RANIA ABDULLAH

Yemen- The Abductees’ Mothers Association (AMA) held a protest in front of the local authority building in the city of Taiz, southwest Yemen, on Thursday, demanding the release of their children abducted and held in prison by the Houthis. The wives and mothers of the abductees expressed their fear and concern over the ongoing US airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas, where their relatives are held in secret prisons.

They condemned the ongoing detention of “innocent civilians, who have been abducted for years without any legal justification”, recalling the coalition airstrikes that targeted a prison building and a prison yard at a military police compound in the Shaub district of Sana’a in December 2017 and killed more than 40 people, including prisoners.

“The families of the abductees can no longer tolerate another tragedy. We call on the authorities to release our relatives and the international community to put pressure on the authorities to release the abductees and forcibly disappeared persons from prison,” said the mothers and wives of the abductees in a statement.

They also called on the UN Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen to “fulfill” its duties and all parties to the conflict in Yemen to comply with the Stockholm Agreement. “We demand unconditional release of all abductees and forcibly disappeared persons.

“I joined the protest out of fear for my husband’s fate,” Umm Sami Ahmed told NuJINHA. “He has been held in a secret prison for 10 years. I am afraid that the Houthis' secret prisons or detention centers will be hit by US airstrikes and  the abductees will be victims of this crisis. I hope the relevant authorities will negotiate with the Houthis to release the abductees and that the Houthis will release our relatives.”

‘They are at risk’

The husband of Amal Ahmed went to Sana'a for treatment four years ago but he never returned. “Probably, the Houthis abducted him,” said Amal Ahmed, who hopes to find her husband. “I am in fear because I might find him dead in a secret prison.”

“We took to the streets to demand the release of our relatives from the Houthis’ secret prisons,” said Aisha Al-Adini, member of the Abductees' Mothers Association. “The US airstrikes target Houthi-controlled areas, where our relatives are held in secret prisons. We do not want what happened in 2017 to be happen again.”