The Houthis abuse a woman who helped capture an al-Qaeda leader
English - Wednesday 04 January 2023 الساعة 04:44 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
A lawyer in charge of the defense of the abducted by the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - revealed the deterioration of the health of one of the abductees in their prisons after they fabricated an accusation against her that is not punishable by Yemeni law, by accusing her of assisting the Legitimacy Support Coalition in arresting her husband, a prominent leader in « Al-Qaeda Organization”, and sentencing her to ten years in prison, and threatening her that she would not be released from prison except to the grave.
Lawyer Abdul Majeed Sabra said in a statement that the health of the prisoner, Asmaa Al-Omeisy, has deteriorated significantly, and that she does not receive the necessary health care, and that she is subjected to ill-treatment from those in charge of the prison, warning that she may die at any moment as a result of the diseases she suffers from, in addition to not allowing her to be treated in a specialized hospital.
According to lawyer Sabra, prisoner Al-Omeisy was threatened with other prisoners by the prison official called Umm Al-Karrar Al-Marouni (a leader in the Houthi women's security formation known as Al-Zainbat), and that she threatened that they would not leave prison "except for a funeral." They were also subjected to insults.
A number of female prisoners, including the actress Intisar Al-Hammadi and her colleagues, have previously complained of being ill-treated and tortured at the hands of this Houthi leader, who was entrusted with the task of managing the women's section in the central prison in Sana'a.
The lawyer confirmed in the communication that the health condition of the prisoner Al-Omeisy is “very, very bad”, as she suffers from a number of diseases, such as lupus erythematosus, and she also needs to undergo an operation to remove fatty cysts, according to medical reports that also mention that her blood level has decreased to low levels that threaten her life. He said that his client had previously informed the judges of the Appeal Division of the Houthi court specialized in terrorism and state security cases at the end of 2021 about her illnesses.
The documents attached to the report show that the prisoner has a medical report from the central prison clinic two years ago, stating “the seriousness of her health condition and the necessity of bringing her to a gynecological center for treatment on a regular basis,” especially since she suffers from frequent bleeding, which causes her to faint intermittently. Nevertheless, the lawyer confirms The prison administration ignored the directives of the President of the Court of Appeal to treat her in a specialized hospital accompanied by the necessary guards, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
The Houthis had kidnapped Asmaa Al-Omeisy in 2016 along with her father and two others, where they were interrogated, and after the end of the investigation, the three men were released and Asmaa remained in solitary confinement, as the Houthi-controlled Prosecution accused her of cooperating with the coalition supporting legitimacy and joining its forces.
The documents show that there is no evidence for that accusation, and the Houthi-controlled prosecution issued a decision that there is no basis for accusing her of guiding the coalition forces against her husband, Khaled al-Sayari, a leader in the "al-Qaeda" organization, noting that Yemeni law does not criminalize this and classifies al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization, and the prosecution ordered her release. She was bailed, and her case was referred to the West Amanah Court, after she was charged with another charge of “indecent act.”
In an act that reveals the extent of the Houthis’ tampering with the judicial system and its use in settling scores, the Appeals Prosecution took a decision contrary to the decision of the First Instance Prosecution, and brought Al-Omeisy to the Court of First Instance, on charges of cooperating with the coalition, and issued a death sentence, but the Court of Appeals returned and changed the sentence to 25 years in prison. years, and when the ruling was appealed, the Supreme Court issued a decision in mid-2021 to annul the previous rulings, especially since the Appeal Division stated that the reason for reducing the sentence was “the lack of evidence that the woman worked with the coalition forces.”
Contrary to law and logic as well, the Appeals Division, after the file was returned from the Supreme Court and its previous ruling was overturned, proceeded with Al-Omeisy’s trial, and in the middle of last year issued a ruling in which the woman was convicted of cooperating with the coalition by guiding her against her husband who belongs to “Al-Qaeda” and punished her for that by imprisonment for ten years. years, while in her annulled judgment she acknowledged that “it was proven that she had no evidence against her regarding the charge against her of joining the coalition forces.”
The communication confirms that the prosecution has previously considered that this does not constitute a crime under domestic and international law, since “al-Qaeda” is a global terrorist organization, and that her husband is wanted by security, not only for Yemen, but is also considered one of the most dangerous terrorist elements wanted internationally. Nevertheless, the woman preferred not to appeal the new ruling after she despaired of obtaining justice, while today she hopes to be released due to her very deteriorating health condition, especially since she has spent more than two-thirds of the term in prison.
