The charge of "spreading false and malicious information and rumours" is enough in Yemen to be sentenced to death.

This is what happened to the four journalists Taufik al-Mansuri, Hareth Humaid, Abdul Chalek Amran and Akram al-Walidi, who were kidnapped by Houthi rebels in 2015 and convicted by an internationally unrecognized court in 2020.

Their lawyers obtained an appeal hearing for last Friday after, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least one appeal took place last year in the absence of the journalists and their lawyers.

It is not yet known whether the lawyers had an opportunity to make at least brief pleadings.

Sarah Wagener

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According to the RSF, al-Mansuri, Humaid and Amran were also subjected to Houthi beatings, solitary confinement and denial of sanitation for at least 45 days.

In principle, the detention conditions are “inhumane”, and the abductees are also denied medical treatment.

Last July, al-Mansuri's brother reported to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists that the detainee was being denied food.

RSF assumes that all four journalists are in mortal danger.

Civilians heavily dependent on aid

RSF and the journalists' lawyer suspect that the prisoners are being held primarily as "bargaining chips" for talks with Yemen's internationally recognized government.

The Houthis have proposed an exchange of political prisoners to the government.

They are holding five other journalists, some of whom have already served their sentences imposed by the Houthi rebels.

The death sentences imposed could therefore be another means of exerting pressure on the government.

In 2014, the Houthi rebels seized northeastern Yemen and the capital Sanaa, which has been neglected by the government.

Since then, they have been fighting against a fragile Saudi-led alliance that supports the internationally recognized government and other groups in the civil war.

Neither party spares the civilian population: they are indiscriminately shot at in battles, and there is a lack of food, shelter and medicine.

According to Doctors Without Borders, 65 percent of the population is in need of help.

The geopolitical conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran forms the background to the war, and the Houthis are considered Iran's allies.

Covering the war, which rarely makes the headlines, and the disastrous humanitarian impact on the population is difficult to cover.

Most of the media is controlled by a civil war party, so there is little independent reporting.

According to Reporters Without Borders, citizen journalists are also being watched by the warring parties and can get into trouble for just one wrong post on social media.

RSF currently counts 11 kidnapped journalists and 530 other journalists and media workers in custody.

Even those who have retired do not live safely and can be tracked for previous social media posts or critical articles.

International media hardly have access to the country.