From Behind Prison Bars, a Tribal Leader Exposes the Terror Tactics of Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood
Tribal leader Ziyad Hamla believed that relocating to Yemen’s liberated areas would mark the end of the persecution he had endured at the hands of the Houthis. Instead, he found himself imprisoned by their alleged partners, Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Approximately twenty days ago, tribal leader Ziyad Hamla was reportedly surprised by a security raid carried out by forces affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The officers stormed his family’s residence and detained him along with several others, including his son, before transferring them to one of the Brotherhood’s detention facilities in the city of Al-Turbah, south of Taiz Governorate.
Following sustained public pressure and firm directives from Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi, Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood ultimately released Sheikh Ziyad Hamla. After his release, he revealed that he had been detained alongside his brother and his cousin.
The tribal leader was released at dawn on Friday after widespread solidarity campaigns and appeals launched by activists and figures associated with the National Resistance, particularly following the death of his father on Thursday evening. He passed away while hoping to see his son freed from detention.
Sheikh Hamla is regarded as one of the tribal leaders who ignited the uprising against the Houthi militia on December 2, 2017, in Ibb Governorate. He later relocated to Yemen’s western coast after enduring persecution by the Houthis and is considered one of the leading founders of the National Resistance operating on the Taiz and Al-Hodeidah fronts overlooking the Red Sea.
Brotherhood Intransigence and Fabricated Charges
The Muslim Brotherhood leader Shuaib Al-Adimi, who serves as the military intelligence chief of the Brotherhood-controlled Tur Al-Baha military axis, was responsible for the arrest of Ziyad Hamla and his imprisonment in one of the intelligence detention facilities under his authority.
According to the sources, “patrols affiliated with the military intelligence branch of the Tur Al-Baha axis raided Hamla’s residence in Al-Turbah under the pretext of acting on behalf of the security authorities of Al-Shamayatayn District.” They subsequently arrested him and subjected him to enforced disappearance for twenty days on what the sources described as fabricated charges.
The same sources stated that military intelligence chief and Muslim Brotherhood leader Shuaib Al-Adimi refused to release Hamla despite repeated tribal and community mediation efforts. He also allegedly prevented a delegation formed by the National Resistance from visiting the detainee.
According to the sources, the Brotherhood official further refused to refer Hamla’s case to the Specialized Criminal Prosecution Office and ignored requests from Taiz Governor and Chairman of the Supreme Security Committee, Nabil Shamsan, to either release him or bring him before the judiciary.
Secret Detention Facilities
The detention of Sheikh Hamla is reportedly neither the first nor the last case attributed to the Muslim Brotherhood in Taiz, particularly within the Tur Al-Baha military axis operating in the districts of Al-Maqatirah and Al-Shamayatayn. According to the report, the group’s private detention facilities hold dozens of detainees, including children.
The Brotherhood-controlled military axis operates several secret prisons, including one in the town of Al-Kanab in Tur Al-Baha, another inside the Al-Shamayatayn Security Directorate building in Al-Turbah, and a third at the central police station located approximately twenty kilometers from Al-Turbah.
In February 2026, the Brotherhood-controlled Tur Al-Baha axis reportedly prevented the National Commission to Investigate Alleged Human Rights Violations—an investigation mechanism supported by the United Nations—from visiting its detention facilities in Taiz and Lahj governorates.
The National Commission accuses the military axis of operating unlawful detention centers in the districts of Tur Al-Baha and Al-Shamayatayn and of arbitrarily detaining and forcibly disappearing 42 civilians, some of whom have reportedly remained missing for more than three years.
