In Response to Repeated Calls… Investigation into the Crimes of the Muslim Brotherhood in Taiz and Lahij Prisons Begins
After Yemeni judicial authorities began investigating the crimes of arbitrary detentions and the imprisonment of innocents by forces loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood in the governorates of Taiz and Lahij, a document revealed a directive for the military judiciary to have the prosecution of the fourth military region conduct field visits and open an investigation file on the victims detained in centers under the command of Colonel Abu Bakr al-Jibouli, commander of the Fourth Mountain Infantry Brigade and the Tour al-Baha axis, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and deployed in border areas between the two governorates.
The directive is based on complaints and reports submitted by the families to the Ministry of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Chief Public Prosecutor of Military Courts, revealing that Muslim Brotherhood forces practiced arbitrary detentions of citizens on fabricated charges, without referring the victims to the judiciary, and kidnapped dozens to hold them in illegal prisons.
The director of the military judiciary, Judge Mehdi Fasieh, tasked member of the public prosecution of the fourth military region, Ibrahim Abdelrab, to open an investigation file on those arbitrarily detained in the Muslim Brotherhood‘s prisons. A local source told “Al-Ain Al-Ikhbariya” that a judge from the specialized criminal prosecution in Aden began on Wednesday to investigate at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood forces.
Dozens of families of kidnapped individuals are eagerly awaiting to learn the fate of their relatives detained in these Muslim Brotherhood prisons located in intertwined areas between Taiz and Lahij, including cases of detainees who died under torture and whose bodies have not been returned.
Relatives of the kidnapped individuals see the start of the judicial investigation into this humanitarian file as a positive step, albeit delayed, in response to repeated calls and persistent protests from the families and mothers of the detainees demanding to know the fate of their children, which even led to a hunger strike by detainees in the prisons.
The Fourth Mountain Infantry Brigade and the Tour al-Baha axis affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood manage about six illegal detention centers, including temporary and secret ones. One of the main kidnapping centers is located near a military site in the village of “Al-Kanb” on the border between the districts of Maqatara and Tour al-Baha between Taiz and Lahij.
The exact number of kidnapped individuals in these detention centers is not known, the presence of dozens of forcibly disappeared individuals, including youths and children, with 30 people kidnapped in late July 2023 following an explosion carried out by the Houthis in Maqatara.
At that time, rural residents accused the Muslim Brotherhood forces of exploiting the explosion to launch raids on the homes of their opponents under the pretext of working as cells for the Houthis.
They claimed that the explosion occurred after the sudden withdrawal of these forces led by Abu Bakr al-Jibouli from four military sites on the front lines, enabling a Houthi group specialized in planting explosives to infiltrate and place two mines in the area, targeting a military patrol in Maqatara Valley, causing deaths and injuries.
They also confirmed that on the day of the explosion, residents clashed with Houthi elements who were trying to take positions in one of the military sites vacated by the Muslim Brotherhood and forced them to withdraw towards the Hayfan district, east of Taiz.
At that time, the Muslim Brotherhood forces prevented the criminal investigation department in Maqatara from collecting evidence and conducting investigations, refusing to inform the leadership of the fourth military region in Aden and the Ministry of Defense of the explosion and exploited it as a pretext for arrests, according to a complaint filed by a lawyer on behalf of the victims of the Muslim Brotherhood prisons.
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It is worth noting that the Muslim Brotherhood has turned the areas under their control into secret prisons where civilians and activists opposed to the agenda of the Islah party, the political arm of the organization, are imprisoned. Opening this file is expected to shed light on the victims of dozens of secret Muslim Brotherhood prisons in the city of Taiz, Maqatara, and even Marib, according to observers.
