Yemen Houthi rebels execute 9 civilians over their senior leader’s killing
SMA NEWS – SANA’A
The Iran-backed Houthi militia on Saturday publicly executed nine people charged with involvement in the killing of the militia’s leader Saleh Al-Samad in 2018.
The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency said on Saturday that “the Public Prosecution implemented the legal retribution verdict against nine people” who allegedly guided the Arab coalition warplanes that killed Al-Samad in the western province of Hodeidah.
The group, including a 17 year old, were accused of putting SIM cards in the pockets of Al-Samad’s guards, helping the coalition to locate the Houthi leader.
Al-Samad, then president of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, was visiting the western province of Hodeidah in April 2018 to incite residents to join the war when the coalition hit his convoy, killing him along with six other people, and inflicting a heavy blow to the Houthi movement.
New images published by Houthi officials show the nine civilians in blue clothes standing before a large gathering of people and soldiers before being shot in the back by machine guns, one by one. Each prisoner collapses on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.
Among those executed was 17-year-old Abdulaziz Al-Aswad, who was arrested in Hodeidah in 2018 when he was 15.
The Houthis also executed Ali bin Ali Al-Qawzi, a tribal leader and local government official in Hodeidah. He was also abducted in 2018 and later transferred to Sanaa ,where he faced charges of sharing information with the Arab coalition that led to the killing of Al-Samad.
