Yemen sentences eight rebels to death

Sana'a: Eight Al Houthi rebels have been sentenced to death and 13 given jail terms ranging from 3 to 15 years for fighting the state last year.

"Death to America, death to Israel, curses to Jews, and victory to Islam," the rebels shouted from behind bars as the Judge of the State Security Court, Redhwan Al Namer pronounced the verdict yesterday.

The 21 defendants did not ask for an appeal, as they do not recognise the legitimacy of the court. They described the court and the verdict as American.

The court acquitted two defendants after they were proved mentally ill by the court's doctors.

The 21 defendants were convicted of forming an armed gang to fight the state and of killing citizens and soldiers in the middle of 2008.

Earlier last month, 51 rebels were convicted by the same court of participating in the same armed gang and 16 of them were sentenced to death.

The 72 defendants are among a group of more than 150 Al Houthi rebels currently being tried for forming an armed gang and fighting the state and killing citizens and soldiers during May to July 2008, in the Bani Hushaish area in the northern outskirts of Sana'a.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni court also handed out jail sentences and writing bans to two journalists for defaming the president.

Samir Jubran, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Al Masdar, was given a year's suspended prison sentence and 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 United States, is a well-known critic of the government and targeted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in his article.

According to Yemeni press law, not only the author but editors-in-chiefs also are held responsible for defamatory articles. The trial began in September.

Al Houthi rebels first took up arms against President Saleh's rule in 2004, citing political, economic and religious marginalisation by the Saudi and Western-backed government.

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.

— With inputs from Reuters