Houthis say 43 detained UN staff to face trial over Israeli attack

Forty-three detained local United Nations staff will face trial on suspicion of links to an Israeli airstrike that assassinated top Houthi leaders in August, the acting foreign minister of Yemen’s Houthi government, Abdulwahid Abu Ras, told Reuters.

In August, the prime minister of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi-run government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sanaa, in the first such attack to kill senior officials.

The United Nations has repeatedly rejected Houthi accusations that U.N. staff or U.N. operations in Yemen were involved.

"The steps taken by the security agencies were carried out under full judicial supervision. The public prosecution was kept informed step by step with every action taken," Abu Ras said in an interview with Reuters.

"Therefore, as long as the prosecution is informed, it is certain that this process is moving toward its conclusion, leading to trials and the issuance of judicial rulings," he said.

Abu Ras said that cell within the World Food Program was clearly involved in directly targeting the government.


Reuters