Journalist Abdul Khaleq Omran talks to Yemen Shabab Net about 8 years of disappearance and torture in the prisons of the Houthi militia.

Since the coup of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia against the legitimate authority, in late September 2014; The Yemeni press is experiencing its worst nightmares ever. Journalists found themselves in a tragic reality facing successive waves of racism represented by systematic repression and kidnappings, after various media institutions witnessed a brutal war of bulldozing, aimed at terrorizing and excluding witnesses, to deprive society of the free circulation of information.

On June 9, 2015, the Houthi militia kidnapped the Yemeni journalist Abdul Khaleq Omran, along with eight of his colleagues, while they were performing their work as journalists in the heart of the Yemeni capital (Sanaa). For eight years, Imran and his colleagues were subjected to the worst types of physical and psychological torture in the corridors and detention centers of militias hostile to freedom of the press and its free members.

And out of the womb of that tragedy; Yemeni journalists chose June 9, every year, as a national day to promote the status of Yemeni journalism.

On this occasion, “Yemen Shabab Net” conducted this interview with journalist “Abdul Khaleq Omran”, who gained his freedom thanks to a prisoner exchange deal in April 2023, to escape, along with three of his colleagues, from the “death” sentence issued against them by a Houthi court in April. April 2020.

In this interview, journalist Omran exposes the crimes and violations of the Houthi militia against journalists in its dark detention centers, based on his humanitarian and struggle experience in the militia’s prisons throughout the period of his and his colleagues’ kidnapping, which was nearly eight years.

- On this day, nine years ago; You and your eight colleagues were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared. Summarize this painful experience for us?

9 years ago, on June 9, 2015, we and eight colleagues were kidnapped for practicing our journalistic work. Over the course of eight years of forced disappearance, we were subjected to various types of physical and psychological torture in 30 solitary confinement cells, moving between seven militia prisons, during which we underwent dozens of investigation sessions, and were subjected to hundreds of physical and psychological torture.

in general; In the prisons of the Houthi militia, we were subjected to a series of horrific violations, almost continuously. I can say that these militias committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against us as journalists. From kidnapping and forcibly disappearing us, to depriving us of the most basic basic rights such as visitation and communication, to torturing us physically and psychologically, including placing us as human shields in military facilities, and finally turning us into hostages for the purpose of exchanging us for their prisoners of war, after looting all our property, all the way to issuing orders. By killing and displacing us and our families from the areas under its control... because we are only journalists.

Types and means of physical torture

- Regarding physical torture... What types and methods of torture were you subjected to?

There are many methods and means of physical torture. But in terms of type, first of all, it can be divided into two types: torture inside the investigation room called (the workshop) and carried out by investigators from the Houthi militia. The other: torture outside the investigation rooms, carried out by their prison guards, or by the supervisors and administrators of those prisons. Within this type there is also another torture that is carried out by some prisoners attacking us inside the cells at the instigation of the militias in exchange for promises to release them.

Regarding torture methods; We can discuss some of these methods that I was exposed to with my colleagues, including:

Beating with hands, sticks, wooden, metal and electric batons, rifle butts all over the body, on the head, joints and spine, beating between the thighs and the penis...etc.

Among them also: forcing us to stand for long hours, standing with our legs open and pressing from our head until it reaches the ground, hitting our heads on the wall, and pulling the chair we sit on in the interrogation room until we fall to the ground so that they can trample on us, drag us, drag us, and kick us with our feet. In addition to burning with a cigarette and throwing a water bottle, ashtray, dishes, or anything in front of him..

Electrocution, crucifixion, and hanging with chains from a “winch” at a high height in the interrogation room, with beatings with iron wires and putting pieces of sponge in your mouth to prevent you from screaming, as well as hanging from the iron grille separating the kidnappers’ cells for the purpose of defamation, intimidation, or intimidation.

Another method of torture is suffocation. Where he places both his hands on your neck or his index finger and thumb and presses on the windpipe until he feels that you will faint, so he removes his hands and repeats it, as well as twisting the arms, neck and limbs, forcing you to drink unclean water, and stress exercises: pressing, jumping, rotating like a fan, and others...

They also include: placing fingers in the eyes and pressing on them, threatening to slaughter them by placing the tip of the jambah blade in your neck and passing it around the entire neck, being forced to carry heavy weights on cement block chairs, and others. At times, sharp objects are placed under your feet and then you are forced to stand on them, as well as removing our clothes and stripping them of what is no longer underwear, while keeping us standing in the cold until the morning with cold water poured on us... and plucking the hair of the beard and head, and sometimes burning them, and tying the foot with the hand so that it becomes In the form of a circle..

Most of what you mentioned falls roughly under the first type, torture inside investigation rooms. What about the second type: torture outside investigation rooms?

The journalist is permissible for them. This means that all members of the Houthi gang in prisons have the right to torture and assault you whenever they want, and however they want. No one deters or prevents them from doing so. For example, one time in the Political Security prison of the Houthi militia, I was interrogated from morning until noon, after which I was taken out of the interrogation and torture room and suspended in another room, and everyone who came asked me questions and beat me... and even after I was taken down. And allowing me to go to the bathroom, the prison guard accompanying me assaulted me, sometimes dragging me behind him forcefully, and at other times making me walk in front of him and beating me with a stick. The one who gave me leftover food assaulted me because I refused to eat it. Thus, we were subjected many times to similar repeated attacks in all Houthi prisons.

Methods of psychological torture

- We move to psychological torture.. What is it? How was it done?

Psychological torture. There is much that we have been subjected to in this regard, the most prominent of which is, for example: the threat of liquidation. For example: One day, one of the investigators said to me threateningly: “The media will not be silent except for the death penalty.” In their view, the journalist deserves death even without committing any crime. It is enough just that he is a journalist..!! Another investigator told me: “Your imprisonment is an embarrassment, and your release is a nuisance, so the best thing is to kill you”! Among what they say in this regard as well: “Kill the journalist and do not imprison him,” and one of them threatens, vows, and swears an oath that he will “hang the heads of journalists at the door of Yemen.”..!!

Another investigator tells me: “We will liquidate you and turn you into a number in the lists, and reconciliation will come and no one will remember you,” then he adds threateningly: “By God, you will not leave here except dead, carried on a coffin.”

There is also verbal assault with abuse and insults. For example, he calls you, “You infidel,” “You hypocrite,” “You agent of Saudi Arabia,” “You agents of the coalition,” “You are enemies of God and the nation,” “Agents of the Jews, Christians, Israel, and America,” and “The Jew is still inside you,” “Who is satisfied?” “...and many other profanity, cursing, treason, and insults, which are a widespread and prevalent culture among most members of these militias, and by which they distinguish themselves from the rest of the human race.

Among the methods of psychological torture also include: squeezing the fingers with the aim of breaking them so that they cannot write. This is how they used to threaten us when we refused to fingerprint the papers. Pointing weapons to the head and mocking them with shooting, as well as torture by starvation and thirst, in addition to placing us as human shields in camps exposed to bombing by the Arab coalition, and many other brutal methods of torture.

This psychological torture continued until the moment we left during the prisoner exchange that took place on April 16, 2023. It also continues until now. The Houthi persecutions and systematic targeting against us through several methods are still ongoing, including the continuation of our persecution against the backdrop of death orders issued by the Houthi court in April 2020.

Non-existent rights...and widespread diseases

- What are the basic rights that you were deprived of inside Houthi prisons?

= In the prisons of the Houthi militia, no kidnapped person has the slightest human rights, whether you are a journalist, a politician, a student, a soldier, a civilian, an academic, or anyone else. The Houthi prisons are characterized by their lack of rights for any abductee. They are dominated by a militia regime that is not based on any principles, regulations or laws, but rather on the moods of supervisors, jailers and investigators. The human being has no value in it, as it is permissible, and everything is at their disposal as they wish.

In these notorious and disreputable prisons, we were deprived of the necessary medical care, proper food and clean drinking water, and even sleep and going out into the sun... We were also deprived of communicating with our families, and of obtaining clothes, even our own clothes that came from our families. It wasn't reaching us. As well as hygiene tools and fresh, clean air.

Even visits were prohibited and prevented from us for long periods. In short, we were deprived of being treated as human beings, as human beings, with dignity and value in this existence, and we wished to die in any way.

- You contracted many diseases in prison. Tell us about this aspect of the experience?

Yes, my colleagues and I were infected with many diseases, most of them as a result of the brutal torture methods to which we were subjected by the terrorist Houthi militias, including, for example: infections of the blood and kidneys, enlargement of the liver, heart disease and blood drops, infections and poor vision as a result of tying our eyes for long periods... Most of us also suffered from joint, hip and knee pain. As for me, I am currently unable to walk except with a crutch, in addition to that I suffer from a herniated disc.

Since the first months in the Houthi militia prisons, skin diseases have appeared as a result of dirt, lack of bathing, and lack of cleanliness in everything. We were afflicted with several diseases, such as stomach pain, irritable bowel syndrome, infections of the sinuses, ears, bronchial tubes, and other diseases.

For colleagues, they have become a collection of diseases, some of which are chronic and serious. Our colleague, Tawfiq Al Mansouri, suffered from diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor vision, and infections of the prostate, joints, spine, and stomach. As for colleague Harith Hameed, his eyes almost went blind, in addition to being exposed to several injuries, including stomach and joint pain, infections of the blood, kidneys, heart, spine, and head pain. Likewise, our colleague Akram Al-Walidi suffered from hemorrhoids, colon, joints, heart, and spine, and many other diseases that various colleagues suffered from, whether those I mentioned who remained with me until the exchange deal, or those six colleagues who were liberated in the first international deal in October 2020. That is, two years before our liberation. They are: Hisham Al-Youssoufi, Hisham Tarmoum, Hassan Annab, Issam Balghaith, and Haitham Al-Shehab, as well as our colleague Salah Al-Qaedi, who was released before them in April 2020.

- Surely your families suffered a lot because of this ordeal?

Yes, in the beginning, for example, our families were placed under house arrest, with explicit threats of kidnapping. Some have actually been kidnapped and financially blackmailed, and most of them have been subjected to a war that restricts their livelihoods and livelihoods, distorts them, and incites society against them.

This is in addition to exposing them to terrible psychological suffering, especially through their fear of our execution, which has caused them severe psychological trauma and chronic diseases from which they are still suffering. In the end, they were exiled to the liberated areas and all their property was looted. Before this, our families lost their master and breadwinner, just as children lost their fathers.

Who are the criminals?

- Do you remember the names of the most prominent people involved in your torture, at least directly?

We do not know those involved in torturing us in the interrogation rooms, called “workshops,” because we were dragged there with our hands and feet tied and our eyes blindfolded... but we remember their voices, and perhaps we can distinguish them.

As for those jailers who were torturing us outside the investigation rooms, we know their nicknames, the most prominent of whom are: Abu Sharif Ibrahim Sharif, Wahshi in the criminal investigation department of the Houthi militia, Abu Kahlan Abu Tair, and Abu Jihad. In the revolution reserve are Abu Ahmed, Abu Khalil in the Habra reserve, Abu Ali and Salim al-Qadi, and the security and intelligence services include Houthi Yahya Saree, Abu Muhammad, al-Riyashi, Abu Hamza and Abu Aqeel..

Also among those who tortured us directly in prisons were: Yahya Salah Hebel, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada, Ali Al-Houthi, Abdul-Wasi Abu Talib, Murad Haneen, Abu Shihab Al-Murtada, Majd Al-Din Al-Murtada, Abu Osama Al-Junaid, Abdul Rahman Al-Junaid, Mustafa Al-Junaid, Adnan Al-Junaid. Jalmut, Abu Sakhr, Abu Rubaish, Al-Dhamari, Abu Kahlan, and a long list of jailers whose names do not bother me now.

We also do not forget the major criminals and instigators of torture, certainly on top of them: the criminal Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, and his cronies such as: Jalal Al-Ruwaishan, Muammar Harash, Abdul-Qadir Al-Shami, Abdul-Rab Jarfan, Abdul-Hakim Al-Khaiwani, and the Houthi militia judge, Muhammad Mufleh, who was directing the Political Security militias. The Houthis tortured us and isolated us in solitary confinement cells while we were in the Houthi courtroom.

Journalists are permissible

- What does your kidnapping, and the kidnapping of journalists in general, by these terrorist militias mean?

This means the beginning of: a declaration of war on the Fourth Estate and freedom of opinion and media by the Houthi militias, which continue to this day to violate and silence journalistic life.

Finally, we call on the legitimate judicial authority to prosecute the Houthi leadership involved in the torture of journalists, armed with its legal status and international legitimacy, and at the head of these terrorist leaders: the so-called Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada (Abu Hilal), head of the Houthi negotiating delegation, and his deputy Murad Qasim Haneen (Abu Hussein), and to stop negotiations with The Houthi militia until they are changed..

Finally; We call on the relevant authorities on this day to honor journalists, in recognition and appreciation of their exceptional and pioneering roles in the freedom march and to convey the professional message with all honesty and sincerity in the conditions of brutal war, and as the first front in confronting the Iranian Houthi coup.