Michigan - The American Center for Justice (ACJ) said that executing the citizen “Salah Raweh Al-Sami’i,” by a Houthi leader in the “Mawiyah” district of Taiz Governorate, along with five others, requires taking quick and serious action, as well as bringing the perpetrators  of this crime to urgent trial. The ACJ stressed that what happened must not pass without strict accountability.

A videofootage seen by the ACJ team in Taiz Governorate showed a leader from the Houthi group in the Mawiyah district named “Taha Saeed Al-Sufi” with five of his escorts chasing the victim after the latter refused to surrender himself to them. Then they shot him and killed him.

The victim's brother whose name is "Shaker," said in his testimony to the center's monitoring team that the victim "was killed on December 27, 2023, around 12:30 p.m., while he was in the Haraj market, where he was sitting with a friend of his while getting ready to work at the Martyr Tarjami Police Department."

He added, "While my brother was sitting, the director of the department called (Taha Al-Sufi) came from behind my brother and took his weapon and held it with one hand and grabbed my brother with the other hand before my brother ran away from him, but (Al-Sufi) and five others pursued him and shot him. They shot him in the back directly, intentionally, and aggressively.”

Shaker concluded his testimony by saying, “My brother worked as a sloldier in the Martyr Tarjami Police Department for three months, and he was killed unjustly, aggressively, and without warning by the director of the Martyr Al-Bahr Police Department and five individuals working under his command.”

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) affirms that what the perpetrator and his escorts did is a complete and unjustified crime that requires urgent action by the judicial authorities in Taiz. The center pointed out that any justification or delay by the responsible Houthi authorities in Taiz Governorate makes them an accomplice in the death penalty committed against the “Al-Sami’i". 

The ACJ also stresses that the texts and rules of Yemeni and international law both guarantee the right to life and physical integrity, in addition to criminalizing any behavior that would affect those rights or threaten the safety of people without legal justification or a judicial decision.

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls on the executive authorities in Taiz Governorate, and in particular the judicial authorities, to open an immediate and impartial investigation into the incident of the execution of citizen “Salah Al-Sama’i.” It also stressed the importance of the security services in the governorate bringing the perpetrators to a fair trial for their unjustified and serious violations, and the necessity of working to expedite justice for the victim’s families and applying deterrent penalties to ensure that such crimes that contribute to instability and security are not repeated.