Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni court sentenced seven men to death on Monday for their role in fighting government forces near the capital during a Shiite rebellion in the north-west of the Arab country last May. Five other men received 15-year jail sentences from the state security court while another two received 12-year sentences.
The court's chief judge Muhssein Alwan said the 14 had formed an "organised terrorist group" to carry out attacks against security and army forces in Bani-Hushaish, some 30 kilometres north of Sana'a.
He said the men had used explosives, rockets and other weapons to carry out sabotage, murder and bombings.
The 14 were among the 190 insurgents captured by security forces during the in Bani-Hushaish battles that lasted nearly three months.
After Alwan pronounced the verdict, the convicts shouted from behind bars: "Death to America, Death to Israel, Islam is victorious."
During the trial, the defendants refused to plea, saying the court had no constitutional mandate.
Prosecutors said the group was loyal to leading rebel Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who heads the outlawed Believing Youth group in the north-western province of Saada.
Fighting between army forces and rebels has flared intermittently in Saada since mid-2004, leaving hundreds of soldiers and insurgents dead. The rebels, known as Houthis, belong to the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam.
In June 2007, the government and al-Houthi signed a Qatari- sponsored peace agreement, but tensions have since been on the rise between al-Houthi's followers and government forces in Saada.
Authorities accuse the rebels of trying to reinstall the rule of Shiite imams, which was toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.
