SANAA, 30 May 2005 — A Yemeni security court yesterday sentenced a mosque preacher to death and jailed another for eight years for spying and supporting a rebellion last year.
The court handed the death sentence to Yahya Hussein Al-Dailami and sentenced Muhammad Ahmad Muftah to eight years in prison for “having contacts with the state of Iran with the aim of harming the diplomatic and political position of Yemen”.
Both men were accused of supporting a rebellion led by radical Shiite leader Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi. The two men conspired to overthrow the country’s republican system and established the Sanaa Youth organization to carry out their plot, presiding judge Najeeb Al-Qaderi said.
He said Al-Dailami had maintained contacts with the Iranian ambassador to Yemen and asked him to offer support to his group.
Dailami also “traveled to Iran and made contact with the Iranian state seeking support for an Islamic revolution in Yemen,” Al-Qaderi said.
On Oct. 3, the same court sentenced a judge to 10 years in jail after finding him guilty of backing Al-Houthi.
On May 14, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced a general amnesty for rebels who were involved in two waves of bloody fighting with government forces in northern Yemen. Authorities announced in mid-April that the army had completed an offensive against Al-Houthi’s followers after capturing their strongholds in Saada.
Some 525 troops and hundreds of rebels were killed in fierce fighting that broke out on March 28 in the mountainous areas of Saada, 250 km from Sanaa, officials said.
The battles followed another revolt led by Al-Houthi’s son, Hussein, who was killed by the army last September after leading a nearly three-month rebellion that left more than 400 insurgents and troops killed.
Al-Houthi, 81, and a handful of his aides are still on the run since his revolt was crushed last month.
