Yemen rebels sentence four journalists to death

SANAA: A court run by Yemen´s Huthi rebels sentenced four journalists to death on Saturday for "treason" and espionage, a judicial official said.

The court in Huthi-held capital Sanaa "sentenced four journalists to death on charges of treason and spying for foreign states", the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Yemen´s internationally recognised government slammed the ruling.

"We strongly condemn the illegal death sentences" in a trial lacking "min. standard of justice & integrity", information minister Moammar Al-Eryani wrote on Twitter. He named the journalists as Abdelkhaleq Omran, Akram Al Walidi, Harith Hamid, and Tawfiq Al Mansouri.

The Iran-backed Huthis seized Sanaa from government forces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year.

The ensuing war has killed tens of thousands and plunged the Arab world´s poorest country into what the United Nations calls the worst humanitarian disaster globally.

Amnesty International says the Huthis have been holding 10 journalists in detention since 2015.

In a report last month, the rights watchdog criticised the rebels´ Specialised Criminal Court, which issued Saturday´s ruling.

Naming the four journalists sentenced on Saturday along with six others, it said they had been "prosecuted on trumped-up spying charges for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression".