AL-MUKALLA: Ahmed Ali Ahmed Al-Yemeni had just celebrated his daughter’s wedding in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and was relaxing in bed after a long, arduous, and joyous night. On June 6, at almost 7 a.m., a group of armed men and women in armed cars encircled his home before pounding on the door, a knock that would interrupt then destroy the family’s calm and joy for months to come.
Al-Yemeni, 51, opened the door to find surprise guests — almost 20 armed Houthi masked men and veiled women raided his residence, searching it and arresting him.
“They interrogated my father quickly and briefly before questioning the rest of the family,” Khaled, Al-Yemeni’s son, told Arab News. When the scared family attempted to oppose the Houthis’ invasion of their home, the father told them to “calm down and comply.”
Speaking from Paris, where he lives, Khaled said that Houthi policewomen known as Al-Zaynabeat questioned female members of the family and searched their rooms, and that the family was surprised by the raid because their father had never been involved in any criminal activity.
“They searched every room in the home for any documents and proof they could discover, including my father’s educational credentials and past employment contracts. They left the house with him and also took his car,” Khaled said, adding: “My father is a calm, kind, and patriotic person. He had several opportunities to leave Yemen, but he chose to remain because of his affinity to it.”
While the Houthis were questioning Al-Yemeni and his family, other armed Houthis raided the homes and workplaces of other Yemenis in Sanaa and other Yemeni provinces under the militia’s control as part of a larger campaign targeting Yemenis who work for international aid and rights organizations, including some UN agencies and Western missions.
The Houthis did not explain the crackdown on civic and humanitarian society, but it became clear afterwards when they declared the discovery of an espionage network comprised of Yemenis who used their job at international organizations as a cover for spying for the US and Israel.
Al-Yemeni was previously employed by the Danish Refugee Council, the German-funded development organization GIZ, the UK-funded humanitarian agency Oxfam, and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives. He is currently unemployed and held his most recent position with the Kuwaiti Direct Aid Association until 2022, his family said.
The Houthis kidnapped Ahmed Al-Yemeni from his home, taking his vehicle and other papers, and placed him in their notorious Security and Intelligence Prison in Sanaa. Khaled advised the family to keep his newlywed sister in the dark about her father’s kidnapping.
“My sister did not hear about the event until a week later. We informed her that our father had traveled to Jordan immediately for business, which she could not believe or comprehend. We did not want to ruin her happiness.”
The family raced to the Houthi detention center where they learned their father was being kept. His captors informed them that he was under investigation and refused their request to see or speak to him.
On Monday, Khaled Al-Yemeni said that the Houthis had disregarded many pleas from his family to see him, call him, update them on his health, or explain why he was detained.
“They did not provide a clear or indirect explanation for the arrest. We know that several families’ houses were invaded on the same day and using the same scenario.”
Ahmed Arman, Yemen’s human rights minister, told Arab News that the Houthis have abducted at least 70 Yemeni workers with foreign organizations since the start of their crackdown three months ago and that the Houthis have refused to allow the families of abducted people to visit them or contact them.
The Yemeni minister further said that the Houthis have requested that Yemeni and foreign personnel who reside in regions under their control get authorization from them to travel between Yemeni cities.
On Sunday, Houthi media reported that Ibrahim Al-Hamli, who heads the militia’s management and coordination of humanitarian affairs and international cooperation, a body in charge of international humanitarian operations, met with UN and international organization employees for five days, including Julien Harneis, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.
The Houthi leader cautioned the workers against being “exploited” by opponents of the militia to spy while working with foreign organizations.
After his family had exhausted all chances of seeing their father released, Khaled used his social media profiles and talked with the media to draw attention to their tragedy.
Khaled has urged the Houthis to end his family's grief and provide peace and joy by freeing his father and also urged Yemeni parties not to use his family’s ordeal for political benefit.
“We are still stunned, heartbroken, and in grief since the wedding day.”
