Human rights organizations reveal Houthi massacres against African refugees

Amira Sherif

Human Rights Watch has reported that dozens of migrants have died after being burned in Yemen on March 7 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia fired unidentified projectiles at a detention center for immigrants in Sanaa, which caused a fire.

The militia committed horrific crimes against African immigrants in Sanaa, assaulting them in prison and throwing firebombs at those in custody after they had protested against the poor conditions and demanded their release.

Sanaa hospitals treated the burns of hundreds of surviving migrants, most of them Ethiopians, who were protesting their conditions at the center amid a heavy security presence that hindered relatives and humanitarian agencies’ efforts to reach the wounded.

The human rights organization stressed that the Houthis must immediately allow humanitarian teams to assist those in need of medical or other assistance, adding that the UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen should include the incident in its ongoing investigations into human rights violations in Yemen.

Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with Ethiopian migrants held in the Houthi Immigration, Passports and Nationality Authority detention facility in Sanaa and with United Nations officials in Yemen. The persons interviewed stated that the conditions of detention in the overcrowded facility were unsanitary, as up to 550 immigrants were placed at the facility. They said they did not receive any mattresses, but were allowed to purchase one from the guards. Food was limited and drinking water was scarce, forcing detainees to drink from the toilet faucets.

After weeks of living in the overcrowded facility, the detainees had organized a hunger strike to protest the conditions and their continued detention. The only way to gain their release was to pay the security guards 70,000 Yemeni riyals ($280).

Migrants also described verbal abuse by the guards, including racist insults, threats, and repeated insults.

On the morning of March 7, the detainees refused to eat breakfast. At about 1 pm, the guards returned with lunch, but the detainees insisted on refusing to eat. A clash ensued, during which the detainees said security guards recognized the protest organizers, took them out of the hangars, and beat them with wooden sticks and their firearms. The detainees responded by throwing dishes, hitting and wounding a security guard in the face. After that, guards gathered the migrants and held them in hangars.

According to Human Rights Watch, the guards left and returned a few minutes later, accompanied by security forces in black, green, and gray Houthi uniforms who were equipped with weapons and military equipment. Detainees said that security guards instructed them to “recite their last prayers.”

Then, one of the members of the incoming force climbed to the roof of the hangar, which includes open spaces, and fired two projectiles at the room. The migrants said that the first shell created thick smoke and made their eyes tear and sting. The second projectile, which the migrants called a bomb, exploded and ignited a fire. According to the human rights organization, witness accounts indicate the possibility of using smoke bombs, tear gas cartridges and stun grenades.

Human Rights Watch received video clips confirming and analyzing witness accounts, including a video taken immediately after the fire that showed dozens of charred bodies in positions indicating that they were trying to flee, but the smoke and fire prevailed over them.

For its part, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the Houthis should allow relief and health workers to reach hospitals.

Human Rights Watch stressed that the Houthis should only detain migrants as a last resort and ensure that migrant detention and deportation centers meet international standards under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

“The Houthi authorities should communicate urgently with the Ethiopian authorities, whose citizens are in Yemeni detention centers under the control of this group. The International Organization for Migration should be allowed to arrange the voluntary return of migrants in Yemen. The UNHCR should have full access to assess any application for refugee status, and to ensure that all organized returns facilitated by UN humanitarian agencies are voluntary. Donors should support the reintegration of traumatized returnees upon their return to Ethiopia,” the human rights organization added.

For its part, Ethiopia confirmed that it is working to determine the identity of its citizens who were killed by the Houthi bombing in Sanaa, and it is also working to return the injured citizens.

Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ambassador Dina Mufti said in his regular press conference, “An investigation is underway to identify the Ethiopians who died in the refugee shelter in Yemen, and the government is now working to return the rest of the injured Ethiopians from Yemen.”

“The Ethiopian government will return 150 Ethiopians from the city of Aden to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa,” Mufti added.

Yemeni activists denounced the silence of UN organizations and their shameful complicity with the Houthis against the refugees who were stranded after fleeing death in their countries, only to be killed inside Yemen and in full view of the UN organizations.