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Houthi militia cause 613 casualties in Yemen over 40 days, Yemeni government reports

January 17, 2018 at 4:21 pm

Houthis patrol Sanaa, Yemen on 5 December 2017 [Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency]

Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights documented the killing or wounding of some 613 civilians in recent weeks by Houthi militia, SABA News reported yesterday.

Between 1 December, 2017 and 10 January, 2018, 318 civilians were killed, including eight women and 14 children. A further 295 were wounded, including six women and 17 children.

In addition to the figure, the report seen by SABA News included 407 cases of arbitrary arrest, forced disappearance and torture in the same time period. There were 280 reported cases of abduction and forced disappearance targeting members of the General People’s Congress party (GPC).

Following the late President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s severance of an alliance with the Houthi armed group, there was an uptick of violence in the capital.

91 human rights violations were documented against journalists in Yemen, following a deep crackdown after the killing of Saleh. There were reports that social media including Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp was disabled in Yemen.

Early this week, the Houthi armed group confirmed the release of the famous activist Hisham Al-Omeisy after imprisoning him for five months without charge.

According to the UN, three million children have been born in Yemen since the escalation in violence in March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition began an ongoing bombing campaign.

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