Son of ex-Yemen president Saleh sentenced to death by Houthis

A Houthi-run military court in Sanaa has sentenced Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the son of Yemen's late president, to death on charges of treason, espionage, and corruption.

The court also ordered the confiscation of his assets and the recovery of embezzled funds, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency.

The Central Military Court issued its ruling on Thursday, convicting Saleh of "treason, collaboration, and espionage with the enemy", and imposed additional penalties related to his former public office, the report stated.

Ahmed is the eldest son of longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh, who governed Yemen for more than three decades before being ousted during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Ahmed had long been groomed to succeed his father, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 2004 and commanding the Republican Guard, a powerful military unit loyal to the regime.

At the time, factions within the General People's Congress, the party founded by his father, called for Ahmed to be nominated for the presidency. Those ambitions, however, were dashed by the mass protests in 2011 that forced Saleh to step down.

Though both father and son received immunity from prosecution under the Gulf Initiative signed in Riyadh in November 2011, they continued to wield influence, especially within the military.

Ahmed's Republican Guard played a key role in the Houthi takeover of Sanaa in September 2014, in what became a turning point in Yemen’s ongoing war.