Today, Saturday, the Houthis in Yemen executed 9 citizens in public in the presence of a crowd in Sanaa, accusing them of being involved in the killing of Houthi leader Saleh Al-Samad in 2018. The execution sparked outrage and condemnation among popular and human rights circles.
The Houthis said the nine were accused and convicted of involvement in the killing of Sammad, and the charges against them included spying and passing sensitive information to the Saudi-led coalition.
Al-Samad was the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, and he was killed in 2018 in an air strike carried out by the coalition in the city of Hodeidah on the western coast of Yemen. He was the most important Houthi official killed by the coalition during the years-long war.
The Houthis said that the accused were executed by firing squad in the presence of a large crowd in Sanaa that included Houthi officials and Al-Samad's relatives.
Commentators on social media platforms circulated the names and photos of the executed citizens, who are "Ali Al-Quzi, Abdul Malik Hamid, Muhammad Haig, Muhammad Al-Quzi, Muhammad Noah, Ibrahim Aqel, Muhammad Al-Mashkhari, Abdul-Aziz Al-Aswad and Moaz Abbas, all of whom are from the Al-Qanaws District in Al-Hodeidah Governorate."
human rights organizations condemn
The American Center for Justice said in a statement, "We condemn the Houthi group's execution of 9 of the sons of Tihama, on charges of planning and cooperating in what has been known over the past months as the theatrical trial of the killers of Saleh al-Samad."
The center added that the criminal court under the control of the Houthi group in Hodeidah, "through an illegal trial and lacking the minimum standards of justice, issued in August last year a death sentence for 62 defendants in the Al-Samad killing case, including the nine whom it executed today after torturing and forcibly hiding them throughout their kidnapping." Even executing them.
The center stated that one of the accused who were executed today is a minor, "while the tenth accused died inside prison as a result of brutal torture and ill-treatment to which he and the rest of his nine companions were subjected," according to the statement.
Today, the Houthis executed this child for plotting to kill their former president, Saleh Al-Samad!
Is language enough to express grief?!
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- Dr.
Muhammad Jumeh (@MGumeh) September 18, 2021
The Houthis execute 9 Yemenis, accused of killing one of their leaders (Saleh Al-Samad).
A heinous crime after a farcical trial by a group that turned against the people's revolution and its legitimacy through a series of lies, and for the sake of Iranian calculations.
Yemen is another tragedy after Syria;
With an Iranian signature as well, in both cases the "counter-revolution" attended its miserable role.
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- Yasser Al-Zaatreh (@YZaatreh) September 18, 2021
For its part, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms said that the Houthis' execution of the nine civilians "beginning to commit other crimes and mass executions, which requires urgent intervention by the international community."
"These civilians were subjected to an unconstitutional show trial," she added.
On social media platforms, Yemeni journalist Abdul-Malik Al-Yousifi wrote, attaching a picture of one of those executed, "The blood of this martyr and his companions is in the neck of Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi (the leader of the Houthi group) and in the necks of all those who conspired and betrayed to give the Houthi militia a chance to continue. The looks of the martyr Abdul-Aziz Al-Aswad carry many messages. For those who have an iota of conscience, the blood of the martyrs will not be wasted and there must be a day for reckoning.”
The blood of this martyr and his companions is in the neck of Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi and in the necks of all those who conspired and betrayed to give the Houthi militia a chance to continue.
The looks of the martyr Abdulaziz Al-Aswad carry many messages for those who had an iota of conscience.
May God fight those who work with Al-Houthi directly or indirectly.
The blood of the martyrs will not be wasted and there must be a day for reckoning.
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- Abdulmalik Al-Yousifi (@Alyosofi) September 18, 2021
As for human rights activist Nadwa Al-Dosari, she said, "Government officials will tweet from their comfortable rooms in hotels in the capitals of the world against the execution of the sons of Tihama and shamelessly demand the international community to take a position on the Houthis."
Al-Dosari considered that "the legitimate government is a partner in all the crimes that Yemenis are exposed to. Had it not been for the corruption, complicity and laxity of the legitimacy officials, we would not have reached this stage and there would be no war," according to her saying.