Justice Yemen-style: Paedophile who raped boy, 11, shot in the head in front of hundreds of spectators

From Mail OnLine

A barber has been publicly executed in Yemen after he was found guilty of raping and killing an 11-year-old boy who came to his shop for a haircut.

Pictures of the execution Monday in the capital of San’a showed hundreds of people gathered around as Yehya Hussein was killed.

The images showed the barber lying face down on a large piece of red cloth, his hands bound behind him, as Yemeni police official stood over him with what appeared to be a machine gun.

Yemenis gather to watch a Yemeni soldier execute a man, lying face down on a large piece of red cloth, his hands bound behind him

According to the news agency, SAB’A, the barber was arrested in December 2008 and confessed during a January trial to raping the boy inside his salon, killing him and cutting his body to pieces before dumping it outside San’a.

Elsewhere in the country, a court sentenced seven rebels from a Shia Muslim sect to be executed after convicting them of causing deaths in clashes with army in 2008.

Hundreds of people died in the conflict and thousands fled their homes in battles between government forces and the rebels in the north, which have raged on and off since 2004.

The state security court also jailed for terms of 12-15 years another five of the rebels accused of seeking to install Shi’ite Islamic rule in the country, which borders the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

Yahya Hussein al-Raghwah prepares himself before the execution

Yemeni police officers, accompanied by a doctor, left, place al-Raghwah face down prior to his execution in front of the central prison in San’a

In July 2008, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the battles with the rebels, known as the Houthis, had ended and that dialogue should replace fighting. The rebels belong to the Shi’ite Zaydi sect and are led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Officials have often said the rebels want to restore a form of clerical rule prevalent in the country until the 1960s. The rebels, who want Zaydi schools and oppose the government’s alliance with the United States, say they are defending their villages against government oppression.

Sunni Muslims form a majority of Yemen’s 19 million population, while most of the rest are Shi’ite Zaydis.

One of the poorest countries outside Africa, Yemen is also grappling with a violent campaign by al Qaeda militants, dwindling oil and water resources, unemployment, corruption and a growing community of Somali refugees.

The executioner prepares to shoot al-Raghwah in the back of the head