A Yemeni security court under control of Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi movement on Thursday, April 13, 2017 sentenced a veteran journalist to death over charges of spying for neighbouring Sunni Saudi Arabia.
Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency reported that the court convicted Yahya al-Jubaihi, 61, of “illegally establishing contact with a foreign state which is Saudi Arabia .
He was also convicted of providing Saudi Arabia diplomats in Sanaa with reports that posed harm to Yemen’s army, political position and economy in return for 4,500 Saudi riyals (1,200 U.S. dollars) from Riyadh since 2010.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, however, strongly condemned the heavy sentence against al-Jubaihi, saying he was a well-known veteran journalist across Yemen, and accusing Houthis of “targeting the freedom of the press.”
The Houthis ousted Saudi-backed internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and seized control of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in September 2014.
Saudi Arabia led a military coalition and intervened in the Yemeni conflict since March 2015 via an air campaign.
The campaign is attempting to restore power to expelled President Hadi and his government.
So far, some 10,000 Yemenis have been killed in the air campaign and ground battles, with three million others displaced.
