YEMEN: SEVEN MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH

Yemen’s penal court chaired by Judge Mohsen Mohammed Alwan issued death penalties against seven defendants of the so called “subversive gang”, an affiliate of the Houthis in Bani Hushaish District, some 30 kilometres north of the capital Sana’a. The sentenced to death include: Qabos Saeed Ali Saeed al-Muzaihi, Yahia Ali Abdullah Mohammed Noman, Ali Lutf Hazib, Ali Mohsen Mohammed al-Qahm, Ahsan Qasem Ali al-Sheikh, Mohammed Ali Hamoud al-Muzaiji and Ibrahim Mohammed Ali Loqman. The court sentenced another two people to twelve years imprisonment. The court also issued one year imprisonment sentence against another five of the group members. Prosecutors said the group were among 190 insurgents captured by security forces during the battles that broke out in Bani-Hushaish in May 2008 and continued for nearly three months. They said the accused were fighting government forces in Bani-Hushaish to support Shiite rebels battling the army in the northern province of Saada.