Houthi court sentences 17 to death for alleged spying in escalating crackdown

Houthis escalate espionage crackdown

A Houthi-controlled court in Yemen’s capital has convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments and sentenced them to death, marking the latest escalation in the group’s yearslong crackdown on local staff working with international organisations.

The verdict, issued on Saturday by the Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa and reported by the Houthi-run SABA news agency, accused the defendants of belonging to “espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence.” The court ordered that the executions be carried out publicly by firing squad.

In addition to the death sentences, the court handed 10-year prison terms to a man and a woman, while another defendant was acquitted.

Abdulbasit Ghazi, a lawyer representing several of those convicted, said the judgments can still be appealed.

The defendants were accused of “spying with foreign countries in a state of enmity with Yemen during the 2024-2025 period," SABA reported.

Prosecutors said the defendants collaborated with intelligence officers from Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States, as well as Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, SABA reported.

The defendants provided “the enemies with information about dozens of locations and movements of the state leaders, as well as information about the missiles … which led to the targeting of several military, security and civilian sites resulting in the death of dozens and widespread destruction of infrastructure,” SABA reported.

The verdict was the latest in a yearslong crackdown by the Houthis in the areas of Yemen under their control. The Iranian-backed rebels have imprisoned thousands of people during Yemen’s civil war that began in 2014, including United Nations staff members detained in June.

Over the course of the past two years, the rebels have detained dozens in a crackdown focused on the U.N. and others working for international aid groups and foreign embassies. The rebels repeatedly alleged without evidence they were spies. The U.N. fiercely denies the accusations.

Courts in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas in Yemen previously gave harsh sentences to those accused of collaborating with the Saudi-led coalition. In September 2021, the rebels executed nine people who were convicted of involvement in the killing of a senior Houthi official, Saleh al-Samad, in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in April 2018.

In late 2023, the rebels began missile and drone attacks on Israel and on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis have said they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians over the war in Gaza. The U.S. and Israel launched an air and naval campaign against the Houthis in response. One Israeli strike earlier this year killed the prime minister of the rebel government and most of his cabinet.