Reuters/Sanaa
A Yemeni court yesterday sentenced to death eight men involved in a Shia rebellion, who were arrested last year for fighting government troops north of the capital.
Another court handed out jail sentences and writing bans to two journalists for defaming the president.
Seven rebels were sentenced to 12 years in jail, three others to three years, one to eight years and another to five years. Two were found not guilty.
The Houthi rebels were arrested last year for fighting troops for around a month at Bani Husheish, 30km north of Sanaa.
Houthi rebels first took up arms against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule in 2004, citing political, economic and religious marginalisation.
But the conflict intensified in August when the army unleashed Operation Scorched Earth. Aid groups, who have been given limited access to the northern provinces, say up to 150,000 people have fled their homes since 2004.
On Tuesday the court, in a separate trial, sentenced to death four men, while 11 were jailed for up to 15 years and one was released after having served his sentence.
On Monday, a court opened proceedings in absentia against Yahya al-Houthi, the brother of the rebels’ leader, who is now based in Germany.
Veteran ruler Saleh also faces a separatist movement in the south and Saudi Arabia fears the instability will help Al Qaeda launch more attacks there.
In the journalists’ case, Samir Jubran, editor-in-chief of weekly newspaper Al Masdar, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and was banned from writing for one year.
The second journalist, Mounir al-Mawri, who also works for the paper and was the author of the defamatory article published in May, was sentenced in absentia and given a two-year prison sentence and banned from writing for life.
Al-Mawri, who lives in the US, is a well-known critic of the government, and in his article targeted Saleh.
According to Yemeni press law, not only the author but also editors-in-chief are held responsible for defamatory articles. The trial began in September.
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