A Houthi-controlled court in Yemen’s capital convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments and sentenced them to death, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on local staff working for international organizations.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa issued the verdict Saturday, according to the Houthi-run SABA news agency.
The court said the defendants were part of “espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence.” All 17 were sentenced to death by public firing squad.
The court also sentenced a man and a woman to 10 years in prison, while another defendant was acquitted.
The verdicts can be appealed, said Abdulbasit Ghazi, a lawyer representing several of the convicted defendants.
According to SABA, the group was accused of spying for countries “in a state of enmity with Yemen” during 2024 and 2025. Prosecutors alleged the defendants collaborated with intelligence officers from Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States, as well as Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
SABA said the defendants provided “the enemies with information about dozens of locations and movements of the state leaders, as well as information about the missiles,” leading to strikes on military, security and civilian sites that killed dozens of people and caused widespread damage.
The verdict marks the latest development in a broad Houthi campaign in areas under their control. The Iran-backed group has imprisoned thousands of people since Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, including United Nations staff members detained in June.
Over the past two years, the Houthis have detained dozens more in a crackdown on the U.N., international aid groups and foreign embassies. The rebels have repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that the detainees were spies. The U.N. strongly denies the allegations.
Courts in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas have previously issued harsh sentences against people accused of collaborating with the Saudi-led coalition. In September 2021, the rebels executed nine people convicted of involvement in the killing of senior Houthi official Saleh al-Samad, who died in an April 2018 coalition airstrike.
Since late 2023, the Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and on ships in the Red Sea, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war in Gaza. The United States and Israel responded with air and naval strikes against Houthi targets. An Israeli strike earlier this year killed the rebel government’s prime minister and most of his cabinet.