Iranian sentenced to death in Sanaa over 1.5 tonnes of hashish
A state security court in Sanaa on 15 November 2008 sentenced Iranian national Ayub Mohamed Houd to death for leading a 13-man hashish smuggling operation, giving eleven other Iranians and a Pakistani 25 years each. The boatload of about one and a half tonnes came from Iran; accounts differ on who seized it.
A state security court in Sanaa sentenced Iranian national Ayub Mohamed
Houd, 33, to death on 15 November 2008 for leading a 13-man hashish
smuggling operation, while eleven other Iranians and a Pakistani received
25 years in prison each.[1][2]The court found the men guilty of bringing
about one and a half tonnes of hashish from Iran into Yemeni territorial
waters, hidden in the hold of a ship; a dpa account put the load at 1,400
kilograms.[1][2][3]The men had been arrested in March after their
Iranian-flagged boat was seized by Yemeni coast-guard patrols off the
south-eastern province of Mahra, though prosecutors said a US navy warship
had interdicted them and handed them over after destroying all but 20 kg of
the drugs.[1][2][3]
The defendants, aged between 24 and 50, denied the charges when the trial
opened on 12 October, saying through Farsi interpreters that the US sailors
had thrown a large quantity of fish into the sea from the hold.[1][2]All
thirteen appealed immediately after Judge Muhssin Alwan delivered the
verdict.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Specialized Criminal Court of First Instance for the Capital Secretariat in Sanaa convicted two men of trafficking cannabis resin and pregabalin pills and sentenced them to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors said the first defendant moved 594 blocks of cannabis resin between 2023 and 2025, and the court confiscated the two pickup trucks used in the trade.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a sentenced four men to 25 years for possessing and distributing hashish with intent to traffic and for preparing a place for its use. Three others got five years for possessing hashish for use, five got one year for preparing drug-use premises, and one was acquitted.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a sentenced Ahmed Abed al-Dhabian to death for buying, possessing, transporting and selling hashish, and ordered his movable and immovable property confiscated. A second defendant received 25 years for drug trafficking, and three others five years each for possessing hashish with intent to use.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Hadramout sentenced six Iranian nationals to death for smuggling nearly three tonnes of hashish and crystal methamphetamine from Iran into Yemeni waters. The court ordered the drugs destroyed and the seized items confiscated, and the justice ministry said the case was part of efforts against transnational organised crime.
