Four Kidnappers of Foreign Aid Workers Sentenced to Death in Yemen

The Hadramout-based Criminal Court of First Instance, specializing in terrorism and state security cases, sentenced Wednesday four Yemeni men to death for kidnapping two aid workers last year.

The four convicts are Mohammed Ali Al Harthi, Ali Ghaleb Al Shaafa Al Salhi, Abdulrahman Ali Al Salhi, and Shihab Abdullah Al Salhi.  

In March 2022, the convicts intercepted a car carrying two foreign employees working for Doctors Without Borders while traveling on the road connecting Al-Abr and Al-Khasha’a areas, west of Hadramout province, and took them to an unknown destination.

Previously, security sources told Sheba Intelligence that Doctors Without Borders paid the armed group some millions as a ransom to free its employees through tribal mediation and the mediation of Oman.

Doctors Without Borders said it had “lost contact” with two of its foreign staff in Yemen’s Marib in early August. The two worked for the organization in Marib, one from Germany and the second from Myanmar.

Sheba Intelligence obtained some photos of the kidnappers and the kidnapped persons’ documents in the two kidnapping cases, which occurred in August 2023 and March 2022.

At the time, a security source in Marib spoke to Sheba Intelligence, saying that the organization did not coordinate with the security authorities to protect its employees during their movement.

Yemeni militants have capitalized on the fragile security the country has been seeing in line with the war. They have repeatedly targeted foreign aid workers through kidnapping or killing.

While the militants resort to kidnapping to make money, observers say the severe punishment of kidnappers will contribute to fighting this phenomenon.