Thirty men were sentenced to death by Al-Houthi militia in Yemen this week amid credible allegations that many were tortured during three years of politically-motivated detention, the UN human rights office said today. It urged Al-Houthis to take into account the serious allegations and violations of their right to a fair trial and due process. UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said "Most of the 30 men are academics, students and politicians, at no point were they given a proper chance to present a defense," Shamdasani said. She further said the men were arrested in 2016 and charged in April 2017 with allegedly participating in an organized armed group intending to carry out attacks on or assassinations of security personnel and popular committees affiliated with Al-Houthi militia. "There is a high likelihood that many of these charges are politically-motivated. There are very credible allegations of torture and mistreatment, our teams have been able to speak to families and any politically-motivated charges should be dismissed and international fair trial standards fully complied with," Shamdasani said. Amnesty International, in a statement this week, denounced what it called "a sham trial where the 30 men faced trump-up charges including espionage for the coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen." It said that the detainees include a linguistics professor and political figure who was held in incommunicado detention amid allegations of torture and lack of access to legal counsel and medical care.
