A penal code and code of criminal procedures, enacted in October 1994, is being enforced throughout the country. The penal code provides for corporal punishment, such as flogging and amputation, and executions, including stoning to death. Many provisions of the code of criminal procedures fall short of internationally agreed standards. Sentences of flogging and amputation are now imposed after unfair trials. Sentences of flogging is prescribed for offenses of a sexual nature, in relation to the consumption of alcohol and slander.
Amputation is prescribed for at least two offenses, theft and highway robbery.
Last year a Court of First Instance in Sana'a sentenced two journalists from the weekly opposition newspaper, al-Shura to 80 lashes each. They were charged with publication of a series of articles over two years against Sheikh 'Abdul Majid Zendai, A leading politician in the al-Islah party. Death penalty The Republic of Yemen retains the death penalty for a wide variety of offenses. Hundreds of prisoners are believed to be on death row, after trials which failed to meet international standards. Since unification in 1990, the number of executions have increased alarmingly.