[Al Arabiya Latest] A Yemeni court sentenced Monday seven Shiite rebels to death for their role in a series of gun battles against the security forces near the capital last year that left hundreds of people dead or wounded.The court convicted the seven of "belonging to an armed gang in 2008 to carry out a collective criminal project." It sentenced seven other defendants to jail terms of between 12 and 15 years. "Death to America and death to Israel," the defendants cried out from the dock after the sentences were announced.
What the hell'd we do? Those people are crazy.
| What do Israel and America have to do with Yemini security forces? |
A total of 190 suspected rebels are being tried in batches over the deadly fighting with the security forces that raged in Bani Hoshaish, northeast of the capital Sanaa, between March and June last year. The rebels, whose stronghold is in Saada in the far northern mountains, want to restore the Zaidi imamate that was overthrown in a republican coup in 1962.
The insurgents are known as Huthis after their late commander, Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi, who was killed by the army in September 2004. Hussein was succeeded as field commander by his brother Abdul Malak.