A man convicted of raping and murdering a three-year-old girl was executed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday in front of hundreds of onlookers, witnesses said.
A policeman fired five bullets from an assault rifle into Muhammad al-Maghrabi, 41, as he lay with his hands handcuffed behind his back on a blanket on the ground in Sanaa’s Tahrir Square, after a judge read out the death sentence.
The execution drew an unusually large number of onlookers; some perched up telegraph poles and many watching from rooftops, because of the young age of the victim.
Security was tight amid fears of a revenge attack on Maghrabi by armed tribesmen related to his victim.
The police truck transporting Maghrabi to the square was escorted by five police patrol vehicles.
Yahya al-Matari, the father of the girl, told reporters after the execution that he felt as if he had been reborn.
He said: “This is the first day in my life. I am relieved now.”
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