Houthis punish Yemeni Parliament, seize assets of 35 deputies

Nora Bendary

After the Houthi terrorist militia in Yemen last week referred hundreds of officers from the intelligence services to retirement and arrested many of them, the Houthi-run public prosecution issued an order to seize assets of 35 deputies, who were allegedly charged with national treason.

Sources pointed out that parliament Speaker and General People’s Congress (GPC) leader Sultan al-Burkani was one of the figures affected by the Houthi decision. Other targeted lawmakers mostly belonged to the GPC and reformist parties, such as al-Islah, otherwise known as the Yemeni Congregation for Reform.

The reason behind the punishment is that these deputies held in mid-April last unusual Parliamentary sessions in Hadramaut, which is the first time that the Parliament has held a meeting outside the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

The Houthi group, backed by the mullahs’ regime in Tehran, is trying to control all the Yemeni government institutions by cloning them in Sana’a, which means making a new versions of these institutions loyal to militia, so as to eliminate the elements loyal to the legitimate government.

The militia threatened the remaining MPs in Sana’a, with imprisonment and confiscation of property if they decided to evade its grip, and in the context of the group’s quest to complete the construction of its own copies of legislative institutions, it has appointed 42 loyalists as members of its Shura Council.

For his part, the Editor in chief of Alyawm Alththamin newspaper Saleh Abu Audal told The Reference that the Houthi militias are afraid of the Yemeni Parliament, and see that the supporters of former president Saleh post a great danger to their interests, therefore, their fight will be against the Parliament.

He further added that this move coincided with a media attack by the Houthi media outlets against the speaker of Yemen’s parliament, Sheikh Sultan al-Barkani, who is considered the strongest man in the General People’s Congress.

This, according to Abu Audal, indicates that the Houthi decision on the confiscation of the property of parliamentarians came in coordination with their Qatari and Iranian allies to strike Saleh’s bloc and the leadership of the Congress Party.

He added that the Houthis are seeking to hit the Yemeni parliament in an attempt to exploit official bodies such as the judiciary and the prosecution against anyone who may pose a threat to their future.