Houthis torture prisoner to death in Sanaa

Human rights activists in Yemen have reported that a prisoner died of torture inside a Houthi detention facility in Sanaa, the latest victim of Houthi abuses in jails. (AP/File)

• The Houthis reportedly tortured Al-Humaigani and withheld his life-saving medications until he was pronounced dead a few days ago
• They then transferred his remains to Sanaa’s Al-Quds Hospital and published a medical report stating that his death was natural

AL-MUKALLA: Human rights activists in Yemen have reported that a prisoner died of torture inside a Houthi detention facility in Sanaa, the latest victim of Houthi abuses in jails.
The Houthis kidnapped Ezzedine Al-Habji Al-Humaigani from his home village in the central region of Al-Bayda a year ago and took him to their detention center in Sanaa, where he was cruelly tortured and denied medications, which eventually led to his death.
Al-Humaigani, 28, had just recovered from wounds he sustained fighting off the Houthi offensive on Al-Bayda in early 2015 when the militia took him from his village, Al-Habj. They held him in their prison there for a while before moving him to another prison in the province of Dhamar and then to the infamous Central Security Prison in Sanaa, Yemeni activists from his tribe told Arab News.
The Houthis reportedly tortured Al-Humaigani and withheld his life-saving medications until he was pronounced dead a few days ago.
They then transferred his remains to Sanaa’s Al-Quds Hospital and published a medical report stating that his death was natural.
Al-Humaigani is the latest in a long line of inmates killed within Houthi detention facilities since the militia took over in late 2014, and Yemeni officials and activists are demanding that the international community exert pressure on the group to release thousands of prisoners.
Nadia Abdullah, undersecretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, told Arab News that torture has claimed the lives of dozens of prisoners in Houthi prisons and that the Houthis are committing abuses against Yemenis comparable in severity to those perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians.
“This proves that (the Houthis are) a terrorist group committing the worst crimes against Yemeni people,” she said.
The Houthis tortured to death two people from Al-Bayda province earlier this year after holding them for months, sparking outrage and condemnation from human rights organizations.
Late last month, the international charity Save the Children announced the suspension of its operations in Houthi-controlled territories after one of its employees died inside a Houthi detention facility.
The charity accused the Houthis of forcibly disappearing the employee and rejecting numerous requests from the organization and the worker’s family to reveal his whereabouts and provide legal justifications for the abductions.
The organization resumed operations last week after a 10-day hiatus, despite the Houthis’ refusal to conduct an investigation into the worker’s death.