مــدونة ســـــامي نعمــــــــان: Al-Huthi

‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Al-Huthi. إظهار كافة الرسائل

الأربعاء، 11 مارس 2015

Reporters Without Borders: HOUTHI REBELS CONTINUE TO TARGET MEDIA

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels are still persecuting journalists, media outlets and media support institutions eight months after seizing control of the capital, Sanaa, and a large swathe of the country. Their methods include death threats, abduction and looting.

The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) has registered no fewer that 67 cases of such methods being used to prevent journalists from doing their work.

In one of the latest cases reported by the YJS, Houthi rebel militiamen kidnapped two journalists working for the daily Akhbar Al Yaoum – Abdelwahed Nejjar and layout editor Fouad Zoubayri – from the Ashoumwaa printing and publishing house on 5 March.

Printing equipment, tables and chairs were also looted and taken away in trucks that had been parked outside for 18 days or more. The YJS and other local NGOs have urged the Houthis to release the two journalists.

People who were staging a sit-in inside a camp to demand that the Houthi rebels withdraw from the Ashoumwaa centre were threatened at gunpoint and forcibly dispersed by rebels on 26 February.

Reporters Without Borders deplores the harassment of Yemen’s media by the Houthi rebels, which increased in August and again since their arrival in the capital in September.

“We condemn these deliberate attacks on media and journalists, which pose a real danger for freedom of information and the political transition under way in Yemen,” Reporters Without Borders deputy programme director Virginie Dangles said.

The Houthi rebels have established themselves as Yemen’s new masters in a matter of months. After moving into the capital in September, they seized control of the main government buildings in January.

In another instance of Houthi harassment of the media, more than ten press photographers were badly beaten members of an armed group linked to the main Houthi rebel militia while covering a peaceful demonstration on 28 January.

Most of the victims worked for foreign media, including Reuters, Al-Aalam TV and France 24. Unidentified gunmen also threatened Al-Jazeera’s Sanaa bureau chief.

The Houthi advance on the centre and south of the country has led to an increase in clashes with Al-Islah, a Sunni party linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and run by the Al-Ahmar clan, as well as with Sunni tribesmen and with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

الأربعاء، 25 فبراير 2015

A youth-led campaign in three languages to demand the release of Bahah

A group of Yemeni activists and journalists launched a campaig to demand the release of the resigned Prime Minister Khalid Mahfoudh Bahah who had been under a houthi-imposed house arrest for over a month.

A statement issued by "for a safe Yemen" campaign strongly deplored the continued detention of PM Bahah by the houthi militia despite submission of his resignation a month ago and rejecting the caretaking capacity assigned by the revolutionary committee whicg was produced by the coup.

Yemeni youth activists are cirulating statements and hashtags to call for Bahah's release. Such calls were disseminated by the campaign in three languages (Arabic, English and French) across the social media websites- Facebook and Twitter.

"For a safe Yemen" is the firsf youth initiative to break the silence against the houthi militias by taking it to the streets since the morning of 28 September only a week after Sanaa's takeover. The campaign continues to organize protests and demonstrations against the houthi coup.

In a related issue, "No to the Coup" movement declared support for the campaign and willingness to organize a peaceful demonstration to call for the release of the Prime Minister who is detained by the Houthis.

الاثنين، 23 فبراير 2015

Yemen: Security Forces, Militia Abuse Protesters

End Ban on Protests, Hold Violators to Account

Human Rights Watch

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Yemeni authorities need to send a clear message to their security forces, including Ansar Allah members, that beating and otherwise mistreating peaceful protesters won’t be tolerated. People have a right to demonstrate, and the blanket ban on protests should be lifted immediately.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director

(Sanaa) – Yemeni security forces and militia have beaten peaceful protesters and mistreated those arrested during demonstrations in the capital, Sanaa, since late January 2015, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should hold those responsible for serious abuses accountable, and rescind an indefinite ban on unauthorized protests issued on February 8.

Between January 25 and February 11, Yemeni security forces and men who appeared to be members of the Houthi armed group, also known as Ansar Allah, repeatedly beat peaceful protesters with sticks and rifle butts, witnesses said. They arbitrarily detained at least 46 protesters, though most were released the same day, according to local rights groups. Militias detained another 10 people near demonstration sites for up to 13 days. On February 11, Ansar Allah militia detained three men attempting to join a protest and tortured them, two of the victims told Human Rights Watch. The other victim later died.

“Yemeni authorities need to send a clear message to their security forces, including Ansar Allah members, that beating and otherwise mistreating peaceful protesters won’t be tolerated,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “People have a right to demonstrate, and the blanket ban on protests should be lifted immediately.”

The authorities should act responsibly and hold anyone who abuses protesters to account, Human Rights Watch said.

Since November 2014, Ansar Allah, a northern armed group, has taken effective control of Sanaa and other areas, leading to the resignation of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government on January 22, 2015. This sparked protests on January 25 and the days leading up to February 11, the fourth anniversary of the 2011 uprising. A February 8 Interior Ministry order instructs Sanaa police to prevent unauthorized demonstrations “considering the exceptional circumstances that the country is facing.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 protesters and other witnesses, including 10 who had been detained, and monitored demonstrations on January 25, 26, 29, and 31. Between 30 and 80 people took part in those protests on each day. Law enforcement consisted of armed men in police and military uniforms as well as armed men in civilian dress bearing Ansar Allah stickers on their rifles and carrying posters with the Ansar Allah slogan: “God is Great/Death to America/Death to Israel/Curse the Jews/Victory to Islam.”

A 30-year-old protester, Abd al-Daem al-Bukhari, said that on January 28, “One gunman started shouting that we were agents of America and Israel. My legs are covered in bruises because one man hit me with a stick.”

Protesters told Human Rights Watch that the armed men beat and otherwise mistreated them, including in detention. Those who had been detained said that their captors threatened to “disappear” them. They said that both the uniformed officers and the Ansar Allah members cursed the protesters and accused them of supporting the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), the United States, and Israel. Human Rights Watch saw no indication that any of the protesters were armed or in any way threatened law enforcement officers.

One witness said that during the February 11 protest, men he identified as belonging to the Ansar Allah militia stabbed two protesters in the neck with jambiyas, the traditional dagger Yemeni men carry. Two protesters told Human Rights Watch that armed men in civilian dress beat them unconscious with sticks and rifle butts as they tried to approach the demonstration, and detained five protesters.

Local journalists were constrained from reporting on the demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said. The Freedom Foundation, a Yemeni organization that monitors press freedom, reported 25 attacks on journalists during the first two protests in late January. The incidents, most at or near the protests, included abductions, detentions, beatings, and confiscation of equipment.

The government’s indefinite ban on unauthorized public protests violates the right to peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said. Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Yemen ratified in 1987, permits restrictions on peaceful assembly to protect national security and public order only if they are narrowly defined and proportionate to the harm threatened, and to the extent they are strictly necessary.

Yemeni authorities should also abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which provide that all security forces shall whenever possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to force. They should not use firearms against people except to prevent imminent death or serious injury.

“Given the big political changes in Yemen in recent weeks, people will want to voice their views,” Stork said. “The authorities need to ensure that people who want to speak out peacefully are protected, not beaten and abused.”

Accounts of Violence Against Protesters, January 25 to February 11, 2015

January 25
Ghamdan al-Samai, 30, a journalist who was at the demonstration, told Human Rights Watch that at about 9:30 a.m. protesters gathered at Change Square, in front of the main entrance to Sanaa University to demonstrate against Ansar Allah. The protesters opposed the group’s armed presence in various cities, its confiscation of weapons from the military arsenal, control of public property, and its restrictions on the government and president. By 11 a.m., at least 40 protesters were preparing to leave the square to march to the Parliament, which was holding a session on the recent events.

Human Rights Watch observed at least 20 police officers and 4 men who appeared to be Ansar Allah members, all armed with Kalashnikov assault weapons, standing along one edge of the square, next to seven armored vehicles, two without license plates. Most officers carried rifles bearing stickers with Ansar Allah slogans. On the opposite side of Change Square, Human Rights Watch saw two military officers armed with Kalashnikovs and a third holding a rifle-propelled grenade.

The police officers approached the crowd and without warning started beating unarmed protesters with rifle butts and batons, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. They arrested 22 protesters, including Samed Muhamad, 23, a university student and editor of Al-Oula newspaper, he told Human Rights Watch. Officers loaded them into armored vehicles and drove them to al-Ghudairi police station.

“All the protesters were peaceful, they were carrying only books and pens,” said Hussein al-Houthaifi, 24, a writer who was there. He said he tried to stop officers from pushing his female colleague to the ground. Five officers surrounded him and two hit him in the head with rifle butts and dragged him to their armored vehicle. When he asked for medical attention they refused and took him to al-Ghudairi police station.

Muhamad al-Omdah, another protester, said:

The officers pointed guns to our head as they loaded us into the armored vehicles. I heard one policeman say to his fellow officers, “If one tries to escape, shoot him!” All of them had Ansar Allah stickers on their guns. Even though they were in uniform, the men who later questioned us were members of Ansar Allah – I saw the sticker on most of their weapons – and they looked much younger than typical policemen.

Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that about 15 minutes after the crowd of protesters in Change Square had dispersed, at least 15 officers in police and the Special Security Force uniforms stormed through the gates of Sanaa University. They fired above the heads of about 15 to 20 students who were petitioning to have an exam postponed because of the situation in the city. No one was injured.

January 26
At 9 a.m. dozens of apparent Ansar Allah members as well as police and Special Security Force personnel marched from al-Qadissya roundabout to Change Square, about 2 kilometers away, where protesters had gathered. The Ansar Allah supporters blocked Sanaa University’s main gate, preventing protesters and students alike from passing through.

Within half-an-hour, about 80 protesters had gathered outside the gate, intending to march to the presidential residence, said Salah al-Muhamadi, 34, an activist who participated. Armored vehicles covered in Ansar Allah slogans arrived at about 10:50 a.m. and blocked the roads leading from Change Square. Al-Muhamadi said that dozens of Ansar Allah supporters arrived in vehicles and threatened and assaulted protesters, stabbing one of them.

Six protesters told Human Rights Watch at the scene that the Ansar Allah supporters had beaten them with fists, sticks, and stones. Ahmed al-Dhubhani, 21, a student and activist, said he saw the officers and apparent Ansar Allah members put about four protesters into civilian vehicles.

Khalid Abd al-Hadi, a journalist for Al-Masdar newspaper, told Human Rights Watch that at about 10:45 a.m., just a few minutes before the armed men assaulted protesters in the square, he saw about a half-dozen men in police and Special Security Force uniforms instructing two groups of men in civilian clothes carrying wooden sticks.

Al-Dhubhani said that he and a female cousin ran from the area as the armed men assaulted members of the crowd. The two entered the gate of a private house and explained their situation to the homeowner, who called out for security. Police and other armed men came and took al-Dhubhani away, but left his cousin. Al-Dhubhani said:

I was detained by armed men, some in security uniforms, others in traditional [Yemeni] clothes, at about 11 a.m. They put me in the back of a regular car and blindfolded me, hitting me all the time with their hands and jambiyas. They drove me to the yard of an abandoned Hilton Hotel near Freedom Square – I figured the location out later – and put me in an old dirty room, with one of my colleagues, [name withheld] who had also been at the protest.

After two hours they blindfolded me again and took me to a converted shipping container in a yard with several containers that used to be used by [President] Hadi’s guards before Ansar Allah took the presidential residence. There two men in police uniforms interrogated me in a container with several rooms. In the other rooms they were holding two other protesters, Marwan Al-Sabri and Khaled Aldaara. The policemen punched and slapped me, and accused me of being a paid CIA spy. They kept asking me how much money the Americans were paying me and the other protesters.

Finally, they forced me to thumbprint a pledge not to participate in any demonstrations. It said something like, “I am Ahmed. I admit in writing that I am not a tool of US intelligence, and I am not affiliated to Tawakkol Karman [a Nobel laureate and prominent Islah party member] and I am abandoning my revolutionary and political principles in exchange for my release.” They released me about 10 p.m. that night.

Tawfiq al-Qawri, 32, an activist at the protest, told Human Rights Watch that a man in civilian clothes accused him of being an ISIS supporter and threated to “disappear” him. He said armed men were stationed along all the alleyways and roads leading out from Change Square.

January 29
At 10:45 a.m. Human Rights Watch saw about 50 people gathered in front of the Sanaa University Gate to protest against Ansar Allah. They started marching and at about 11 a.m. reached al-Karama roundabout on al-Da’iri Street. A soldier driving a car with civilian license plates pulled up in front of the crowd. Four men got out, two in police uniform and two in civilian dress. One of them grabbed Abd al-Rahman Noman, 33, a businessman leading the protest, who had been arrested at the January 25 protest. The other three men, all carrying Kalashnikovs, forced him into the car and sped off. Noman later told Human Rights Watch that they held him in a converted shipping container and released him that night.

January 31
About 30 people gathered for an anti-Ansar Allah protest at 10:15 a.m. in Change Square. Human Rights Watch observed a group of at least 25 people with pro-Ansar Allah posters enter the square, followed by at least three armored vehicles and three police cars. Farida al-Yarimi, a 53-year-old protester, said that the group assaulted several protesters, beating them with sticks, punching, and slapping them for about 15 minutes until the crowd dispersed. One protester’s forehead was cut, she said. Another said that he saw armed men in civilian dress catch a well-known activist and beat him with sticks and their hands while they chanted Ansar Allah slogans.

Fouad al-Hamdani, 34, a political activist linked to the Islah party, told Human Rights Watch that at 11:15 a.m. he and a female activist were walking away from the protest area. Six armed men in military uniforms grabbed them both and threw them into a Jeep without license plates. The vehicle bore the Ansar Allah slogan and inside was a photo of the Ansar Allah leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, indicating they were Ansar Allah militia members. Al-Hamdani asked the men to release the woman, whom they let out after a few minutes. As they drove off, one man told him that they would kill anyone who was against Ansar Allah.

The men brought him to al-Mualimi police station, al-Hamdani told Human Rights Watch. They took away his cell phone and went through the call log, seeing his calls to Tawakkol Karman and other politicians opposed to Ansar Allah. They accused him of leading the protest and locked him in a cell. At 6 p.m., they drove him in a black car without plates, with the Ansar Allah slogan on the sides, to a guard room next to the presidential residence:

Men there, some in police or military uniforms and some in civilian clothes, interrogated me until midnight. The next day, at about 4 p.m. they drove me to the abandoned Hilton Hotel near Freedom Square and locked me in a dirty bathroom off the courtyard for four days without electricity or running water, and gave me barely any food. One guard told me: “We were going to release you but then we realized that you are one of the dangerous leaders so we decided not to. We want you to work with us as a member of the Popular Committees of Ansar Allah.” I refused.

They held him at that site until February 12, when the same men who had detained him returned, blindfolded him, and drove him to al-Iman University, one of the key targets of Ansar Allah during its military operations in Sanaa in September 2014. Later that day four guards shackled and blindfolded him, tied him to a metal table and beat him with a thick rope on his hip while one man covered his nose and mouth for short periods of time to prevent him from breathing. Al-Hamdani said that at one point one of the guards yelled, “Be careful, he is going to die if you keep holding his nose!” The other responded, “Let him die.” They videotaped all of the interrogations, he told Human Rights Watch:

After beating me, they forced me to write a note saying that Tawakkol Karman is a terrorist, that she receives funds from the US embassy, and a few other accusations. They said that they would kill me if I went back to the protests and then drove me to a street corner at around midnight and pushed me out of the car.

February 7
Ghamdan al-Samai, 30, a journalist, told Human Rights Watch that he watched protesters opposed to Ansar Allah gather in Change Square in the morning. More than two dozen police officers and armed men in civilian dress arrived and started punching and beating protesters with sticks. The police detained 11 protesters. Al-Dhubhani, who had been arrested at the January 26 protest, told Human Rights Watch that they released nine within 24 hours but only released him and one other protester, Rashad al-Mikhlafi, five days later.

February 11
Saleh al-Bishri, 33, a teacher, drove to a Sanaa protest on February 11in a pickup truck with two colleagues, Ali Taher al-Faqih, 34, and Abd al-Ghaleel al-Subari, 38, and a friend Mansour al-Nidhami, 33, along with a dozen men who rode in the back of the truck. When men in uniform stopped them in Sanaa’s Assir neighborhood, near the protest, the men in the back of the truck disembarked. Four armed men in different uniforms bearing Ansar Allah shoulder patches forced al-Bishri to keep driving with the three passengers to the Faj Attan area of Sanaa. The armed men then blindfolded them and drove them to an unknown location and held them until the morning of February 14.

Al-Faqih told Human Rights Watch that their captors put them in into one big room but separated them on February 13:

At 8 p.m., they put us into separate rooms and shackled my hands and feet. They came to me after a few hours and started beating me with an iron rod on my hip while I lay on the floor. I lost consciousness after 30 minutes. At about 2 o’clock the next morning they brought me to a car, where I saw my friends. Al-Bishri was crying in pain and could not stand. I heard one of the armed men say, “We can take him back to beat him for another five hours.” Al-Subari told me that they beat him for about 15 minutes. Al-Nidhami said they did not beat him. They drove us in al-Bishri’s car blindfolded to al-Zubari Street and at about 2:30 a.m. disembarked there and left us with the car.

They drove straight to al-Ahli hospital. Al-Faqih told Human Rights Watch that although a doctor told al-Bishri not to travel, all four were fearful of Ansar Allah coming back for them, so they left. Al-Bishri died along the way back to his village at about 5 a.m. Human Rights Watch saw videos showing his severely bruised hips.

Al-Subari told Human Rights Watch that three or four of his captors shackled and blindfolded him, forced him to kneel, and beat him with sticks for 15 minutes. While beating him they asked how much the United States and Saudi Arabia were paying him to attend the protests, accused him of being an American and a Zionist, and threatened that they would further punish him if he continued to demonstrate, saying, “What you have seen is only a drop of the ocean.”

الجمعة، 20 فبراير 2015

Yemen's power shift a setback for child soldier plan

A poster from the Seyaj NGO reads: "Recruitment of children under the age of 18 is a crime".

IRIN - By Almigdad Mojalli

SANAA, 18 February 2015 (IRIN) - The coming to power of northern rebels in Yemen could derail moves to end the use of child soldiers in the country.

Last month the Houthi rebel group forced the government to resign and appointed a new parliament – which has been declared illegitimate by the UN.

The Houthi movement, like many Yemeni rebel groups, has long been accused of routinely using children in its ranks. A 2010 report from the UN found that “as many as half of the total number of fighters, from…the Al-Houthi rebels, are below 18 years of age.”

Leila Zerrougui, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said that Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi had pledged to help protect children from conflict in 2012 but has since appeared to reverse his position.

“In 2014, Al-Houthi has increased the recruitment of children as well as other grave violations against children,” she told IRIN. “I call on Al-Houthi to keep his engagement to shield children from the impact of conflict."

She added that the number of children killed or maimed in violence spiked last year.

Yemen is one of only eight countries in the world whose state militaries the UN says include children.

Last year Yemen signed up to an action plan to end the recruitment of children by the army. Yet with the Houthis having seized control of state institutions it is unclear if the action plan will continue or how much control they now have over the army.

Zerrougui said she was extremely concerned by recent events and urged all parties to respect the agreement. “Children need the protection promised by the action plan. They should not be involved in this conflict in any way, especially not as combatants or in support roles.”

Ahmed, 15, mans a barrier in the capital Sana’a. He insists he is not paid by the Houthis, but is a voluntary member of their so-called popular committees.

“They give us nothing but food and khat,” he said, referring to the stimulant chewed by many in the country.

He did, however, admit that he is hoping that now the Houthis have claimed control of the country, he will be rewarded for his service by being enrolled in the state’s army.

Julien Harneis, country head for UNICEF – a co-signatory to the action plan – said he was hopeful the Houthis would respect the agreement.

“We have no indication yet that the government will not honour its commitments. The Yemenis committed to that agreement irrespective of who comes [to power],” he stressed.

He added that they were increasingly concerned by the use of child soldiers by all major rebel groups. “We are worried that those children are manning checkpoints may have already come under attack or they may be on the frontlines in the fighting,” he said.

Ideology and economy

Ahmed Al-Qurashi, head of the Seyaj NGO that works to protect children in Yemen, said there were two main reasons that children agreed to fight.

“Some of the children are persuaded to join the militias under the pretext of jihad and this is applicable particularly to the Houthis and Muslim Brotherhoods,” he said. “[For others] during conflicts, people lose their livelihood sources, so children find themselves compelled to provide for their families.”

Sadiq, 14, fits into the first category. He said he joined the Houthis during clashes in the western city of Amran in July as he believes the group is fighting against America and Israel and their supporters in Yemen. Last week the American embassy base was ransacked following the withdrawal of its staff from the country.

“I joined Ansar Allah because they are fighting to free Yemen from the occupiers,” he said. He also insisted he was not being paid.

Al-Qurashi added that most of the children recruited are from areas where armed conflict is common such as Marib, Sa’ada, Al-Baidha, Aljawf, and Amran. He added, however, that recently militias – particularly the Houthis – have also started recruiting children from coastal and desert areas.

Lwa’e Al-Shami, a spokesman for the Houthis, denied that they formally conscripted children, insisting that many of those involved were simply seeking to volunteer to help bring peace to the country.

“We are not a military or security faculty to set particular standards for those who want to join the popular committees; people in their villages, tribes or neighborhoods gather and form their committees and you cannot come to say that this is accepted and this is refused because it is their area,” he said.

He confirmed that the popular committees located in the main streets and by important buildings are run by the Houthi leadership but those in smaller neighbourhoods are made up of local volunteers and added that the Houthis refuse to provide compensation for the families of those killed. “We do not give compensations like blood money or salary for the families of the martyrs because we do not have money to give them,” he said.

In areas taken over by Houthi fighters residents complain quietly of the demands put on them since the takeover.

“In the beginning of the Houthi domination on our tribe, [they] were very kind, helpful and never ask for anything, but later they started urging people to invite them for lunch, breakfast, and dinner meals as well as providing them with khat based on a schedule for the villagers or businessmen,” said Mohammed, 38, from Hashid tribe.

Al-Shami confirmed that some businessmen, traders, people of neighborhood, and villagers sometimes donate some food meals or aids for the militants. but denied they any coercion.

الثلاثاء، 17 فبراير 2015

Yemen: Peaceful protesters targets of Huthis’ disturbing ‘torture-tactics’

Amnesty International

New harrowing testimony collected by Amnesty International experts in Yemen reveal how members of the Huthi armed group are torturing protesters in a bid to dissuade dissent.

“The Huthi stooped to a dangerous new level of intimidation and violence to strike fear into anyone protesting their rule,” said Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International, currently in Yemen.

“Testimonies reveal how protestors have been detained and tortured for days on end. The safety of all those who dare to speak out against the Huthi rule is on the line.”

Among those who spoke to Amnesty International are Ali Taher al-Faqih, 34, and ‘Abdeljalil al-Subari, 40, who were seized during a peaceful demonstration in Sana’a on 11 February (held to commemorate the 11 February 2011 uprising). The two men were arrested alongside Salah ‘Awdh al-Bashri, a 35-year-old father of seven, who later died from the injuries he suffered after hours of torture.

The three, alongside a fourth activist who was not tortured, were taken to an unknown location, where they were held in a basement until the evening of 13 February.

When Amnesty International met the men on 15 February the marks and scars of their torture were still very evident with deep bruises and, in the case of Abdeljalil al-Subari, open wounds on their buttocks.

Ali Taher al-Faqih told Amnesty International: “The first to be taken was Salah [al-Bashri]. I did not see him again until we were released at about 2 am (on 14 February). Salah could not move or stand, not even when we tried to help him up, and could not speak. He just whispered ‘I’m thirsty’.”

“We went to hospital, where Salah was given some basic care. There were Huthis in the hospital, some in military wear, and we were afraid that they would abduct us again so we left the hospital and drove home [two hours away], but Salah’s conditions deteriorated and he died on the way.”

Ali Taher al-Faqih gave details of the interrogation he endured:

“They first sat me down and asked me about my job, the demonstrations I took part in, the leaders of the protests, my relations with the US embassy and with organizations opposed to Ansarullah (the Huthi political wing). They then blindfolded and gagged me. They tied my hands behind my back, bound my feet, made me lie face down on a sort of narrow table and started beating me with some sort of baton on the buttocks. The beating went on for a long time, maybe a couple of hours. The pain was excruciating. They kept telling me to confess. When they finally stopped beating me I was only semi-conscious. They had to help me up.”

Amnesty International also spoke to Fouad Ahmad Jaber al-Hamdani, a well-known 34-year-old activist, who was abducted from a very small demonstration on the morning of 31 January. He was held for 13 days in four different locations and was also tortured. He still has deep bruising on his lower back.

“They blindfolded and gagged me, tied my hands and feet, tied me face down to a narrow bench, and beat me on the buttocks and lower back with a baton or iron bar until I fainted. They said ‘will you talk or shall we make you talk?’ They accused me of getting money from the US and Saudi Arabia and of links with Muslim Brotherhood terrorists and certain figures associated with the previous regime. After four hours of continuous beatings, during which I fainted several times, I agreed to write a confession. They then untied me, warned me not to organize demonstrations or contact Huthi opponents, and drove me to Zubeiri Street. They dumped me by the roadside. I could not move and lay there until a passer-by rescued me.”

In an earlier case, 21-year-old student activist Ahmad al-Thubhani was seized following a protest on the morning of 7 February near the New Sana’a University. Five members of the Huthi armed group followed the taxi he was travelling in, stopped it and seized him. He was held for five days in a house next to the residence of former President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi where he was tortured.

He told Amnesty International: “After I told them that I was against militias, they whipped me 20 times in a row, mostly on my back and legs, and forced me to write down names of protest leaders and activists”. Photographs of his scars examined by Amnesty International are consistent with his story.

“The Huthis must put an immediate stop to their illegal tactics of arbitrary detentions, torture other ill-treatment. Yemen’s General Prosecutor must promptly investigate these and other similar cases and bring those responsible to justice,” said Donatella Rovera.

Background information

The Huthis, mostly members of the (northern) Zaidi Shi’a minority who were repeatedly targeted by the regime of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh (in six conflicts) between 2004 and 2010, are now allegedly targeting their critics and subjecting them to some of the same human rights violations which were inflicted on them by the previous regime.

The group took over some army and security positions in Sana'a in September 2014. By the third week of January 2015 they had attacked military positions, the Presidential compounds and government buildings. This led to the resignation of President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi and his government and the Huthis becoming the de-facto rulers of the capital and other parts of Yemen.

They have been consolidating their hold on Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, and the country as a whole. On 6 February they dissolved parliament and issued a constitutional declaration mandating the creation of a transitional presidential council which will act as a government for an interim period of two years.

The move effectively ended the (largely unfulfilled) reconciliation power-sharing initiative negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council to end the 2011 uprising which ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh after his 33-year-rule.