Adni journalist Abdul Rahman Anis revealed shocking details about what happened in the trial session of those accused of killing businessman Mohsen Al-Rashidi and his companions, this morning in Sabr Central Prison in Lahj Governorate.

Abdul Rahman Anis said in a post on his Facebook page:

What happened in the courtroom of Sabr Prison this morning happens in any criminal court in the world and the situation is under control. The only difference in today’s trial from other trials is that the security men in the courtroom were not highly responsible, and perhaps they were not qualified. The Protection and Special Tasks Battalion in Aden, which is charged with securing trial sessions for public opinion cases in Aden, has also been rehabilitated.

Since the beginning of the session this morning in the case of those accused of killing the businessman Sheikh Mohsen Al-Rashidi and his companions, quarrels occurred between the accused and the blood relatives, and between the accused and some witnesses. There were provocations that were controlled by the judge, and the testimony of four witnesses was heard amid an atmosphere full of provocations, and it ended. Listening to the witnesses' statements was fine, after which the Public Prosecution reviewed one of the evidentiary pieces of evidence, namely video clips taken from surveillance cameras.

The videos were somewhat gruesome, especially the footage showing a large number of bullets being emptied into the victims’ heads from a close range. After watching the video, the session was adjourned, and one of the victims’ children, the son of the late Arif Al-Ashwal, became emotional as a result of watching the video of the killing of his father, a young man of his age. He was approximately no more than twenty years old. He shouted at the accused and said, “Oh murderer.” He convulsed until foam came out of his mouth and fell to the ground. People from his relatives were grabbing him and dragging him outside. The soldiers intervened incorrectly and entered into an altercation with his uncle, the brother of the late Arif Al-Ashwal, which reached the point of fistfights. Get out. The attendees sent the boy Al-Ashwal and his uncle out of the hall, and the problem was almost over, when one of the soldiers caught up with them and hit a bullet in the body that could have hit any of the dozens of people in the prison yard, and the two (the boy and his uncle) were detained without permission from the judge.

Inside the courtroom, which had just ended its session, the soldiers loaded their weapons on those objecting to what happened, and pointed the weapons at the chests of those present, and all of this was in the presence of the director of the Sabr Central Prison, and suddenly a soldier shouted: ((All of you excelled, even you, O judge, excelled. )) Neither the judge nor the lawyers nor any of the attendees were respected. Everyone was in a state of shock and astonishment, while the lawyer Lisa Mane was the only one shouting, demanding that the soldiers lower their weapons aimed at the attendees’ chests and denouncing their loading of their weapons in a hall where everyone present was unarmed.

Judge Nazmi Suhaim Abdul Karim managed the session competently, and this is a testimony I say to God, but the problem is with the soldiers who were not informed that their primary mission is to implement the judge’s orders.

I say this in order to absolve myself of responsibility. Neither the Sabar Central Prison is fit to host a trial session in a public opinion case of this magnitude, nor are the soldiers of the Sabar Prison fit to secure a court like this.

In order to protect lives and avoid any strife, the sessions should be transferred to the Aden Governorate Court of Appeal room, the accused should be transferred to the Aden Central Prison, and the Protection and Special Tasks Battalion in Aden should be assigned to secure the court sessions.

It is not right to hold a criminal trial in a military barracks where no voice is louder than the voice of the military.

Have you conveyed the message? O God, bear witness.