A court in the Yemeni capital has sentenced five individuals found guilty of spying for the British intelligence service MI6 as well as perpetrating acts of sabotage, to the death penalty.
According to Yemeni news agency Saba, the five defendants were given the sentence of capital punishment by a high-level court headed by Justice Mohammad Mofleh on Tuesday, following a trial that lasted several months.
The five convicts include Arafat Qasim Abdullah Al-Hashidi, Ali Mohammad Abdullah Al-Jamani, Ali al-Khwarijah, Salim Abdullah Yahya Habish and the leader of the espionage ring, Aman Mujahid.
Another person accused in the case, Mohammad Sharaf Ghaed Harish, was sentenced to five years in prison and was reprimanded not to further disturb the security of the state.
The six accused had been found guilty of espionage for the British espionage agency, by recruiting and training people in a number of Yemeni provinces, including Sana’a, Imran, Saada, al-Jawf, Ma’rib, al-Mahrah and Hadhramaut.
The court said the British spies carried out acts of espionage and sabotage on Yemeni soil through these men, equipping them with advanced communication devices for surveillance.
