Yahia Badreddin al-Houthi

Who is Yahia Badreddin al-Houthi?

Sheikh Sayyid Yahia Badreddin al-Houthi is the political leader of the Zaydi Shi'a Islamist rebel group Shabab al-Munimin which are fighting against the Government of Yemen, and are more commonly known as the Houthis. He is a brother of current Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, late Houthi leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi and Abdul-Karim al-Houthi.

Al-Houthi cosigned a letter to the Yemeni government with Abdullah al-Ruzami, the rebels' military leader, in May 2005 offering an end to the uprising if the government would send emissaries or ended the military campaign against the rebels. "But if injustice continues with killing, destroying, and imprisonment... then the trouble will not be solved, but will become more complicated and the gap will become even wider." He was a Yemeni MP but was forced to go into hiding after the Yemeni government lifted his parliamentary immunity to try him for his involvement in the Houthi rebellion, he was then tried in absentia and on 5 February 2010 he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He however did not go to jail as the Yemeni government had not captured him.