While the world is preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic, four Yemeni journalists detained by Houthi rebels since June 2015 face execution. 

On April 11, the Houthi-run Specialized Criminal Court sentenced the four journalists to death on charges of spying for the Saudi-led coalition that backs the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The same court convicted on the same charge six other journalists who were released but ordered to remain under police surveillance for three years.

The 10 journalists worked for media outlets classified by the Houthis as close to the Reform Party (Al-Islah), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen. Al-Islah had declared its support for the UN-backed Hadi government and approved the intervention of the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen.

In an April 11 statement, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate condemned the death sentences as unjust and called for their reversal. The same position was expressed by the Federation of Arab Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and other press unions and journalists at the regional and international levels. They all decried the rulings as arbitrary and squelching freedom of opinion and expression.