SANAA, Yemen

Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday executed nine Yemenis accused by the Shia group of killing its former leader Saleh al-Samad.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the executions were carried out by firing squad in the capital Sanaa and was witnessed by “masses”, including al-Samad’s relatives and Houthi leaders.

Al-Samad, the former leader of the group’s Supreme Political Council, was killed on April 19, 2018 in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the port city of Hudaydah.

Houthi rebels accused the nine men of spying and sharing sensitive information with the Saudi-led coalition that led to al-Samad’s killing.

The executions were carried out despite appeals by the Yemeni government for international intervention to halt the killing.

In a statement earlier Saturday, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani described the executions as “a full-fledged premeditated murder which do not differ from the field executions carried out by terrorist organizations (Daesh/ISIS and al-Qaeda) in their areas of control."

Yemen has been ravaged by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 30 million people accounting for 80% of the population needing humanitarian assistance and protection.

* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar