Houthis free 3 Yemeni YouTubers, strengthen security in protest-hit Ibb

Houthis free three Internet activists in Sanaa as their forces stepped up arrests in the city of Ibb following a rare demonstration against the militia. (AFP/File)

• Houthi media reported on Monday that their leader, Mahdi Al-Mashat, “pardoned” Mustafa Al-Mawmari, Hamoud Al-Mesbahi and Ahmed Hajjar
• In Sanaa, activists demanded the release of hundreds of people, including women

AL-MUKALLA: The Houthis have freed three Internet activists in Sanaa as their forces stepped up arrests in the city of Ibb following a rare demonstration against the militia.
Houthi media reported on Monday that their leader, Mahdi Al-Mashat, “pardoned” Mustafa Al-Mawmari, Hamoud Al-Mesbahi and Ahmed Hajjar, two weeks after they were sentenced to jail for undermining security and circulating false information on YouTube and other social media. A fourth, Ahmad Elaw, remains in prison.
The militia abducted the four men in December and January in Sanaa after they used social media to denounce rising poverty, corruption, and the militia’s inability to pay public workers.
Houthi media did not explain why Ahmad Elaw, who has more than 800,000 YouTube followers and was given the longest sentence, was not released.
In Sanaa, activists demanded the release of hundreds of people, including women, who have been kidnapped by the militia since its armed takeover of the country in late 2014.
“When will we hear about the decision to free Ahmed Elaw? When will we hear about the decision to release Intisar Al-Hammadi and Fatima Al-Arouli?” said Ahmed Al-Nabhani, an activist in Sanaa.
Meanwhile, activists and locals said that the Houthis had reinforced the city of Ibb with troops known as “traffic control” and kidnapped at least 40 people after a rare demonstration late last month following the funeral of Hamdi Abdel-Razzaq, an online critic alleged to have been tortured and then executed in a Houthi prison.
Hundreds of people attended his burial, with many shouting “Houthis are God’s enemies.”
Local media said the Houthis abducted a man named Ali Rasam for claiming to have seen evidence of torture on Abdel-Razzaq’s corpse as it was being prepared for burial.
Human rights organizations including the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms and the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties called on the Houthis to stop raiding residential areas in Ibb and free those it had seized.
The YNRF said that the Houthis’ crackdown demonstrated “the militia’s lack of commitment to any agreements that will end the country’s war.”