In TV Spectacle, Man Convicted of Child Rape-Murder Is Executed in Yemen
By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and RICK GLADSTONEJULY 31, 2017
SANA, Yemen — In a televised execution attended by thousands of Yemenis chanting approval, a man convicted of raping
and killing a toddler was placed face down in a public square in Yemen’s capital on Monday and shot with an automatic weapon at point-blank range.
Some people arrived at 7 a.m., more than two hours beforehand, to get a good view, and held banners
that read "Justice has won," and "Rana’s blood won’t be in vain." Mr. Alyafaei said there had been talk that the condemned man was mentally unstable.
The condemned man, identified by Yemen’s Saba News Agency as Mohammed Saad Mujahid al-Maghrabi,
41, was found guilty by a Houthi-run court of the attack on Rana al-Matan, a 3-year-old girl.
Still, he said of the outcome, "as long as it was based on a judicial verdict, it’s fine." Abdulkareem Ziraei, 32, a news photographer, estimated
that 10,000 people were in the square for the execution and that the overwhelming majority had approved.
While public executions are not new in Yemen, the broadcast of this one, conducted by the Houthi rebels who
have controlled the capital for more than two years in a calamitous civil war, was somewhat unusual.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the war between the Houthis, who are backed by Iran,
and a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which views Iran as a regional threat.
By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and RICK GLADSTONEJULY 31, 2017
SANA, Yemen — In a televised execution attended by thousands of Yemenis chanting approval, a man convicted of raping
and killing a toddler was placed face down in a public square in Yemen’s capital on Monday and shot with an automatic weapon at point-blank range.
Some people arrived at 7 a.m., more than two hours beforehand, to get a good view, and held banners
that read "Justice has won," and "Rana’s blood won’t be in vain." Mr. Alyafaei said there had been talk that the condemned man was mentally unstable.
The condemned man, identified by Yemen’s Saba News Agency as Mohammed Saad Mujahid al-Maghrabi,
41, was found guilty by a Houthi-run court of the attack on Rana al-Matan, a 3-year-old girl.
Still, he said of the outcome, "as long as it was based on a judicial verdict, it’s fine." Abdulkareem Ziraei, 32, a news photographer, estimated
that 10,000 people were in the square for the execution and that the overwhelming majority had approved.
While public executions are not new in Yemen, the broadcast of this one, conducted by the Houthi rebels who
have controlled the capital for more than two years in a calamitous civil war, was somewhat unusual.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the war between the Houthis, who are backed by Iran,
and a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which views Iran as a regional threat.
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