September Net

Yemen began the trial in absentia Thursday of Houthi militants who mounted a coup against the UN-recognized government on 21 September 2014 and triggered months later a devastating war that has continued to now.

On trial is the coup leader, the head of theocratic Shia militia, Abdulmalik Badruddin al-Houthi, and 31 other militants alongside him.

The charges they face – in a court in the port city of Aden- include the establishment of illegal relationship with Iran in such a way that subjugates Yemen to Iranian control and initiates civil wars obliterate the Yemeni state; the besieging of the heads of state and government, imposition of house arrest on them and attempting to kill the president in the Aden presidential palace after he escaped the house arrest; and the formation of an unauthorized armed militia with links to the Wilayat al-Afakih theocratic regime of Iran.

The court demanded the accused to attend the next session on July 1, 2020.