Foreign Ministry demands UN to stop death sentence against journalist

Aden (Saba)

Yemen Foreign Minister sent letters to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Esmail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, ambassadors of the G18 countries supporting Yemen’s peace and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the case of issuing a death sentence against the journalist Yahya al-Jubaihi.

The Houthi-Saleh militias on Tuesday issued a death sentence against al-Jubaihi after he and his son were kidnapped and detained on December 2016.

The ministry said that the sentence is a terrorist act, asserting that the militias terrify their oppositionists and media professionals with the aim of preventing them from disclosing crimes made by the militias.

It also reiterated that the behaviors practiced by the militias contradict Yemen’s constitution and laws, spelling out that such acts place many obstacles to peace.

The ministry further demanded the UN, its Special Envoy to Yemen, the G18 countries supporting Yemen’s peace and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn the issuance of the death sentence, intervene to stop it and immediately release all detainees held by the militias.