Yemeni security forces prepare to execute a man convicted of raping and murdering a four-year-old girl in the capital Sanaa’s Tahrir Square, on August 14, 2017.

:: Yemenis gathered on Monday in the Houthi-held capital to witness execution of a 22-year-old man named Hussein al-Saket, convicted of raping and killing a four-year-old girl.

According to the AFP news agency, quoting Rajeh Ezzedine, a judge who attended the execution, Saket was found guilty of abducting, raping and murdering the girl.

Ali Ayedh, the victim’s uncle, said Saket “took part in the search for the girl before being unmasked” during the police investigation.

It was the second such public execution in weeks.

He said his public execution would act as a “deterrent for criminals.”

Saket was placed face down on Tahrir square in Sanaa, which the Houthi militias have controlled since 2014.

A policeman shot him dead through the back with five bullets aiming for the heart, before his body was strung up on the end of a crane.

On July 31, another man was executed in the same square after being convicted of raping and murdering a three-year-old girl.

Yemeni security forces prepare to execute a man convicted of raping and murdering a four-year-old girl in the capital Sanaa’s Tahrir Square, on August 14, 2017.

The body of Yemeni Hussein al-Saket, 22, is seen hanging after being executed by security forces for raping and murdering a four-year-old girl, in the capital Sanaa’s Tahrir Square, on August 14, 2017.