Mohammed Rajeh

Ahmed Al-Wali

Years of denying them the chance to meet their children , the families of journalists detained in the prisons of the parties to the conflict in Yemen are still suffering from the bitterness of loss and uncertainty of the fate of their beloved. "We are living in a state of anxiety, fear, and uneasiness." This is how one of these journalists' mothers describes to "Khuyut" her condition as she struggles with other families of detained journalists to secure their release. Instead of releasing them or allowing their families to meet with them, The Specialist Criminal Court of the Ansar Allah Authority (Houthis) issued a death sentence against four journalists who have been detained since 2015.

The authorities of Ansar Allah (Houthis) released five journalists on October 16, 2020, some of whom were suffering from various diseases after years of imprisonment. They were released in a deal to exchange detainees with the internationally recognized government, after negotiations sponsored by the UN Secretary-General's envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths. This release was the largest official exchange of detainees between the parties to the war in Yemen, as it resulted in the release of more than a thousand detainees from both sides. However, the four journalists were not included in the release process, and they are still in the prisons of the Sana'a authorities.

During the past six years of the war, the press and journalists live in the face of the cannons of war, as the parties to the war, the authority of the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis), the internationally recognized government, and the Saudi/UAE-led coalition have targeted and "abducted" the press, using it, framing it and implementing a policy “Whoever is not with me is against me,” which led to the prosecution, arrest, and detention of several journalists in the country, and issuing death sentences for a number of them.

Political money also entered, especially by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in addition to local Yemeni parties supported by the two countries, as a major player in silencing the independent press that was operating before the war. Since March 2015, they have led a military "Arab coalition" in Yemen. . Thus, the severe repression and polarization of journalists had a great impact on the freedom of press and journalism in Yemen, especially after the media played a major role in drawing the agendas of some of the parties to the conflict, and promoting  or defending  their agendas in the ongoing war in the country.

Prison and detention: The Suffering In its latest report issued in April 2021, Amnesty International criticized the use of the death penalty for many crimes in Yemen. The organization says that the authorities in Yemen "continued to use it to silence opposition," and that "executions were carried out by all parties to the conflict."

According to the Amnesty International report, "all parties to the conflict" continued "to suppress freedom of expression and formation and joining association," "through arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, harassment, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment." In its report, the international organization also indicated that the Specialized Criminal Court, run by the Houthis, on April 11, 2020, sentenced four journalists to death, following a trial described by Amnesty International as "grossly unfair and based on fabricated charges."

In April 2020, the very court announced the release of six journalists, among whom Salah Al-Qaidi, who was sentenced to house arrest for three years. The ten journalists were held for five years without charge or trial. 

Amnesty International's report also states that "the squalid conditions in prisons and detention centers, such as severe overcrowding, lack of access to health care, poor hygiene and health supplies, accompanied by the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, have exposed detainees to extreme health risks."

Amnesty International criticized the Yemeni authorities for not taking the necessary measures to protect detainees and to limit the spread of the virus in prisons and detention centers, such as providing masks or other hygiene materials. According to this international human rights organization, Tawfiq Al-Mansouri remained on death row as one of the four journalists sentenced to death in 2020. He suffers from chronic diseases like diabetes, kidney failure, heart problems, prostatitis, and asthma. In June of last year, he contracted the Covid-19 virus, where the Houthi de facto authorities failed to provide him with life-saving medical treatment.

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate renewed its objection to this ruling, which is considered "politicized" and the trial procedures, which took place and continue to  take place without the lowest levels of justice. It demanded the abolition of these rulings, the speedy release of their colleagues, and end their and their families suffering, which has reached an unbearable level. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate also affirms that the suffering of detained journalists "The oppression does not stop at depriving them of their freedom and torturing them psychologically and physically; their families are also going through a tragic situation while waiting for their loved ones to return " 

All local, Arab, and international organizations, foremost among them the Union of Arab Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, and the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, called for pressure for the release of all the abducted journalists, and for a safe environment for journalistic work.

Khuyut obtained testimonies from families of detained journalists, confirming their attempt to draw attention to the deteriorating health of journalists, but the authorities of Ansar Allah (the Houthis) refused to include the four journalists in any exchange deal, and at the same time - as some families said - they are practicing on them a form of psychological blackmail. They are transferred between prisons and hidden them under the pretext of preparing them for the exchange deal, in addition to being threatened them with physical liquidation and the implementation of the death sentence issued against them.

The authorities also show from time to time to the journalists and their families that they are willing to conclude a deal for their release, so they send one of their officials to them to inform them of their readiness to release them and to urge them to communicate with their families to pressure the internationally recognized government to expedite this. As soon as the approval is granted and the families start following up, the authorities in Sana'a return to not responding and freezing the case.

The families of the abducted journalists suffer from what they describe as the intransigence of the parties to the war and their continued detention of their relatives. With the "war that has mercy on anyone", the detention also increases the suffering of the families and their detained relatives . A mother in the Abductees' Families Association says, "The breadwinner is absent in most cases, with the difficulty of earning and finding work that puts the families of the abductees in the poorest groups."

Mothers and children of the detainees also suffer from a significant deterioration in their mental and physical health. Fear of losing their detained relatives permanently dominates the lives of these families, especially in cases of enforced disappearance, preventing visits for the detainees, neglecting them medically and practicing psychological stress on them, demanding money from their families, and bartering their freedoms.

Torture Cases

Khuyut has reviewed a part of this file related to arrested and detained journalists. The detention is carried out without a legal warrant and in an arbitrary manner. They have been subjected to enforced disappearance and torture. Their detention, investigation, and trial procedures exceeded the legal period, and the journalists' file was returned more than once for completeness, in addition to their submission to a non-competent court.

"Khuyut" spoke to journalists who were detained for years before they were released in the last exchange deal, including the journalist Hisham Tarmoum, who was arrested with eight others on June 9, 2015. Hisham says, “We were covering the humanitarian situation and covering events in the capital, Sana’a, for the “Yemeni Revolution” media center (meaning the February 11, 2011 revolution), when some personnel of Ansar Allah broke into the hotel apartment in which were stayed in Sana'a, taking us to Al-Hasabah police station, then they transferred us from one prison to another for the five years of detention."

Hisham added, "They beat me on the neck while I was handcuffed and blindfolded until I kneeled on the ground from the severity of the beatings, which caused a herniated desc in my sixth and seventh vertebrae in the neck." He continued, "They hit me on my belly, seated me on an electrified chair and sprayed water on my body, made me stand on one foot and raise my handcuffed hands and one foot up for long periods of time, and if I got tired and lowered my feet, they started beating me on it."

As for the accusation against him, he said, it is directly related to his journalistic work, which is to publish news with the aim of weakening the morale of the forces of the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis).

His colleague, the journalist Haitham Al-Shihab, who was released in the exchange deal, adds, “Our conditions were very bad, in closed and narrow prisons. Once the "jailer" heard you laughing, he came to turn your life into hell after pouring a steady torrent of obscenities on you, and if you were calm, a person came to stand in front of the door of your cell and torture you, just to prevent you of sleep and to make you stay up all night in oppression and wait for your turn to come."

Fear and pain caused by physical torture have turned into long-term psychological damage, which Haitham still suffers from, as it was difficult for him to speak to "Khuyut", thinking to find suitable words to describe what he was subjected to in detention.

The Year of Violations

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate recorded 112 incidents of violation against journalists, photographers and their properties, and media centers in 2020. According to the Syndicate's report, the violations varied between abductions and arrests in 33 cases, accounting for 29.5% of the total violations; threats and incitement against journalists in 22 cases, 19.6%; prevention and confiscation in 13 cases, 11.6%; trials and investigations in 10 cases, 8.9%; suspension from work in 10 cases, 8.9%; torture in 7 cases, 6.3%; assaults in 6 cases, 5.4%; and murder in 3 cases 2.7%.

The Yemeni internationally recognized government, with its various formations and bodies, committed 50 cases of violation, 44.6% of the total violations, while the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) committed 33 cases, or 29.5%, "unknown persons" - as the Syndicate describes them - committed 13 cases, or 11.6%, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council committed 12 cases, or 10.7%, while a private media outlet committed 3 cases, 2.7%, and 1 case was committed by a faction in the Popular Resistance, 0.9%.

According to the Journalists Syndicate report, the 33 incidents of violations committed by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) were divided as follows: 10 cases of arrest, 9 cases of prosecution and harassment, 7 cases of abduction, 5 cases of detention, and two cases of arrest.

The Yemeni internationally recognized government committed 22 cases of abduction and prosecution, accounting for 67% of the total abductions, while the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) committed 5 cases of arrest and detention by 15%, and the Transitional Council committed 6 cases by 18%.

Twelve journalists are still "abducted", including 11 journalists by Ansar Allah group (Houthis), some of whom have been held than five years. One journalist, Muhammad Qaid Al-Maqri, has been abducted by Al-Qaeda in Hadramout since October 12, 2015. The Syndicate has also recorded 22 cases of threats and incitement, 20 of which are threats by 91% and two incitement cases by 9%, and 8 of them were committed by the internationally recognized government, while "unknown perpetrators" committed 7 cases, the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) committed 3 cases, and one case committed by a faction of the "Resistance" (the report did not specify its affiliation to any party).

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information in the internationally recognized government, Abdul Basit al-Qaedi, told Khuyut that the press and media reality was the most affected due to the ongoing war in Yemen, as it was the first sector targeted - according to his speech - by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis), which he said "it placed the media sector at the top list of targeted sectors to pass its coup."

Al-Qaedi had noted that all of the official, civil and party media institutions have been completely dredged, and Sana'a, which had hundreds of newspapers representing various political trends before the Houthis took control of it, has become a capital devoid of press and even journalists.