DUBAI: Three Yemeni YouTubers stood trial in a Huthi rebel court on Wednesday charged with spreading misinformation and inciting “chaos”, according to court documents seen by AFP.
The three, including Mustafa al-Mawmari who has more than two million followers, were detained in Sanaa in December after they published videos critical of the Iran-backed rebels, who seized the capital in 2014.
Ahmad Hajar, who has more than 243,000 subscribers, and Ahmad Elaw with 800,000 also appeared before the court.
They were charged with “spreading misinformation” and “harming public interest”, as well as “inciting the masses to commit acts of chaos”, according to the court documents.
It was not clear when a verdict would be issued.
The capture of Sanaa by the Huthis, who adhere to an austere brand of Shiite Islam, prompted a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene in 2015 on behalf of the Yemeni government.
Since then, a grinding war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and pushed what was already the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine.
The Huthis are increasingly limiting individual liberties, including free speech and the of movement women in areas they control.
The YouTubers’ influence was seen as “serving the aggression... against Yemen” by the Saudi-led coalition, the court documents said.
Hajar, 43, was the first to be captured after he accused the Huthis of “robbing the Yemeni people”, in a video watched by half a million viewers.
One of Hajar’s relatives confirmed his arrest to AFP and said that “he was kidnapped from the street on December 22.”
Hajar’s family visited him in detention and found him in “terrible shape,“ the relative said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“He was not himself,“ the relative added. - AFP
