executions that the militia carried out against nine of the sons of Tihama last year on charges of killing militia leader Saleh al-Samad.

Yemeni activists on social media said that the militia’s death sentences against dozens of Saada tribesmen are conclusive evidence that the Houthis are still fighting their battle within the framework of what was considered their main stronghold and against whom the world thought was their social incubator.

They referred to the Houthi militia's transformation of its stronghold, Saada, into a large heinous prison by committing crimes against civilians.

In a statement, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms (a non-governmental human rights coalition) held the Houthis legally responsible for the lives of the abductees, calling on the international community to pressure the militia to stop its illegal sentences issued against 32 abductees from Saada Governorate and to release all detainees.

The statement denounced the illegal Houthi verdicts that sentenced 16 abductees to death and the imprisonment of 13 others from Saada Governorate, which were based on false and fabricated charges, including communicating with foreign parties.

Previous death sentences

Since 2017, the militia has issued more than 200 death sentences in cases of a political nature, in trials that lack the minimum standards and guarantees for fair trials, in addition to the trials it is conducting for a large number of civilians before a politicized and unfair judiciary, according to the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms office in the capital, Sanaa.

Farce

Yemeni political activist Abdul Hamid Tawfiq described that what the Houthi militia is doing is nothing but violating laws and public freedoms. Since 2014, the militia has been deliberately issuing death sentences unjustly on false charges and without relying on the laws, but rather relying on its brutality.

He stressed in a special statement to the Reference that Yemen needs support from the international community to stop this farce.