Yemen: Man kidnapped and tortured to death in Houthi prison

A Yemeni human rights association has accused the Houthi movement on Thursday of kidnapping and torturing a young man to death in its prisons.

The Abductees Mothers Association, a non-governmental organisation devoted to defending the rights of detainees, announced in a statement: “We condemn the ongoing violations of the rights of the forcibly disappeared and their release as lifeless bodies after being abducted from their homes.”

The association added that the body of the missing young man, Ali Marzouq Al-Jaradi, 18, who was abducted from his home in the Nihm district of Sana’a governorate in April and taken to an unknown destination, has been returned to his family.

The statement continued: “Al-Jaradi remained forcibly hidden during the time of his detention, and his family knew nothing about his fate and conditions, only to be informed on Tuesday by the Houthi group that he was dead, alleging that the young man hanged himself in his prison cell.”

The statement explained that the Al-Jaradi family had refused to receive his body until the completion of the investigation into his death. The family found signs of torture on their son’s body, which had been kept in the morgue of Al-Thawra Hospital in Sana’a.

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The association hold the Houthi group fully responsible for Al-Jaradi’s death.

The statement stressed that the phenomenon of forced disappearances is alarming and threatens the lives of the kidnapped, as 83 abductees were killed under torture during the time they spent concealed in secret prisons belonging to the Houthis since the beginning of the war.

Since late 2014, the Houthis control the capital of Sana’a and other governorates.

The Yemeni government as well as local and international human rights organisations have accused the Houthis of arresting oppositionists including politicians, journalists and academics.

The ongoing six-year war in Yemen has claimed 112,000 lives, including 12,000 civilians. Thus, 80 per cent of the population depends on aid to survive the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.