Murder and torture: Houthis commit ‘war crimes’ against Yemen’s Hajour tribes

Ali Ragab

Almost seven months after Yemen’s Houthi terrorist militia suppressed an uprising in the northwestern province of Hajjah, a human rights report uncovered the crimes it committed against the people of Hajour, which it described as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

February and March saw an armed uprising by the Hajour tribes against the Houthi militia, which led to hundreds of deaths and injuries and the arrest of hundreds of tribesmen by the militia.

Hajour is split in five districts: Kushar, Qarah, Weshah, Jemima and Aflah al-Sham.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms issued a recent report revealing the horrific violations committed by the Iranian-backed Houthis against civilians in Hajour in the district of Kushar.

The organization’s field team documented 11,384 human rights violations in the Hajour tribal areas in Kushar from January 1 to April 20.

The report described the violations as tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, condemning the silence of the international community and the absence of the roles expected of the United Nations and its envoy to Yemen against the militia’s crimes.

Most prominent violations

According to a report by the Yemen Network for Rights and Freedoms, the abuses of the Houthi militia in Yemen against members of the Hajour tribes range from murder, physical attacks, arrests, abductions and enforced disappearances, displacement and forced displacement.

In addition to the destruction of homes and private property; violations of children’s rights and the right to education; the bombing and looting of health facilities, civilian objects and historical sites; the confiscation of freedom of thought and houses of worship; and torture, ill-treatment, field executions, and harassment of women.

The network’s field team documented 128 militia killings, 97 of which were civilians, 14 women and 17 children.

The team documented 647 cases, including 49 children, 37 women, and 561 civilians. The team recorded 25 cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, in addition to 356 cases of arbitrary detention.

The human rights team also documented 748 violations of private property, including 25 house bombings, 68 incursions and searches, 2 cases of gasoline burnings, 202 incursions and lootings, 178 cases of looting, 149 cases of partial destruction, 16 shelling resulting in fire, and 63 cases shelling resulting in total destruction.

The field monitoring group documented 3,996 cases of looting of citizens’ private property, including 716 cases of looting of home furniture, 68 cases of looting of various types of vehicles, 44 cases of looting and confiscation of trucks, 15 cases of motor vehicle confiscation, 16 looting of large stores and 21 looting of small shops. Other cases include the looting of medical clinics, 5 cases of looting of gas distribution agencies, 65 cases of looting of generators of various sizes, in addition to the destruction of 3,020 farms, and 6 cases of looting and confiscation of agricultural water pumps.

The leader of the General People’s Congress, Kamel al-Khudani, said that the human rights report on the Houthi crimes against the tribes of Hajour is part of a large and dangerous file, and must be taken care of internationally to punish the militia.

Khudani added that the Yemeni government should move quickly to pursue the Houthi militia internationally for committing war crimes against the Yemeni people and bring the perpetrators of these crimes to international justice.

The Yemeni politician stressed that the Yemeni government and human rights organizations are required not only to monitor violations, but also to take legal action to prosecute the militia leaders, pointing out that the Houthis are no different from the terrorist organization ISIS in the quality of crimes committed.