Houthi captors torture prisoners, Yemeni rights group alleges
Houthi captors torture prisoners, Yemeni rights group alleges/node/2572626/middle-east
Houthi captors torture prisoners, Yemeni rights group alleges
Special
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s Houthi group chant slogans in a military parade marking the anniversary of the Houthis’ 2014 takeover of the capital Sanaa, Sanaa, Sept. 21, 2024. (AFP)
Houthi captors torture prisoners, Yemeni rights group alleges
Families of abducted people have complained that the Houthis at the Central Security prison in Sanaa tortured their incarcerated relatives
Houthis have abducted at least 70 Yemeni employees from UN agencies, international rights and aid organizations, and diplomatic missions in Sanaa
Updated 24 September 2024
Saeed Al-Batati
AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni rights group on Tuesday accused the Houthis of torturing prisoners at a Sanaa detention facility, as dozens of Yemeni activists and politicians demanded that the Yemeni militia release people abducted for celebrating the 1962 revolution.
The Mothers of Abductees Association, which represents thousands of female relatives of war prisoners, said that families of abducted people have complained that the Houthis at the Central Security prison in Sanaa tortured their incarcerated relatives, starved them, barred them from contacting or seeing their families, isolated them in cells with mentally ill prisoners, and held them in small, unventilated rooms.
“The Mothers of Abductees Association condemns the Houthi group’s serious violations against our children in the central prison, which pose a serious threat to their lives and safety. We hold them completely accountable for their psychological and physical safety,” the organization said in a statement.
The MAA chairperson, Amat Al-Salam Al-Hajj, told Arab News that the Houthis began torturing the detainees, who had been imprisoned for years, and isolated them after accusing them of causing a riot in the prison. The prisoners then appealed to their families to speak to the media to pressure the Houthis to stop torturing them, she said.
This revelation came after dozens of Yemeni journalists, lawyers, activists, and politicians signed an online petition urging the Houthis to release dozens of Yemenis abducted during a crackdown on those commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the 1962 revolution.
“We are deeply concerned about the unnatural arrest campaign targeting civil activists for expressing joy on the 62nd anniversary of the glorious September 26 Revolution. We urge the wise leaders of the authority in Sanaa to make every effort to persuade the Sanaa authority to immediately stop the arrests,” the Yemeni activists said in the petition.
Ahmed Nagi Al-Nabhani, a Yemeni activist based in Sanaa, told Arab News that the Houthi authorities said the Yemenis were arrested for “inciting” the public to challenge their rule, and that they were not arrested for celebrating the revolution, which the Houthis would honor this year.
“The Sanaa regime does not say that they arrested those people for celebrating the revolution, but rather on charges of incitement against the regime and serving the aggression,” Al-Nabhani said.
Over the past few days, the Houthis have abducted dozens of journalists, activists, military and security officers, and government officials, including some members of the former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, in Sanaa, Ibb, Amran, and other Yemeni cities for celebrating or encouraging the Yemeni people to celebrate the revolution.
The Yemeni revolution, which began in 1962 in northern Yemen, overthrew the Zaidi Imamate rulers who had controlled the region for centuries and established the Yemen Arab Republic.
According to Yemenis, the Houthis and the Zaidi Imamates shared similar radical ideologies that restricted Yemen’s rule to Hashemite families.
On Tuesday, local media and activists reported that two journalists were among dozens of tribal leaders, politicians, activists and other Yemenis kidnapped by the Houthis in Sanaa, Ibb, Dhamar, Amran and Hodeidah for expressing their support for the revolution on Facebook or WhatsApp.
Despite the ongoing crackdown, the Houthis on Thursday declared a public holiday to commemorate the 1962 revolution.
Speaking about the Houthi crackdown on revolution supporters, Yemen Shura council speaker Ahmed Obeid bin Dagher said that a revolution is “in the making” in Houthi-held areas that will end Houthi rule and that they will not stop it, according to the official news agency SABA.
Rashad Al-Alimi, meanwhile, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, has urged the UN to relocate its agencies’ offices from Houthi-held Sanaa to the southern city of Aden, the country’s interim capital, to protect its employees from Houthi harassment and to stop dealing with the central bank in Sanaa.
Al-Alimi, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, told Joyce Msuya, the UN acting undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, that the UN should move its agencies’ headquarters in Yemen from Sanaa to Aden and transfer funds through the central bank in Aden rather than the central bank in Sanaa in order to strengthen the Yemeni riyal and cut off Houthi financial flows.
The Houthis have abducted at least 70 Yemeni employees from UN agencies, international rights and aid organizations, and diplomatic missions in Sanaa on charges of spying for the US and Israel, as well as trying to destabilize the country’s health, education and agriculture sectors.
What we know of the latest talks for a Gaza ceasefire
Updated 8 sec ago
AFP
JERUSALEM: Efforts to strike a Gaza truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly failed over key stumbling blocks, but recent negotiations have raised hope of an agreement.
On Tuesday, Washington expressed “cautious optimism” on the possibility of an “imminent deal.”
This comes following reported indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar along with Egypt and the United States.
Diplomatic sources told AFP that US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent declaration that a deal should be struck before his return to office on January 20 had an impact on the latest round of talks.
One diplomatic source said that Hamas, isolated after the weakening of its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and the overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, is keen to reach a deal before the end of the year.
“A lot of people see (a deal) as the perfect Christmas gift,” the source said.
Another noted that since Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s death, Hamas leaders abroad, known as more pragmatic than the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, have been conducting negotiations.
A high-ranking Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday that the talks were at the “final details” stage and that Qatar and Egypt would announce the agreement once negotiations end.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer declined to comment on the proposed deal at a media briefing on Wednesday, stating “the less said the better.”
During their attack on Israel on October 7 last year, Palestinian militants led by Hamas seized 251 hostages.
Ninety-six of them are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas officials told AFP that the current framework for a deal would see the implementation of a ceasefire and the gradual release of hostages over three phases.
In the first, six-week phase, Israeli civilian hostages and female soldiers would be released in exchange for “hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
The source close to Hamas said that during this phase, Israel would withdraw its forces “from west of the Rafah crossing” on the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land cleared and controlled by Israel along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Israeli forces would also “partly withdraw” from the Netzarim Corridor, another, wider strip of land cleared and controlled by Israel that splits the territory in two just south of Gaza City, and gradually leave Palestinian refugee camps.
Lastly, the first phase would see the gradual return of displaced residents to Gaza City and the north via the coastal highway under Israeli army monitoring.
The second phase would see the release of Israeli male soldiers in exchange for “a number” of Palestinian prisoners, “including at least 100 with long-term sentences.”
During this phase, Israel would complete its military withdrawal but would maintain forces on the eastern and northern border areas with Israel.
Under the last phase of the proposed deal, “the war will be officially declared over” and reconstruction efforts will begin in the territory where the UN satellite agency said that 66 percent of all structures have been damaged.
Lastly, the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border would be jointly managed by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, in coordination with Egypt and the European Union.
Despite numerous rounds of indirect talks, Israel and Hamas have agreed just one week-long truce at the end of 2023.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel have faced multiple challenges since then, with the primary point of contention being the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly stated that he does not want to withdraw Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor.
One of the diplomatic sources AFP spoke to said Israel would “never” exit the border strip, and at most would leave the small border crossing for others to manage.
Another unresolved issue is the governance of post-war Gaza.
It remains a highly contentious issue, including within the Palestinian leadership.
Israel has said repeatedly that it will not allow Hamas to run the territory ever again.
And while a Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that “Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, the United Nations and the United States will guarantee the implementation of the agreement,” none of them have confirmed that.
Germany jails Syrian for 10 years for Assad-era war crimes
Berlin has warned that Assad’s supporters will continue to face justice in Germany for crimes they committed
Germany, in 2022, jailed former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan for life in the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons
Updated 19 min 21 sec ago
AFP
BERLIN: A German court handed a 10-year jail term to a Syrian former militia leader on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed under former president Bashar Assad.
The man, named only as Ahmad H., 47, had come to Germany in 2016 at the height of the influx of migrants to Europe.
Assad was toppled last week by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, and Berlin has since warned that his supporters will continue to face justice in Germany for crimes they committed.
Ahmad H. was found guilty of crimes including torture, deprivation of liberty and enslavement, a spokeswoman for the higher regional court in Hamburg told AFP.
Prosecutors said he carried out the crimes between 2012 and 2015 as a local leader of the pro-government “shabiha” militia in Damascus tasked with helping to crush dissent.
The militia operated checkpoints where “people were arrested arbitrarily so that they or their family members could be extorted for money, committed to forced labor or tortured,” they said.
The fighters also plundered the homes of regime opponents, sold the spoils and kept the profits, they added, charging that Ahmad H. took part “personally in the abuse of civilians.”
When Ahmad H. was detained in Germany in July 2023, the Washington-based Syrian Justice & Accountability Center, which tracks human rights abuses in Syria, said its investigations had led to the arrest.
It had launched its probe after a witness told the agency in May 2020 that the suspect was living in Germany.
Europe’s biggest economy, then ruled by chancellor Angela Merkel, granted safe haven to hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the 2015-16 refugee influx.
NGOs warned at the time of the danger that militiamen accused of committing some of the most barbaric atrocities against civilians for Assad’s government were arriving incognito in Europe and obtaining asylum.
Germany has previously used the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of certain grave crimes regardless of where they took place, to try Syrians over atrocities committed during the civil war.
In January 2022, Germany jailed former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan for life in the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons.
Syria war monitor says 21 pro-Turkiye fighters killed near flashpoint northern town
SDF said that ‘after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area’
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a ‘demilitarised zone’ in Kobani
Updated 18 December 2024
AFP
BEIRUT, Lebanon: A Syria war monitor said 21 pro-Turkiye fighters were killed Wednesday after they attacked a Kurdish-held position near a flashpoint northern town despite a US-brokered ceasefire extension in the area.
The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and US-backed Kurdish-led forces comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“At least 21 members of pro-Turkiye factions were killed and others wounded by fire from the Manbij Military Council after pro-Turkiye factions attacked” a position at the Tishreen Dam, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of Manbij, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkiye.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said Wednesday’s attack included “support from Turkish reconnaissance aircraft” and was followed by “heavy clashes with heavy and medium weapons.”
The monitor also reported unspecified casualties among the Manbij Military Council, which is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as among SDF fighters.
The SDF said in a statement that its forces “successfully repelled” the pro-Turkiye fighters and that “after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area.”
Swathes of north and northeast Syria are controlled by a Kurdish administration whose de facto army, the SDF, spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group extremists in Syria in 2019.
Turkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.
Ankara has staged multiple operations against the SDF since 2016, and Turkish-backed groups have captured several Kurdish-held towns in the north in recent weeks.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the Manbij truce, which had recently expired, had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future.”
The extension comes amid fears of an assault by Turkiye on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a “demilitarised zone” in Kobani.
The military chief of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist militant group that led the offensive that ousted Assad, said Tuesday that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country’s new leadership.
While the Kurdish administration has extended a hand to the new authorities, the long-oppressed community fears it could lose hard-won gains it made during the war, including limited self-rule.
How Damascus residents reclaimed their city after Bashar Assad’s chaotic downfall
Civil society groups and ordinary Syrians closed ranks to clean up the capital after municipal services collapsed
Following the overthrow of the regime, Damascus experienced at least two days of unrest and destruction
Updated 25 min 38 sec ago
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: The Syrian capital plunged into chaos after opposition forces swiftly toppled Bashar Assad’s regime earlier this month. Within days, as calm returned to Damascus, residents, driven by renewed pride in their city, joined forces to clean up neighborhoods and restore a semblance of normalcy despite the collapse of municipal services.
On Dec. 8, a coalition of armed opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham seized control of Damascus. The city, already battered by 14 years of war, economic collapse and neglect under the ousted regime, went through a long spell of lawlessness and violence.
Witnesses described “teenagers with guns” and “unidentified armed thugs” shooting indiscriminately and looting in the city and its suburbs.
Jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall tore down Baathist icons and posters and toppled statues of the late Hafez Assad. (AFP)
Private businesses, homes and vehicles were vandalized, while universities and public buildings bore the brunt of the unrest. Among the targeted sites were the Opera House, the Central Bank, and the Immigration and Passports building, which was set on fire.
Residents of Damascus turned to social media, urging the Military Operations Administration, the unified central command of the armed coalition, to restore order as hospitals were inundated with hundreds of surgical cases caused by stray gunfire.
The chaos prevented many medical staff from reaching hospitals, placing immense strain on those already on duty, who worked long hours without breaks or food, according to former Health Minister Ahmed Damirieh.
In a statement, Damirieh said that indiscriminate gunfire resulted in at least 450 cases at Al-Mujtahid Hospital alone and highlighted a fuel shortage affecting both public and private medical facilities.
The Military Operations Administration responded by imposing a citywide curfew from dusk to dawn on Dec. 9.
All this was happening as jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall tore down Baathist icons and posters and toppled statues of the late Hafez Assad. Their actions contributed to mounting piles of trash in the streets, worsened by the collapse of municipal services.
Meanwhile, Israel launched dozens of airstrikes across Damascus, targeting sites such as the military airport in Mezzeh and the “security square” in Kafar Souseh, home to the General Intelligence and customs buildings, according to Syrian news media. Thick plumes of smoke rose from multiple locations across the city.
“It’s our duty,” said Marwan Alrez, head of Mart Team. “We owe this to our city.” (Supplied)
Although thrilled by the fall of Assad and hopeful for a new chapter in Syria’s history, Damascenes were disheartened by the widespread destruction after two days of chaos. Many volunteered in large numbers to reclaim and clean their neighborhoods, including the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
On Tuesday, civil society groups such as Mart Team, Ammerha Foundation, and Sanad Team for Development, along with community leaders like mosque imams and university professors, organized cleaning campaigns as calm returned to the capital. Volunteers said the efforts were largely funded through their own contributions.
“It’s our duty,” said Marwan Alrez, head of Mart Team. “We owe this to our city.”
“We launched our cleaning initiative on the third day after the fall of the (Assad) regime,” he told Arab News.
“We posted announcements on social media, and a large number of people eagerly volunteered to join.
“On the day we announced the initiative, 200 people reached out to us.”
Mart’s campaign, which continued for several days, focused on areas including the Mezzeh district, the Old City — particularly Al-Miskiyeh Square at the western gate of the iconic Umayyad Mosque — and the Muhajreen neighborhood, home to Assad’s Tishreen presidential palace, which was ransacked in the early hours after his overthrow.
“Our regular team oversaw the new volunteers and the work in general,” Alrez said, emphasizing that the campaign was “self-funded, with each of us contributing what we could.”
Volunteers with the Ammerha Foundation, eager to help restore their city, brought their own cleaning equipment to the effort.
“We launched our cleaning initiative on the third day after the fall of the (Assad) regime.” (AFP)
Mohammad Abdullah Aljaddou, a civil activist and founder of Ammerha Foundation, said that after witnessing the extent of the damage and the piles of garbage in the streets, he and his team “devised a response on the spot.”
“Locals took the initiative and volunteered,” he told Arab News. “They even brought brooms, trash bags, and cleaning supplies.”
“We divided into groups,” he added, emphasizing that “most of the people were locals — not just our regular volunteers.”
The teams focused their cleaning efforts on the Al-Hejaz district, home to the historic Hejaz Railway Station; Yusuf Al-Azma Square, commonly known as Al-Mohafaza; the Al-Mujtahid neighborhood; Baramkeh near the SANA news agency; Jisr Al-Rais; Mouwasat in Mezzeh; and Abbasid Square.
Ammerha’s multi-day initiative also extended to Umayyad Square in the heart of the capital, particularly after large celebrations held there on Friday, Syria’s weekend day.
On Dec. 13, thousands of jubilant Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus, gathering in public areas such as Umayyad Square. They waved the Syrian opposition flag and chanted revolutionary slogans as loudspeakers blared celebratory music marking Assad’s fall.
Aljaddou noted that Ammerha’s efforts extended to hospitals across Damascus, including the Children’s University Hospital, Harasta, Douma, Al-Mujtahid, Al-Mouwasat and the Maternity and Gynecology Hospital.
“We distributed meals to the medical staff, each containing two sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, dates, and juice,” he said. “Local food companies also joined in, providing additional food and beverages.”
“The work was tough, but it was worth it for our beloved country.” (Supplied)
After Syrian rebel fighters freed thousands from the infamous Sednaya prison, dubbed the “human slaughterhouse,” in the Damascus countryside, many detainees — weak and suffering from diseases caused by harsh conditions — were brought to the city’s hospitals.
The influx further strained the healthcare system, already weakened by 14 years of crisis, economic sanctions, and security challenges, as families crowded hospitals and morgues in search of missing loved ones.
Ammerha’s volunteers also focused on universities, including Damascus University’s schools of humanities, law, medicine, economics and agriculture, which suffered significant damage during the first 48 hours after Assad’s fall.
“For now, the city is calm,” Aljaddou said.
Hadeel Alkadi, an agricultural engineering student at Damascus University, shared her excitement at volunteering with Ammerha to help reclaim the city.
“All of this fills us with hope for a better future for Syria.” (AFP)
Describing the cleaning campaigns as “more than wonderful,” she told Arab News: “The young men and women contributing to these campaigns reflect a genuine desire to rebuild their country — even if it’s by cleaning its universities, squares, and streets.”
Noting that some volunteers focused on preparing and distributing meals for medical staff, Alkadi said: “They clearly wanted to give generously to their country, from the bottom of their hearts.
“All of this fills us with hope for a better future for Syria.”
Another volunteer, Rayan Kifo, an architecture student at Damascus University, also joined efforts to restore the city.
She told Arab News that the Sanad Team, where she volunteered, organized much of the work through WhatsApp. “The supervisors would send us the location and time to gather,” she said.
“The campaign was driven by young people eager to create change and improve the country’s situation with the resources available,” Kifo said. “For the first time, we felt that this country is ours, and we are responsible for it.”
She added: “The work was tough, but it was worth it for our beloved country.
“With our determination and capabilities, we will make it better — a country free from favoritism, corruption and nepotism.
Mart volunteers pose for a photo. (Mart Team)
“Our country belongs to all of us Syrians, despite our differences.”
Bayan Alnakshapandy, a microbiology student at Damascus University, reflected on the deepening sense of connection she and her peers experienced while working tirelessly to clean their neighborhoods.
“Our parents always encouraged us to excel in school and university to make our country proud, but it wasn’t until that moment that we truly felt connected to our country and realized we were serving it,” she said.
Alnakshapandy volunteered with both the Sanad Team and the Syrian Community Support Team.
She told Arab News that the volunteers included “people of all ages, all backgrounds and all sects.”
According to her, many were students and highly educated individuals, including civil society leaders and university professors, “who were cleaning with their own hands.”
“Our country belongs to all of us Syrians, despite our differences.” (Supplied)
“One professor even brought his five-year-old son, who helped splash water on the floors and carried a broom twice his size,” Alnakshapandy said with a laugh.
Recalling her involvement, she shared a personal anecdote: “I felt jealous when I heard the teams were going to clean my old street, Pakistan Street, where I had lived for over 15 years before moving to Ain Tarma in the countryside two years ago. I had to be there with them.”
Alnakshapandy added: “I felt a strong sense of belonging because I was cleaning my own street. My heart is full.”
At least 20 die, five rescued as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
Boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for Europe
Updated 18 December 2024
Reuters
TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of 20 migrants after the boat they were in sank, on Wednesday, in the second migrant drowning tragedy within one week off the Tunisian coast.
Last Thursday, the Tunisian coast guard also recovered the bodies of nine migrants, while six others are still missing, after their boat sank while they were sailing toward Europe.
The coast guard, on Wednesday, rescued five others, from the latest tragedy, and search operations were underway for anyone still missing.
The boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa, who are seeking a better life in Europe.
