On April 2, 2015, the people of the Yemeni city of Mukalla woke up to shocking scenes of bodies dumped in the streets, arrests, and massive crimes.

Behind these horrific scenes was the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, which invaded the city overlooking the Arabian Sea and “made its most honorable people humiliated” after committing all brutal crimes against segments of society, including civilians, activists, and journalists.

Among those kidnapped were two journalists, one of whom was Muhammad al-Muqri, a correspondent for the local “Yemen Today” channel, the mouthpiece of the “General People’s Congress” party, as well as Amir Baawidan, a correspondent for the local “Azal” channel affiliated with the same party.

After a year of terrorism in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramaut, the Hadhrami Elite Forces were able to liberate the city with the support of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy, and then Al-Qaeda released Baaweidan from prison, while his colleague Al-Maqri was forcibly disappeared.

A decade after his kidnapping, Al-Qaeda announced the execution of Al-Muqri on allegations that he worked for the National Security Service (formerly Yemeni intelligence), in a crime that shook Yemeni society.

The announcement of the execution of Al-Maqri, 43 years old, who is married and has a child in his first decade, came in a statement issued recently by the organization, in which it revealed the execution of 10 other of its members whom it accused of “espionage.”

The statement indicated that Al-Qaeda executed Al-Muqri “after his trial and the death sentence was issued against him, and the sentence was executed at the time,” in an attempt by the organization to remedy breaches in its ranks, according to observers.

Security crack

The organization did not specify the time and place of execution of Al-Maqri or his members, and claimed that the explanatory statement was issued in response to some families’ inquiries about their relatives to find out whether they were still alive or not?

The organization published a list of the names of its members who were executed, namely Naji Al-Zuhairi, Muhammad Al-Azani, Muhammad Bashab, Abdul Rahman Hadis, the lead Alawi Hussein, Abdul Aziz Al-Haddi, Hussein Al-Saadi, Abdullah Al-Azzani, Youssef Al-Humayqani, and Hussein Al-Sawadi.

With the exception of Al-Muqri, the campaign of executions carried out by Al-Qaeda against its members came under the pretext of “planting segments and espionage activities,” which was considered “a miserable attempt by the organization to cordon off the security rift that spread within its ranks and led to the successive fall of its leaders,” according to observers.

Experts in the affairs of terrorist groups said that Al-Qaeda’s security apparatus official, Ibrahim al-Banna Abu Saleh, who is on the US sanctions list, is the one carrying out the execution campaign, whether of kidnappers or of those he describes as “traitors and spies” among the organization’s members.

Catch attention

The executions against individuals whom the organization claimed were involved in espionage activities on behalf of parties hostile to it came after the organization agreed with the Houthi militias to stop inter-fighting since 2022, and to focus attacks on the southern forces affiliated with the Yemeni government supported by the Coalition to Support Legitimacy.

According to government sources, the executions of Al-Qaeda are an attempt to prove its presence as a remaining threat in the Yemeni arena, and with the aim of drawing the attention of the world, especially the West, again towards the organization, in the wake of the Western strikes against the Houthi militias.

Al-Qaeda benefited from Houthi support, which included thermal missiles, drones, and reconnaissance equipment, and transformed Al-Bayda Governorate into a center for managing its operations, to raise the level of its attacks in southern Yemen.

Reports of the Yemeni government repeatedly accused the Houthi militias of releasing more than 400 leaders and members of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, most of whom were in state prisons in Sanaa, and sending them to the liberated governorates to spread chaos.