Continuous Crimes – Houthi Continues Terrorist Violations against Press and Media
The Houthi terrorist group continues its crimes and violations against the Yemeni people, which have reached the point of violating human rights, amidst wide international condemnation. A number of the Yemeni people and its institutions called for international action to confront Houthi terrorist crimes.
International silence
Several Yemeni institutions condemned the international silence regarding the abductions and enforced disappearances carried out by the Iranian-backed Houthi group against Yemeni journalists, media professionals and activists, calling on the international community to take a clear stance that amounts to the size of these crimes and violations and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Persistent violations
Ahmed Jabbari, a Yemeni analyst and human rights activist, said that the Houthi terrorist militia has committed various violations and heinous crimes against journalists kidnapped in its prisons for seven years now. These violations amount to war crimes that do not fall under the statute of limitations.
The Yemeni political analyst added that the Houthi militia violations against journalists range from kidnapping, killing, displacement, enforced disappearance, physical assault, brutal torture in detention centers, occupation of media institutions, threats, blocking of news sites, banning of coverage, issuing repressive regulations and instructions, looting media properties, confiscating journalists’ belongings and properties, prosecuting them, and stopping media salaries and suspending them from work.
He pointed out that the Houthi militia prevents the relatives of journalists who are kidnapped in its prisons from visiting their relatives, and denies them the right to communicate with them, and the absence of a minimum of basic services, in addition to physical and psychological torture, and the denial of treatment or the referral of journalists to the hospital in a clear and honest way to put their lives and physical integrity at risk.
International movement
He called on the international community, the United Nations and all human rights organizations, especially those concerned with freedom of the press and the media, to stand by Yemeni journalists as they confront the ugliest gang committed against the press and media, unless other violent groups commit such acts.
Reporters Without Borders and other organizations have classified the Houthi militia as the second largest group in the world after ISIS in terms of violations and crimes against journalists. However, the international community and organizations concerned with freedom of opinion and expression have not exerted the necessary efforts to pressure the Houthi militia to release the journalists kidnapped in its prisons, despite the torture and ill-treatment they have endured for seven years, and to consider this a humanitarian file, and journalism is not a crime.
