Houthi-Controlled Tribunal Issues Death Penalties for Alleged Foreign Agents
Death sentences expose alleged spy ring tied to US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
A Houthi-controlled tribunal in Sanaa has issued death penalties by public firing squad to 17 individuals convicted of espionage, marking a severe escalation in the group's ongoing purge of perceived foreign agents. The Specialized Criminal Court delivered the sentences on Saturday, as reported by the Houthi-operated SABA news agency, targeting operatives accused of infiltrating Yemen's leadership and military infrastructure on behalf of adversarial nations.
The court described the condemned as components of sophisticated espionage networks linked to American, Israeli, and Saudi intelligence services, with additional ties to British operatives and Israel's Mossad. Prosecutors alleged that these defendants, active between 2024 and 2025, relayed critical intelligence on the movements of state officials, missile deployments, and strategic sites. This information purportedly facilitated airstrikes that inflicted heavy casualties and demolished military, security, and civilian facilities across Houthi territories.
In a partial reprieve, the court imposed 10-year prison terms on one man and one woman, while acquitting a third defendant. Legal representation for several convicts, including attorney Abdulbasit Ghazi, confirmed the verdicts' appealability, offering a narrow pathway to challenge the rulings amid Yemen's protracted civil conflict. The proceedings underscore the Houthis' unyielding stance against collaboration with entities deemed hostile to their Iranian-backed administration.
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This ruling forms part of a broader, years-long suppression campaign by the Houthis, who have detained thousands since the civil war erupted in 2014, encompassing United Nations personnel and staff from international aid organizations. Over the last two years, dozens affiliated with foreign embassies and humanitarian groups have faced unsubstantiated spying charges, prompting vehement denials from the U.N. and international bodies. Earlier precedents include the 2021 execution of nine individuals for their roles in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that killed a prominent Houthi figure.
The intensified crackdown coincides with the Houthis' escalated regional provocations, including missile and drone assaults on Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea since late 2023, framed as solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza conflict. Retaliatory U.S. and Israeli air and naval operations have decimated Houthi leadership, including a strike that eliminated the rebel government's prime minister and cabinet earlier this year, further entrenching the cycle of accusations, detentions, and reprisals in Yemen's fractured landscape.
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