(Dubai) Thirteen people accused of homosexuality were sentenced to death in Yemen by a court in a region controlled by Houthi rebels, a judicial source told AFP on Tuesday.
The trial was held in Ibb, a province controlled by these insurgents close to Iran, whose attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden disrupt global maritime traffic.
Sixteen people in total were in the dock, so three received prison sentences, according to the judicial source who spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the press.
Thirty-five other people were arrested recently in Ibb for similar reasons, she added.
In videos transmitted to AFP, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, we see a judge in a court listing the charges against the accused, including homosexuality, modesty”, “incitement to debauchery” and “dissemination of images contrary to good morals”, before sentencing them to be put to death in public.
The verdict can be appealed.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populated areas after nearly a decade of war against the government, do not always carry out the death penalty.
According to a report published in 2022 by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory, 350 death sentences have been handed down in rebel areas since the Houthis seized the capital in 2014, of which 11 have been carried out.
“The Houthis are increasing abuses in their country while the world is busy watching their attacks in the Red Sea,” denounced Niku Jafarnia, Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch.
In December, Yemeni human rights activist Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali was sentenced to death for espionage in the capital Sanaa.
She was accused of providing information to the United Arab Emirates, members of the Saudi-led military coalition that has supported government forces since 2015.
Coming from the Zaidi minority, a branch of Shiite Islam, the Houthis have imposed very strict social and religious rules in the regions under their control, particularly targeting women.