Barran Press
The Houthi group, internationally designated as a terrorist organization, issued death sentences against 44 Yemenis on Saturday, June 1st, 2024, including the abducted Adnan Al-Harazi, the director and owner of Prodigy Systems.
According to lawyer Abdul Majeed Sabra, in a Facebook post monitored by Barran Press, the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a, under the control of the Houthi group, issued a death sentence in the case of detainee Adnan Al-Harazi, confiscating his assets.
Sabra attached a list of individuals sentenced to death by the group, including approximately 16 who were sentenced in absentia.
According to Sabra, the detainees sentenced to death were subjected to severe physical and psychological torture and were held in solitary confinement for nine months, and denied visitation and communication. He added that the court did not guarantee them the right to a fair trial. rights lawyer and activist Huda Al-Sarari considered the "death sentences against civilians who were arrested and forcibly disappeared, issued by the Houthi group's judiciary, as extrajudicial killings."
In a post on the X platform, monitored by Barran Press, she stated that "the detainees were not guaranteed the right to legal defense, and were tortured and abused for over nine months."
Al-Sarari called for "the suspension of these illegal sentences," which she said "are intended to target the Houthi group's opponents."
The death sentences against the 44 individuals, according to lawyers, were issued on charges of "collusion with the aggressor," accusations used by the group to eliminate opponents with the help of its controlled judiciary.
Since taking control of the capital Sana'a in late 2014, the Houthi group has tightened its grip on the judiciary, using it to target opponents, those who disagree or oppose them, including activists, politicians, businessmen, and women.
The SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms has documented approximately 150 death sentences issued by the Houthi group against its opponents or those who violate their directives from exceptional courts under their control in Sana'a over varying periods.
Previously, the UN Security Council's expert panel on Yemen accused the Houthi group of using the judiciary as a tool to suppress opponents and intimidate political opponents, in addition to building political capital to use in negotiations.
The expert panel's third annual report confirmed that the Supreme Court in Sana'a, controlled by the Houthis, is committing a significant increase in conviction rates and associated death sentences, even though the sentence has not been carried out in most cases.