Houthi court sentences Trump, King Salman and Saudi crown prince to death

Houthi court sentences Trump, King Salman and Saudi crown prince to death
A Houthi-run court called for the execution of US President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman over a deadly 2019 airstrike.
2 min read
02 October, 2020
A Houthi court sentenced ten people to death in absentia [AFP/Getty]
A Houthi court in Yemen has sentenced 10 people to death, including US President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and his son Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Arabi21 reported.

The Houthi-run Specialised Criminal Court in Saada ruled against the accused in absentia on Thursday, according to the Houthi-affiliated Saba agency. 

The charges were made in the case of a 2019 airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a school bus in the town of Dhahyan which killed 51 civilians, including 40 children.

The court session, chaired by Judge Riyadh Al-Razami, issued death sentences in absentia against US President Trump, King Salman, Crown Prince MbS, Commander of the Saudi Air Force Turki bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz and Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Death sentences were also issued against Yemen's Vice President Ali Mohsin Al-Ahmar, Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher, Defense Minister Muhammad Al-Maqdishi and former US Defence Secretary James Mattis.

The court said that those convicted are also obliged to pay a fine of $10 billion to the relatives of those killed in the 2019 strike.

Yemen has been left in ruins by six years of war. The country's internationally-recognised government has been battling the Iran-backed Houthis since 2014, when the latter seized most of the north of the country and the capital, Sana'a.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened on the side of the government the following year.

The Houthis began holding court hearings for officials of the internationally-recognised government a few years ago, and have called for the death sentence on more than one occasion.

The Yemeni government's Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2018 that the Houthi-run criminal court be shut down and that all decisions issued by them be considered null and void.

More than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions more displaced. The United Nations has called Yemen's conflict the world's worst humanitarian disaster.


Agencies contributed to this report

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