Houthi-controlled court in Yemen sentences 19 to death for aiding Saudi-led coalition

CAIRO (AP) - A Houthi-controlled court in Yemen has sentenced 19 people to death after their conviction for collaborating with the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Iranian-backed rebels for over a decade.

Sunday's verdict, which can be appealed, came a few days after the Houthis and the internationally recognized government in Yemen agreed on the largest prisoner swap in the conflict there, in which 1,600 detainees from both sides will be released.

The Specialized Criminal Court in the capital, Sanaa, handed down the verdict, according to the Houthi-run Justice Ministry. Four other people received prison terms ranging between two and 10 years, the ministry said in a statement.

The defendants were convinced of establishing an armed group that provided support to the Saudi-led coalition between 2015 and 2023, the ministry said. They carried out attacks against Houthi-manned checkpoints and security facilities in the southern province of Dhale, it said.

The charges against five others were dropped after their deaths, the ministry said without explaining the circumstances.

Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. The Saudi-led coalition, which until recently included the United Arab Emirates, intervened the following year in an attempt to restore the government to power.

The verdict was the latest in a yearslong crackdown by the Houthis in areas under their control. The rebels have imprisoned thousands of people including United Nations staffers.

Courts in Houthi-controlled areas previously handed harsh sentences to those accused of collaborating with the Saudi-led coalition, in trials criticized by rights groups as unfair. In November, a Sanaa court convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments and sentenced them to death.

In September 2021, the rebels executed nine people who were convicted of involvement in the killing of a senior Houthi official, Saleh al-Samad, in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in April 2018.