The court jailed six others for 15 years in one of a series of trials of members of the movement in Northern provinces by Zaidi Shi’ite Muslims known as Houthis after their religious and clan leaders.

The trials are of men captured during a month-long fight at Bani Husheish only 30 km (19 miles) north of the capital Sanaa last year. Two others were sentenced to death last week.

Upon sentencing the men shouted the Houthi slogan “Allah is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Zionism, victory to Islam.”

They were found guilty of belonging to a so-called “terrorist organization,” the first time Yemeni courts have accused Houthis on a charge usually reserved for al Qaeda militants.

The Zaidis first took up arms against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2004, citing political, economic and religious marginalization by the Saudi- and Western-backed government.

But the conflict intensified in August when the army unleashed Operation Scorched Earth. Aid groups, who have been given limited access to the Northern provinces, say up to 150,000 people have fled their homes since 2004.

Saleh, who also faces a separatist movement in the south, said last week the army would crush the uprising “within days.” Top Wahhabi – anti Shia – State and oil exporter Saudi Arabia fears the rise of Shia in Yemen.

Saudi forces on Monday fired into a northern border town in support of the Yemeni army’s operations.

Both the government and Houthis reported heavy fighting on Monday and Tuesday at Razeh near the Saudi border.