Parallel to a military escalation that Houthi militias are staging in Yemen's Shabwah governorate, human rights sources warn that the Iran-backed guerrillas are planning to stage mass executions in the capital, Sanaa.
According to human rights groups, Houthis will execute 11 civilians, including two women, whom they are accusing of espionage.
A few days ago, Houthis were internationally condemned for putting to death nine civilians, including a minor, in central Sanaa's Tahrir square.
The internationally recognized government also condemned the brutal killings and said they amounted to a war crime.
Yemeni human rights sources stated that the militias, through a court under their control, issued an order to execute 11 people on charges of espionage, and to confiscate their money to its treasury.
According to the sources, those threatened with execution are: Muhammad al-Maliki, Ali Muhammad al-Shahdhi, Hanan Mutahar Ahmad al-Shahdi, Altaf Yahya al-Matari, Najib Ali al-Baadani, Samir Mosad al-Ammari, Issam Muhammad al-Faqih, Abdullah Abdullah Muqraish, Nabil Hadi al-Ansi, Abdullah Ali al-Khayyat and Abdullah Muhammad Sawar.
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar al-Eryani revealed that Houthis had asked the families of the nine civilians executed on September 18 to leave their homes and assets and to pay.
More so, Houthis are demanding each family pay a court fee of 3 million Yemeni rials for the unfair trials it held for their now-deceased relatives.
In a post on Twitter, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar al-Eryani said the executions had been carried out in "cold blood".
The Houthis handed over the bodies to the victims' families "with the stipulation that they be buried silently and not [prayed for] in mosques," nor could the families attend their funerals or receive condolences for them, he said.
Eryani considered "the punitive practices pursued by the terrorist Houthi militia against the families of the victims a blatant challenge to the international community, which has condemned and continues to condemn this heinous crime, and a flagrant violation of international laws and covenants, foremost of which is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
