A trial of a former member of the Yemeni parliament accused of leading an anti-government Shiite armed insurgency opened Monday with the defendant still in exile in Germany, Xinhua reported.
   Yahya Badr Eddine al-Houthi, the political leader of the Shiite rebellion, is being tried in absentia on charges of involving in a "terrorist" armed group and committing criminal acts as well as plotting to assassinate a U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Yemen's Defense Ministry said.
   The exiled Yahya al-Houthi, whose immunity was revoked two weeks ago to allow for the trial, is facing a maximum death sentence if found guilty, said the Ministry's statement on its website.
   The statement did not name the U.S. ambassador whom al-Houthi was plotting to assassinate.
   The Shiite leader had fled to Germany and has been there since early 2005 after soldiers killed his brother Hussain, the commander of the Shiite rebellion in the north in 2004.
   The Houthi group in the Saada region and its surroundings, named after their slain founder Hussain Badr Eddine al-Houthi.
   In April 2007, Yemen handed over the Interpol an official memorandum applying for extradition of Yahya al-Houthi after the man was granted political asylum in Germany, reported the Ministry.
   He is also the brother of Abdul Malek al-Houthi, the Saada- based current commander whose followers have been waging a fierce fighting against the government forces in the north, near the border of Saudi Arabia.
   On Aug. 11, 2009, the Yemeni government forced an all-out war dubbed "Scorched-Earth" campaign with the aim of crushing the alleged "Iranian-backed" Shiite armed insurgency.