A Houthi-controlled court in Yemen’s capital sentenced 18 Yemeni staffers of United Nations aid agencies to death on Saturday in Sanaa, accusing them of spying for Israel and its allies in a case that has jolted the humanitarian world and deepened fears for relief workers trapped in the country’s long war. Two other Yemenis received 10-year prison terms on the same charges, according to Houthi media.
The court said the defendants supplied Israel, the United States, Britain, and Saudi Arabia with sensitive information on Houthi leaders, missile sites, and other military and security locations, and claimed their actions helped enable strikes on “military, security, and civilian” targets that caused deaths and infrastructure damage. The ruling ordered the 18 to be executed by firing squad in public.
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The sentences follow a sweeping Houthi crackdown on international agencies. After a series of Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa in August killed senior Houthi figures, including 12 self-declared “ministers” and military chief of staff Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Ghamari, Houthi forces stormed UN offices and detained dozens of Yemeni employees. Last week, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV aired footage of the detainees delivering what the movement called “confessions.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced the verdicts and demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of all detained UN personnel, warning that interference with aid work in Yemen risks pushing millions closer to famine in a country already described by UN agencies as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The case unfolds as the Iran-backed Houthi movement fires missiles and drones toward Israel and attacks Red Sea shipping in what it calls solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, drawing Israeli airstrikes and Western military action against Houthi-controlled sites and raising the stakes for any international presence on the ground.