Media advocates have roundly condemned a court run by Yemen's Houthi rebels after it sentenced four journalists to death following their conviction on spying charges.

On the morning of Saturday, April 11, the Ansarallah Houthi organization's specialist criminal court handed down the sentence to the four, who had been charged with broadcasting and spreading false news and with communicating with countries in the Arab coalition.

The Journalists Syndicate has demanded that the ruling be dropped and that all of the journalists be immediately released. In an interview with IranWire Nabil Al-Asidi, a member of the Syndicate, said the sentence was "unjust and cruel." He added that the Houthi court "was not competent in the examination of journalists’ cases."

Al-Asidi emphasized that the Syndicate does not recognize this ruling due to the court's perceived deficiencies, and the fact that the ruling did not come from a specialist journalism court. Sentences of this nature in Yemen have not been recognized by the Syndicate since the first kidnappings of journalists by Houthi rebels occurred five years ago in the country. These were followed by subsequent arrests, interrogations, and incidences of torture of journalists, up to the death sentence issued today.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Media Freedom Observatory in Yemen also lambasted the court's decision, calling it "a clear politicization of the judiciary and a reflection of the Huthis' gagging policy."

The journalists' lawyer, 'Abd al-Majid Sabran, confirmed on his Facebook page that the President of the Criminal Court, Muhammad Muflih, had issued the death sentence against Akram al-Walidi, 'Abd al-Khaliq 'Imran, Haris Salih, and Tawfiq al-Mansuri.

In the same hearing Muflih also sentenced six other journalists to five years in prison, and ruled that on their release, they would be kept under surveillance for a further three years.

The Media Freedom Observatory has said it now holds the Houthi group responsible for the safety of the 10 journalists, calling on the United Nations and international organizations to intervene.