Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (Arabic: حسين بدر الدين الحوثي; also spelled Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi) (1956 – 10 September 2004) was a Zaidi religious leader and former member of the Yemeni parliament for the Al-Haqq Islamic party between 1993 and 1997. He was an instrumental figure in the Sa'dah conflict against the Yemeni government, which began in 2004. Al-Houthi, who was a one-time rising political aspirant in Yemen, had wide religious and tribal backing in northern Yemen's mountainous regions. Al-Houthi was accused by the Ali Abdullah Saleh regime of trying to set himself up as Imam, of setting up unlicensed religious centers, of creating an armed group called Shabab al-Muomineen (English: Believing Youth), and of staging violent anti-American and anti-Israeli protests, as Al-Houthi'