Al Houthi extortion racket targets activists
Baha’i minority, loathed by militia’s Iranian allies, also comes under attack
The men from the National Security Bureau were careful to blindfold Hisham Al Omeisy before they beat him with metal chains in the dungeon basement.
Every few days they would drag him from his prison cell to hang by his handcuffed wrists from the ceiling. “I didn’t see the faces of the men who were torturing me, but I recognised their voices. I will never forget their voices,” the Yemeni political activist told The Sunday Telegraph.
Al Omeisy spent months in the captivity of Iranian-backed Al Houthis. Political activists like Al Omeisy have been targeted for detention and torture along with the small Baha’i religious minority, who are loathed by Al Houthis’ Iranian allies.
According to human rights groups, Al Houthi agents run extortion rackets where they arrest people and demand money from their families for their release. Amid widespread famine in Yemen, many of the families cannot afford to buy food, let alone pay large ransoms.
Al Omeisy was released in January amid widespread international pressure. Al Houthis tried to place him under house arrest but he escaped San’aa by car, hiding under a rug at the feet of his wife and two young sons.
Many others have not been as lucky. Akram Ayyash, a Baha’i community leader, was in the cell next to Al Omeisy and is believed to still be in Al Houthi captivity. Al Houthis have arrested dozens of Baha’i since 2016 and this month brought espionage charges against 24 Baha’i, including eight women and a teenage girl. The group could face execution if convicted.