Yemen's Houthis execute nine men for involvement in Samad death

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Saturday that authorities had executed nine men who were convicted of involvement in the 2018 killing of Saleh al-Samad, then the armed group’s top civilian leader, reports Reuters.

Samad, who held the post of president in the Houthi-controlled administration which runs most of northern Yemen, was killed in April 2018 by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the port city of Hudaydah on Yemen’s west coast.

He was the most senior official to be killed by the coalition in the years-long war in which the Houthis are fighting forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government based in the southern port city of Aden.

The government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition which has received support from Western powers. Saudi Arabia and its mostly Gulf Arab allies allege the Houthis are proxies for their arch-rival Iran, something the group and Tehran deny.

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Houthi authorities said the nine men were charged and convicted for their involvement in the killing of Samad, including spying and sharing sensitive information with the Saudi-led coalition.

The Houthis said the execution by firing squad was witnessed by “masses”, including blood relatives and Houthi leaders in the capital Sanaa, which they control.