A court controlled by the Houthi militia in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has sentenced 17 people to death for espionage. A special criminal court announced the verdict, the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported. The court said the convicts were part of an espionage network “linked to the American, Israeli and Saudi secret services.” The government implemented public executions by firing squad.
Saba reported that the defendants are accused of spying for foreign countries at war with Yemen between 2024 and 2025. The defendants “provided the enemy with information about dozens of locations and movements of the country’s leadership as well as information about missiles.” This led to several military, security and civilian facilities being targeted, resulting in dozens of deaths and significant damage to infrastructure.
There is only one deliverance
The court also sentenced a man and a woman to ten years in prison each, while the other defendants were acquitted. The verdict can be appealed, said Abdulbasit Ghazi, a lawyer representing some of the convicts.
Over the past two years, Iran-backed rebels have arrested dozens of people, mostly around the United Nations, international aid organizations and foreign embassies. The Houthi group has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that these people were spies. The UN firmly rejects these accusations.
