The lawless execution of a young man in Shabwa governorate has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights organizations, with the American Center for Justice (ACJ) warning that the incident poses a serious threat to the rule of law in Yemen.
The incident took place in Habban district last week, when Amin Nasser Bahaj, killed Basel al-Marwah al-Babakri during a heated armed argument. Later on the family of Amin Bahaj, handed him over to his victim’s family, who shot him dead without any judicial procedures or official investigation by state authorities.
The center stressed that the incident is not isolated, but rather comes amid a troubling spread of revenge killings and the enforcement of punishments through tribal means, in the context of chaos and weak law enforcement in Shabwa and other regions in Yemen.
It noted that the implementation of criminal penalties outside state institutions constitutes a direct violation of the principle of the rule of law and the state’s exclusive authority to administer punishment.
For its part, the organization Women Journalists Without Chains condemned the incident, describing it as a disturbing example of violations linked to tribal violence outside the framework of formal justice.
It emphasized that the decision by the perpetrator’s family to hand him over to the victim’s relatives—who immediately executed him—constitutes a grave violation of the right to life and a direct assault on the victim’s right to justice. The organization also described the incident as a dangerous infringement on the state’s exclusive constitutional and legal authority to protect the right to life and enforce justice through the official judiciary.
The American Center for Justice called on the Yemeni Public Prosecution to open an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident, covering both the initial killing and the subsequent extrajudicial execution.
The center warned that silence or leniency by the authorities in such cases would encourage their recurrence, entrench impunity, fuel disorder, and further weaken state institutions.