Houthi ‘gang’ loots Sanaa radio station in defiance of court ruling

AL-MUKALLA: Armed Houthis on Monday raided a community radio station that airs music and other programs in Sanaa for the second time and looted broadcast equipment, ignoring a judicial ruling that allowed the radio to resume operations.

Majili Al-Samadi, head of Voice of Yemen radio, said on Facebook that armed men forced their way into his office and seized equipment, despite a verdict from the Specialized Press and Publications Court ordering the Houthis to allow him to resume broadcasting.

“I call on humanity first and all people, journalists, jurists, activists, all media, human rights organizations, official and community institutions at home and abroad and all over the world to condemn the blatant aggression carried out by forces affiliated with the (Houthis’) Ministry of Information,” Al-Samadi said.

The Houthis first shut down Yemen Voice and five other private radio outlets in Sanaa for broadcasting without renewing their licenses. But local journalists said that the Houthis sought to silence independent radio stations and bring them under their control after the outlets refused to broadcast sectarian chants glorifying the movement.

Other watchers said that the latest raids come as the militia intensifies its morals campaign, targeting singers, artists and female activists.

Voice of Yemen is known for broadcasting old and current Yemeni songs.

Unlike owners of other radio stations, Al-Samadi appealed against the Houthi raid in a court that specializes in handling attacks on media establishments.

Despite a court verdict ordering the Houthis to allow the station to resume work, the militia stormed the outlet and looted equipment only days after Al-Samadi and other activists in Sanaa reopened it.

In a series of angry online posts, Al-Samadi slammed the Houthis for ignoring the court ruling, issued another appeal to higher Houthi authorities and called on activists to support him.

“Sanaa is a city ruled by militias — this is what I understood after the attack, robbery, looting of Voice of Yemen radio’s equipment and (their) disrespect for the judiciary,” he said.

Outraged by the raid, a number of journalists and activists based in Sanaa issued a joint petition condemning the “brutal behavior” by the raiders and demanding the Houthis bring the perpetrators to justice.

At the same time, Yemeni journalists, officials and activists who live in government-controlled areas or in exile after fleeing the Houthi crackdown accused the militia of harassing media establishments and seeking to use the remaining private media outlets in Sanaa to disseminate sectarian propaganda.

“The raid on the Voice of Yemen radio brings us back to the time when Sanaa was stormed and the media was the first target of the Houthi gang, and we remember the targeting the headquarters of the official Yemeni TV with all kinds of heavy weapons while it was crowded with colleagues,” Abdul Baset Al-Qaedi, undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry, said.

Since they grabbed power in late 2014, the Houthis have shut down dozens of media establishments, abducted many journalists and forced many others to flee the country or live in government-controlled areas.

Four journalists abducted by the Houthis from Sanaa in 2015 are facing the death penalty.

“In the Houthi-held Sanaa, there is no media, no press, no civil society, no magazine, no studies. In Sanaa, there is no window to light,” Riyadh Al-Dubai, a Yemeni human rights activist, said on Twitter.