Rights group urges Yemen's rebels to release 10 journalists

CAIRO – A rights group is calling on Yemen's Houthi rebels to release 10 journalists detained nearly four years ago on "trumped-up" spying charges.

Amnesty International says Wednesday that "these men are being punished for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression."

It says nine journalists were arrested in a raid on a hotel in the rebel-held capital in June 2015, and the 10th was detained at his home in Sanaa that August.

Rasha Mohamed, Amnesty's Yemen researcher, says "it is completely outrageous that these men could face the death penalty simply for doing their jobs."

She urged the rebels to release them and drop all charges.

The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, and a Saudi-led coalition entered the war on the side of the government the following year.