ACJ: Preparations for Reciprocal Executions in Yemen Deal a Direct Blow to the Muscat Agreement and Open the Door to Dangerous Escalation

Michigan – The American Center for Justice (ACJ) expresses deep concern over the alarming escalation in Yemen, specifically the preparations by parties to the conflict to carry out death sentences at a highly sensitive time. This period coincides with intensive international efforts to implement the Muscat Agreement for the release of prisoners and detainees, considered a humanitarian confidence-building measure and an initial step toward a peace process under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Center documents that Ansar Allah (Houthis) continue to hold three civilian teachers from Al-Mahwit Governorate, Saghir Ahmed Saleh Fare’ah, Abdulaziz Ahmed Ahmed Saad Al-Aqili, and Ismail Mohammed Abu Al-Ghaith Abdullah, who have been detained for three years. Recently, they were placed on death row. The Center emphasizes that these detainees were subjected to arbitrary detention and tried before non-independent judicial bodies in a politically retaliatory environment, without being afforded their fundamental rights, including the right to defense, public trial, presumption of innocence, and access to an impartial judiciary. Such practices constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of fair trial under international human rights law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Center considers that the Houthis’ acceleration in issuing and implementing death sentences against civilians in the context of an existing prisoner exchange agreement constitutes a deliberate escalation to undermine the Muscat Agreement. It represents the systematic use of capital punishment as a political leverage tool, posing a direct threat to the right to life and a serious breach of international law.

Similarly, the ACJ monitors with grave concern actions by authorities affiliated with the internationally recognized Yemeni government in Taiz Governorate. Official sources from the military prosecution report preparations to carry out death sentences against detainees accused of affiliation or collaboration with the Houthis, with announcements indicating imminent executions. While holding perpetrators of serious crimes accountable is a legitimate state function, implementing death sentences amid an armed conflict, with a divided judiciary and absent fair trial guarantees, is extremely dangerous. Such actions reinforce a cycle of mutual retaliation rather than consolidating the rule of law and justice.

The parallel preparations for executions by both parties demonstrate a worrying trend of politicizing the judiciary and using capital punishment as a tool of conflict, in blatant disregard for repeated UN calls to suspend executions in countries experiencing armed conflict, and contrary to findings from international and regional expert reports on Yemen documenting serious violations related to unfair trials and executions.

ACJ stresses that these practices constitute a direct blow to the Muscat Agreement, undermine its humanitarian essence, threaten the fragile trust-building it represents in the Yemeni conflict, and place thousands of prisoners, detainees, and their families in an uncertain fate, in clear violation of commitments made to the international community.

The American Center for Justice calls on all parties to immediately halt all executions, whether of civilian detainees held by the Houthis or of prisoners held by authorities affiliated with the Yemeni government, as a legal and humanitarian obligation that cannot be postponed, and as a fundamental step to protect the right to life and prevent the escalation of serious violations.

The Center further urges the Houthis to immediately and unconditionally release the three teachers from Al-Mahwit Governorate, as well as all other civilians arbitrarily detained, ensuring their inclusion without exception in any prisoner exchange arrangements, and to halt all politically motivated sham trials.

The Center also calls on the internationally recognized Yemeni government to suspend executions, review all criminal cases, especially those before military courts, in accordance with internationally recognized fair trial standards, ensuring judicial independence, the right to defense, and the non-use of the death penalty in the context of an armed conflict.

ACJ urges the United Nations, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and states sponsoring the Muscat Agreement to take urgent action and apply strong pressure on all parties to halt executions, ensure the agreement is implemented in its humanitarian spirit, and provide legal protection for detainees and prisoners.

The Center underscores that sustainable peace cannot be built on execution blocks or politicized trials, but on respect for human dignity, the rule of law, ending the cycle of violence and retaliation, and holding those responsible for serious violations accountable through international justice mechanisms.