Organization: 200 abductees died under torture in Houthi militia prisons

English - Tuesday 04 January 2022 الساعة 09:03 am
Aden, NewsYemen:

Irada Organization to Combat Torture and Enforced Disappearance said that it had documented the killing of 200 abductees and forcibly disappeared persons under systematic torture in the prisons of the Houthi militia during the past seven years.

The head of the organization, "Jamal Al-Maamari", said in a press conference in the city of Ma'rib, that "brutal torture, ill-treatment, and denial of primary health care have disabled hundreds of abductees and forcibly disappeared in Houthi militia prisons."

He added that the militias "use more than 13,000 kidnapped and forcibly disappeared persons as human shields and endanger their lives, in flagrant violation of all international laws and covenants, as they are detaining them in armaments stores, training camps and headquarters that are vulnerable to targeting by coalition aircraft as they are legitimate military sites used by the militias for their hostile military activities." 

According to Al-Maamari, "Irada" organization has documented, "the presence of 5,426 abductees in prisons within the Central Security, National Security and Political Security camp, in addition to 7,500 other abductees who are being held in prisons within the Military Police Camp, Camp (48) and Jabal Sarf."

He pointed out that the Houthi militia "holds dozens of abductees in houses inside civilian neighborhoods that they use as their headquarters, such as the Haddah Villas complex and other homes in Sana'a."

He explained that among the kidnapped, whose case was documented, "about 73 minor children under the age of sixteen and 37 abducted and forcibly hidden women in secret prisons, where they are subjected to the most horrific psychological and physical torture and depriving their families of contact or visit."

The organization documented "the issuance of invalid and illegal death sentences against 293 abductees, all issued by the militia's Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a, after a farcical trial on political, malicious and fabricated charges, most notably espionage with foreign countries."

At the beginning of last August, the Ministry of Human Rights announced that it had monitored more than 350 cases of death under torture in the prisons of the Houthi militia, including 33 cases of torture that resulted in death for abducted women.