YEMEN: COURT UPHOLDS PUBLIC EXECUTION OF BARBER

February 9, 2009: the Sana'a Court of Appeals in Yemen upheld the death sentence against a man for rape and murder of an 11-year child in Sana'a in 2008.
The Judge of the court Mohammad al-Hakimi said that Yahya Yahya Hussein was convicted of raping and killing the child Hamdi al-Kabas. The judge said Yahya would be executed in public. The convict accused media reporters of fabricating details about the murder of child Hamdi and denied that he had killed him. He also denied a medical report determined he is 20 years old, not 15 as he claimed before.
However, the judge said the court accepts the appeal of Yahya and endorses the primary sentence. A primary court sentenced the barber Yahya Yahya Hussein to death on January 13 for raping and killing child Hamdi inside his shop. (Sources: NewsYemen.net, 09/02/2009)