The Muslim Brotherhood strangles Taiz: kidnappings over Facebook posts

Ordinary Facebook posts in Taiz, a city under the dominance of Al-Islah — the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — have turned into charges leading to security prosecutions and detention.

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In recent days, the city has witnessed abductions linked to online publications, spreading fear among residents. Militias loyal to Al-Islah have targeted activists and intellectuals over their posts on social media.

The first case was that of Raafat Sadeq, son of the Vice President of Taiz University, Dr. Sadeq Al-Shumeiri. He was abducted in front of his home by a unit belonging to the 170th Air Defense Brigade — part of the Taiz axis controlled by Al-Islah.

The assailants, arriving in a fully equipped military vehicle, opened fire to intimidate locals before brutally beating the young man.

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According to sources quoted by Amanat Net, the abduction was a direct retaliation for a post in which Raafat denounced the assault on a female university professor and her daughter, pointing to Al-Islah elements as perpetrators.

The same sources confirmed that Raafat had previously received threats from these militias, which control most of Taiz under Al-Islah’s authority.

He was released hours later following mediation and pressure, and taken to the military hospital for treatment. His ordeal remains a stark example of how Al-Islah uses its armed forces to silence dissenting voices.

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The wave of fear did not stop there. On the same day, another Al-Islah security unit kidnapped a party official and deputy director of environmental health services in Taiz, transferring him to an undisclosed location.

This abduction was reportedly a reaction to a Facebook post exposing corruption and sanitary disasters in the city’s restaurants and bakeries, holding the Al-Islah-run local administration accountable for negligence endangering public health.

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Local sources reported that this official had also received repeated threats before the incident, confirming a systematic pattern of repression: in Taiz, Al-Islah exploits security and military apparatus, using abduction as a tool to preserve its hegemony since the outbreak of the conflict.

Amid ongoing war, these kidnappings stand as evidence that Al-Islah will not hesitate to resort to violence to maintain power, fueling concerns of further escalation in Taiz, where civilians bear the heaviest cost of the Brotherhood’s confrontation with all rivals.

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