Yemeni activists’ Houthi death sentence condemned

The two activists were tried in absentia by a court run by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. (AFP file photo)

• The two were accused, and eventually found guilty, of smuggling Buthaina Mohammed Al-Raimia

DUBAI: A senior Yemeni official has condemned the Houthi death sentence handed down to two activists, who were tried in absentia by a court run by the Iran-backed militia.
Zafaran Zaid, head of the Yemeni Women’s Empowerment Foundation (Tamkeen), and her husband Fuad Al-Mansouri, Secretary of the Salam International Organization, were sentenced to death by the Houthi-run court last week.
Muammar Al-Eryani, the information, culture and tourism minister noted that the couple were targeted by the Houthis in revenge for Zafran’s prominent role in exposing the militia’s alleged war crimes and by documenting them with legal and personal accounts as evidence.
The two were accused, and eventually found guilty, of smuggling Buthaina Mohammed Al-Raimia, who was brought to Riyadh to receive emergency medical care after being injured in a  coalition airstrike in 2017. The child was subsequently returned to her family in northern Yemen after recuperating from her injuries.