NUR SİRİB

Yemen – In Yemen, many women have looked for their disappeared husbands and sons. The relatives of disappeared people have tried to live under pressure for years. They have waited for the return of their loved ones, who have disappeared.

Arwa Fadıl Muhammad Salih is one of these women. “I have waited for my husband for five years, and I have looked for him everywhere. I looked for him in prisons and detention camps; I have looked for him everywhere,” Arwa Fadıl Muhammad Salih said, “I was a classic housewife before my husband disappeared. While looking for him, I become a woman who specializes in human rights monitoring. Sometimes, I don’t have time to take care of my children.”

She has now 744 families

“I didn’t know anyone except my relatives but I have met thousand people while looking for my husband. Now, I don’t feel ashamed when I go to detention camps, police stations military camps holding photographs of my husband or other disappeared people. Before I felt ashamed and feared when I showed the photograph in my hand but now I don’t fear anything,” said Arwa Fadıl Muhammad Salih, who has been an activist and member of the Association of Families of Disappeared Persons since 2016.

To find her husband and other disappeared persons, Arwa works like a detective; she follows all news, meets people released from prisons, and asks everyone if they know her husband or other disappeared persons. Arwa told us that her husband’s brother was also disappeared but at the beginning of 2021, he was reported dead and her mother-in-law died from intracerebral bleed when she received the news. “I hope we can find my husband,” said Arwa while talking about her husband’s brother.

Call on the Yemeni government to take responsibility for the disappeared persons

Arwa met the Yemini government to find the disappeared persons, “We don’t say they were abducted or disappeared by the government. But the government is responsible for not finding them. We try to show the government their responsibilities,” Arwa said, “The struggle for rights and truth never ends.” Arwa wants to know if her husband is still alive or not. She told us that she will keep looking for the disappeared person even if she finds her husband. 744 families have reportedly applied to the association to find their loved ones, who have disappeared.