"Yemen Shabab Net" reveals the identity of Houthi leaders who practiced torture against kidnapped civilians in Yemen (Exclusive)

During the past years, the leaders of the Houthi militia appear on the media and speak as if they are performing a normal role in the group’s authority. However, they practice systematic torture operations behind closed doors against kidnapped civilians in their prisons in Sana’a, which they have controlled since September 21, 2014.

The "Yemen Shabab Net" website conducted a series of interviews with a number of abductees who were released from the prisons of the Houthi militia, and revealed the identity of the Houthi leaders who practiced torture against them and who were witnesses and victims of those crimes that were committed. Some of those leaders emerged within the Houthi negotiating delegations on the issue of prisoners, and their appearance raises concern. The media is a state of provocation and a recall of a harsh memory of suffering.

According to the testimonies of the kidnappers, the leaders mentioned are those who knew their identity during the years of kidnapping in the Houthi militia prisons, and others whose identity is unknown as they were interrogating and torturing them while they were masked during most of the main investigation sessions during which they tried to extract confessions that the militia leadership wanted to achieve its goal of kidnapping.

During the recent negotiations in Switzerland, which ended on March 20, the majority of the Houthi delegation were involved in torture, and in this file, the victims talk about their suffering with the torture that was practiced against them.

"Al-Murtada" orders the jailers to practice torture

The beginning with the head of the Prisoners’ Committee of the Houthi militia, Abdul Qader Al-Murtada, known among the kidnappers by his nickname “Abu Hilal,” who heads the delegation of the Houthi militias in the previous rounds of prisoner negotiations sponsored by the United Nations since the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018, and these are the last negotiations. In Switzerland, it is the seventh, which ended on March 20 this year with a partial agreement.

According to the testimonies of a number of released abductees who spoke to “Yemen Shabab Net,” Al-Murtada is the primary responsible for all the abductees in the Houthi prisons. He is the one who issues orders on how to deal with them and supervises all the torture to which they are subjected. Meaning that he is not responsible for the humanitarian issue of releasing Houthi prisoners, but rather one of the perpetrators and those involved in torture crimes.

The young man, Arif Al-Bail, was one of the kidnapped people released from the prisons of the Houthi militia. He said, “The Houthi leader Al-Murtada practiced physical and psychological torture against the kidnapped people directly and indirectly, beginning with his issuing strict instructions to the prison guards on how to deal with the kidnapped people, which was horrific, in addition to his attendance at the brutal torture sessions that took place.” The kidnappers are exposed to it by jailers in secret prisons.”

He recounted his story in prison to “Yemen Shabab Net,” saying, “One day, Al-Murtada’s deputy, Murad Haneen (alias Abu Hussein), came to us, masked, and they brutally tortured us so that we would confess that we were a cell in the prison, and when we were in exile, they would torture us, and while the torture became more intense, In addition to cursing and insulting, we were in a solitary confinement cell, and they were beating us with batons, in addition to slapping and kicking. At that time, I told them, “I will confess, so they took me out of the cell.”
He added: “When I left, I was surprised by the presence of Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada behind the door, and in good faith I began to complain to him about what we are being subjected to, as he is the head of the Prisoners’ Committee. I complain to him about what we are being subjected to, and I am hopeful that he will find a solution for us,” but unfortunately he did not pay any attention to my words, and after I completed my complaint, he said. Lee: “Do you know that Nehm fell into our hands?” In reference to the Houthi militia’s control over the Nehm front, east of Sana’a, in 2020.

“Ahmed” (a pseudonym), another kidnapper who spoke to “Yemen Shabab Net” - who requested that his name not be mentioned - said, “One time, after we were transferred from one of the secret prisons to the Central Security Prison, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada came to us, and as he was leaving us, he pointed to the jailers and said To them: Deal with them, referring to our torture.”

He added: "Then they brutally tortured us, beating, kicking, slapping, and insulting us," and stressed: "On several occasions, they were tortured in the presence of the head of the Houthi Prisoners' Committee, Al-Murtada."

Yahya Saree' is more harsh

Among the most brutal and scandalous Houthi leaders is the director of the notorious Political Security Prison in Sana’a, called Yahya Muhammad Hammadi Saree, who belongs to the Bani Hashish district in Sana’a. He is one of the most prominent officials responsible for torturing kidnapped journalists, whether those who were released or those remaining in prisons.

Houthi leader Yahya Saree (a different person from the Houthi military spokesman who bears the same name) is one of the most prominent Houthi leaders who joined the Houthi militia early on. He was a prisoner in the Saada wars about 15 years ago, in the same prison that he manages. According to one of the released kidnappers, “His name is still written on the walls of one of the cells in the Political Security prison in Sana’a, and he spoke with hatred that he had lost two of his uncles in the Saada wars.”

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Journalist Hassan Annab, one of the journalists released, revealed the large exchange deal in mid-October 2020, in his testimony about the torture he was subjected to at the hands of the leader Yahya Saree, and said: “One night, the Houthis found an empty pen in a cell. Journalists. He was quick to take us out, the ten kidnapped journalists, and bring his jailers and order them to severely beat us with various sticks over the course of an entire night.”

He added: “At that time, we were begging him (Yahya Saree) and saying to him: For the sake of God, you have mercy on us, and he responded by saying: You know the dog in the street, he has mercy and chivalry that you will not find with me.” Journalist Annab continued: “And after a full night of torture, we were placed in A cell called “Al-Dhadha” for 23 days. It is a very small, dark room in which we cannot stand or sleep fully due to its narrowness. He said: “I did not see the light in all those days and I was in my clothes full of blood.”

Insulting and torturing the kidnapped people in front of their children

The Houthi leader, Yahya Saree, takes great pleasure in torturing the kidnappers, not only physical and psychological torture, but even with regard to the basic needs for survival, including deprivation of sleep, access to the bathroom, and lack of exposure to the sun, in addition to being denied food, water, and treatment. Dozens of them were subjected to Abductees die under various methods of torture in Houthi prisons.

Abdo Al-Ziyadi, one of those released from Houthi prisons, says, “One of the kidnapped people who was working in the Political Security prison, during one of the trial sessions, spoke before the Houthi judges about the violations committed by the Houthi leader, ‘Sarie’, after which he was subjected to cruel torture.”

Among the Houthi leaders whose known and secret identities we obtained is Abdul Rahman Al-Fayq, known as “Abu Sakhr,” who belongs to the Hamdan District (west of Sana’a), and his brother, known by his nickname, “Abu Rabeish,” who is an official in the Houthi Negotiating Committee and worked as director of the Central Security Prison. Before that, he was a supervisor of one of the secret prisons located in the Haddah area in the center of the capital, Sana’a.

According to the released kidnapper, Arif Al-Bail, who was imprisoned in four secret prisons, he said: “Some of the prisons he was in are homes for opponents of the Houthi militia from among the Yemeni leaders, while there are secret prisons that were established specifically for that, with individual and group cells as well as their annexes.”

Arif revealed to "Yemen Shabab Net", "The "super" Houthi leader was torturing the kidnappers directly and himself, as he was putting smell and hot pepper on the wounds of the kidnappers after torturing them for more torture. He was a drunk man and was bragging about it in front of the kidnappers."

Dark rooms and deprivation of worship

The kidnappers were prevented from even praying aloud and reciting the Holy Qur’an aloud, and because they were in the secret prison in dark underground rooms, even hours were forbidden from them, so the day would pass by and they would not know night from day, nor would they know the times of prayer.

Among the Houthi leaders who carry out these types of torture is the so-called Hayel Jumaan, known by his nickname “Abu Sajjad”, who was torturing kidnappers in the Central Security Prison and other secret prisons in Sana’a, in the secret prisons in Sana’a, and he comes from the “Musik area” and belongs to the capital, Sana’a. Deputy Director of the Central Security Prison.

“Muhammad” is a pseudonym for a kidnapped man released from Houthi prisons. He said in an interview with “Yemen Shabab Net,” that one day, the person called Abu Sajjad asked us in one of the secret prisons to confess that they were a cell inside the prison and working for the benefit of legitimacy, and he continued to torture us for more than 45 years. One day he asks us to admit it.”

He added: "He used to tell us during the torture, 'I am required to prove a case against you, and it is necessary that you expel me and yourselves and confess and write down that you are a cell, otherwise I will continue to torture you until death.'"

In the Political Security prison in Sana’a, the so-called “Abu Saif Al-Matari” is among the Houthi jailers, and among the painful situations that the young man “Abdo Al-Ziyadi” recounts, he says: “On the morning of the first Eid they spent in prison, they chanted the ritual of takbir, but Al-Matari prevented them and was He cursed them and insulted them and began to punish them.”

He continued: "After that, he tied us up, poured water on us, and ordered us to crawl on our stomachs down the prison corridor until we reached the bathroom chair. He said, 'Eid Mubarak,' and then returned to his cell crawling on his stomach, all because of the Eid takbirs."

Among the Houthi leaders who enjoy torturing kidnapped people and deprive their families of visiting them is Ali Saleh Hamil, who comes from Saada Governorate and works as a supervisor at Habra Prison in the capital, Sanaa. In the same prison there is a person called Hani Al-Sarihi, who carries out physical and psychological torture on the kidnapped people and their families.

What the kidnappers who spoke to “Yemen Shabab Net” mentioned is an aspect of the Houthi leaders who were able to identify them during prison and who emerged as negotiators, but according to the kidnappers’ assertions, the majority of the severe torture operations were carried out by masked people whose identities are not known.