Houthis Sentenced
Update: On 30 November, Amnesty International condemned the death sentence passed on Ibrahim Sharaf al-Din by the Specialised Criminal Court. “He was tried in proceedings that fell short of international standards for fair trials,” said the London-based organisation. According to Amnesty, Sharaf al-Din was among 37 members of the Shi’a Zaidi community charged in connection with an alleged “plot to kill the President [Ali Abdullah Saleh] and senior army and political officers”.
Original post:
One death sentence and 25 get prison terms of three to ten years. The disparity between the regime’s efforts against the Houthis and al-Qaeda, both militarily and judicially, is striking.
almotamar.net - SANAA- The Specialized Penal First Instance Court has decided in its sitting held Wednesday death sentence against the first condemned member of the Sana’a Cell Ibrahim Mohamed Abdullah Sharafuddin. The court verdict read out by Judge Najib al-Qadiri, head of the court, also included sentences terms of imprisonment against thirty-two persons between three to ten years.
The court has thus condemned thirty-three persons of members of the group composing and armed gangs attacking military vehicles and targeting political, military, security personalities as well as government institutions and plans for attacking the American embassy and attempted assassination against the former American ambassador to Sana’a.
Convicted persons Ihab Abdulkarim Hadi al-Kuhlani, Abdulqder Ali Ahmed al-Hadi, Mohammed Ismael Al-Haimi, Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, Hussein Abdullah Hadha, Aymen Ismael al-Haimi, Ahmed Ali al-Matari, Issam Mohammed al-Kibsi, Khalid Mohammed al-Kibsi, Zeibulabidinb Ali al-Murtadha, Amin Mohammed al-Mahaqiri and Aqil ahmed al-Shami are sentenced to 10m years imprisonment each.
Other seven of the Sana’a ce4ll members received eight years imprisonment for each and other six sentenced to three years for each.
The judgment considered as punishment the period spent in detention by other eight of the cell members. the court acquitted three members of the cell of the charged raised against them because of lack of enough evidence.
No mention of Intasar Al-Sayani although her 14 year old crippled, brain damaged brother, Ibrahim al-Saiani, was released in July after a year in jail. More from Yahoo:
A court Wednesday convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across Yemen, including one aimed at the U.S. Embassy, and it sentenced the leader of the Shiite rebel group to death.
The defendants were accused of being followers of radical Shiite cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, who launched an uprising in early 2004. He was killed in September of that year, but his followers have continued their minority rebellion.
The group’s leader, Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen, was convicted and sentenced to death for forming a terror cell aimed at “disturbing security and weakening the security forces.”
The group was charged with plotting to carry out various attacks in the country, including ones targeting the U.S. Embassy and the American ambassador.
Chief judge Najeeb Qaderi of Yemen’s state security court sentenced 25 others in the case to prison sentences ranging between three to 10 years. Eight other defendants were convicted but released because of time served.
Three others in the case were found not guilty for lack of evidence.
After the sentences were pronounced, the defendants began kissing each other on the cheeks and shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” and anti-U.S. slogans.
“We are today the same as we were more than a year ago, reject this trial and will not accept the tribunal’s legitimacy, and affirm our obligation to our scholar al-Hawthi,” said Abad Bin Ali al-Hayal, one of those who was sentenced to time served.
The defendants were captured in early 2005 in one of the capital’s suburbs and security forces found weapons, ammunition and rockets with their possessions, along with recordings of al-Hawthi.
The court hearing was held under strict security measures. Streets near the court building were blocked and several armored vehicles and military jeeps armed with machine guns surrounded the building.
Al-Hawthi’s followers alleged that the government persecuted him for his outspokenness against corruption and Yemen’s pro-American policies. The government said al-Hawthi’s death would end the clashes but fighting has continued.
