SANA’A, April 22 — Seven children went with their grandfather on Sunday to the Central Prison in Sana’a where their mother Aisha Al-Hamzi had been held for seven years. They went to give their approval for her execution by firing squad.
Aisha Al-Hamzi was charged with killing her husband, Yahya Al-Sharif, in 2002. She said she did it because he was abusing their daughter.
Two of her children watched the execution while the rest stayed in the car, in the prison’s yard. She had four girls and three boys aged between eight and 25. Her little girls put their fingers in their ears as the four bullets were shot into their mother’s body ending her life.
Yemen Times called the number of Abdullah al-Sharif, her eldest son. He was angry at the media. “We insist on her death because of the press who ruined our reputation,” he said. “If our demands were not just, the execution would not have taken place.”
Despite pleas by international organizations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International to Yemen’s officials to stop the execution, it was carried out. A letter was sent from HRW to President Ali Abdullah Saleh urging him to stop Aisha’s execution a few days before it happened. The letter indicated that the legal proceedings in Aisha’s trial were seriously flawed.
Al-Hamzi had been awaiting her death since 2003 when the Primary Court of the South East of Sana’a passed the verdict of death sentence in 2003. The verdict was ratified by the Appellate Court in 2007. The Supreme Court approved the previous sentences.
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