Yemeni women face ‘unprecedented’ and horrifying pattern of abuse in Houthi areas…

While western news outlets cover news about the Saudi-led coalition, the terror Yemeni women face under Houthi role is ignored, and neglected by the politically motivated western mainstream media.

Houthi crimes against Yemeni women include murder, maiming, humiliation, rape, sexual abuse and torture, yet the mainstream media won’t tell you that.

Houthi rebels have killed hundreds of women since the start of Yemen’s civil war, the country’s human rights minister said in 2018. Yemeni SABA news agency cited, Mohammed Askar, as saying that the Houthi militia killed 814 women and injured 4,179 between 2014 to 2018.

Although Yemeni officials and human rights advocates, spoke about these crimes in the western media. They ignore those horrifying accounts that detail the survivors’ stories, and their justice remain on hold because of the double standard view the west about the Yemeni conflict.

In 2020, the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Yemen, identified a Houthi network, involved in the repression of women who oppose Houthis, through intimidation and sexual violence.

In its report addressed to the President of the Security Council, the Panel documented a set of violations committed by Houthis , which included arbitrary arrest, detention of women, looting, sexual assault, beating, torture, and facilitation of rape in secret detention centers.

According to the report, Houthi women constitute an intelligence agency. Among their tasks are searching women and homes, teaching the militias’ ideology and maintaining order in women’s prisons.

The report documented, an increased repression against women. It reported, the detention of 11 women, who were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted due to their political affiliations, or their participation in political activities or public protests.

Women were threatened with being charged with prostitution, or with organized crime if they continue acting against Houthis. Some were brutalized and raped, and some didn’t survive to their stories.

The Security Council Resolution 2467 (2019), which confirmed the increasing repression of women who express political opinions, or participate in demonstrations and stressed that, this affects their ability to participate in conflict resolution efforts and decision-making processes

Houthi’s crimes were documented, through the testimonies from several humanitarian actors on the militias’ intentional rejection of NGO projects related to women, peace and security or women’s empowerment. Yet the western mainstream media still ignored the voices of the victims .

Among the many victims are cases of women who were arrested and detained for reasons related to their humanitarian work and providing food and medicine to the people.

Sadly prominent NGO’S like Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of parties to the conflict using schools for military purposes, yet they ignored or turned a blind eye to the horrors women face under Houthi rule.

This is inexcusable but expected from these NGO’S that Yemeni women face ‘unprecedented’ and horrifying pattern of abuse in Houthi areas, activists and experts say yet the mainstream media and western politicians turn a blind eye to these crimes, can you tell these victims why they don’t deserve justice?

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He often writes about Islamism, Islamist factions and modern Terrorism. He tweets under @0khalodi0.

President Hadi called for military support, after he was ousted by the Houthi movement, and fled to Saudi Arabia…

This one is a little different, it hits close to home in many different ways, the Yemeni Civil War is a unique phenomenon in modern warfare, the majority of people don’t even know what’s really going on, and who’s fighting who.

The Combatants

• Iranian backed Supreme Political Council (Houthis).
• Internationally Recognized Government (Hadi-led government).
• South Yemen Nationalists Southern Transitional Council.
• The (allegedly Turkish and Qatari backed) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Yemen Province (ISIL-YP).
• The (allegedly Iranian and Qatari backed) Ansar al-Sharia and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The so-called Supreme political council of Yemen, is a mish-mash of bad guys and misfits. Iran supplies the Houthis with arms, drones and ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah delivers these arms through shell corporations, and Hezbollah operators man the missiles.

A UN report said, North Korea cooperating militarily with Syria and has been trying to sell weapons to Yemen’s Houthis.

On the other hand Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia terrorist groups, that have been in war with Saudi Arabia since the mid 90s with support from Iran and Qatar also known as Al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula are portrayed, as Saudi and Emarati allies by mainstream media.

The Cabinet of Yemen, refers to the governing body of the internationally recognized Yemen government led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi who replaced Ali Abdullah Saleh on February 25, 2012 as the new President. He then selected new cabinet members of the Yemeni Government.

The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, is an intervention launched by Saudi Arabia on 26th March 2015, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, in response to calls from the legitimate president of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

President Hadi called for military support, after he was ousted by the Houthi movement, and fled to Saudi Arabia.

The narrative of the coverage

Civil wars have plagued the nation for years. In 2011, when the so called Arab Spring shook the Arabian world, Yemenis protested for “democracy”. That’s what the main stream media told you, right? Well, the truth is a bit more complicated.

The “protestors” successfully toppled the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ruled the country for 33 years. He was forced to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Under Hadi, who ran uncontested in 2012, reforms were slow and corruption and food insecurity were not going away as fast as expected, The Houthi rebels, used that to gain greater political representation. When they failed to do so politically they resorted to violence.

In 2014, they aligned with Saleh and took control of the capital city of Sanaa. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia in early 2015. A fight for power between tribal and government factions within Yemen escalated in March of that year and became threatening to the security of the region.

The continued failures to resolve the conflict peacefully forced the hand of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, that ended up intervening with air strikes to fight the military campaign of Iran-Backed Houthis that swallowed most of the country.

Porcelain mask is cracked: The Yemen media war, and the massive propaganda machine

Some in the main stream media will tell you, that the murder of the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi sparked the massive coverage campaign that covered the war in Yemen. I would be more honest, and say that it was a campaign aimed at the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Three-years before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, mourners were attending the funeral of journalist Abdul Kareem al-Khaiwani in Sanaa, March 24, 2015. Assassins on a motorbike shot dead Khaiwani in broad day light.

The war in Yemen in general has negatively impacted media at many levels. In 2016, in a televised speech, the leader of Houthi rebels, Abdelmalek al-Houthi, warned, “The media workers are more dangerous to our country than the nationalist and warring mercenaries”.

Let’s be honest, the hostility of militant groups toward the media is not limited to the Houthis. Yes it maybe as extreme as the Iranian backed militias but it can’t be ignored, adding to the problem is the targeting of journalists by Al-Qaida and Islamic State of Iraq and Levant – Yemen Province (ISIL-YP).

This hostility hinders the media’s ability to deliver news and stories about Yemen’s civil war, leaving Yemeni and international news audiences ignorant, dependent on politically motivated media groups who are active in the conflict areas, most of which fall prey to corruption of war.

Yemen’s media suffered a decline and retreated as it comes under increased pressure during the ongoing conflict. It also got plagued with hiring, based on ideology affiliated with the Houthis, moreover, nepotism of militia members was high as they started handing over press jobs to their relatives.

Controlling the local and international narrative is crucial for the Houthis. When Houthi forces took over Sanaa in 2014, they shelled the Yemen state TV station, and soon after they replaced media professionals with Houthi-affiliated media groups.

While this was happening in Houthi-controlled areas, newspapers and broadcasts in the north and south were suspended, such as the formerly state-owned Al-Thawra and 14October newspapers.

Instead, the Houthis captured Al-Thawra and turned it into a pro-Houthi outlet circulated only in the north Yemen.

Yemen’s Internet provider, Yemennet blocked many anti-Houthi websites, and the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Information accused media outlets of “inciting treason”. Controlling the media became even more prevalent in 2015 after the coalition started their air campaign.

The deadliest violation against press in Yemen, was the death of two Yemeni journalists who reportedly were used as human shields by Houthi forces to protect a military installation.

In another instance, blogger and investigative journalist Mohammed al-Absi, known for reporting on a number of Houthi-related-corruption stories, and withholding of food and medicine and creating a food and medical crisis, was poisoned by the Houthis.

Yemen is one of the most dangerous places to work as a journalist. The Houthis are ranked as the second worst abuser of freedom of press in the world, only the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) surpasses them. Yet, they still control the narrative by corruption and fear.

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He often writes about Islamism, Islamist factions and modern Terrorism. He tweets under @0khalodi0.

Arab News Pakistan quoted an exclusive interview of Al-Maliki who said, “the case of Kashmir is very important and the chairman of Saudi Shoura Council, Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh, has called for an OIC conference on Kashmir in Pakistan.”

“The delegation of the Saudi Shoura Council met with the Saudi-Pakistani Parliamentary Friendship Committee before interacting with the speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly and the chairman of the Senate,” he added.

Al-Maliki while speaking about the economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, also said that the speaker of Paksitan’s National Assembly would travel to Saudi Arabia on a reciprocal visit by the end of this year.

Osama Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, a member of the Saudi delegation said that Saudi and Pakistan have discussed ways strengthen relations between the Saudi Shoura Council and the National Assembly of Pakistan.

“We have agreed to sign an MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] to strengthen relations between the two countries’ parliaments during the upcoming visit of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to Saudi Arabia later this month,” Al-Rabiah informed Arab News.

He said that Saudi Arabia will not only attend the OIC meeting but will support Pakistan to the maximum.

“We have also been informed about many business opportunities in Pakistan which we will share with Saudi companies,” he added.

While praising the Pakistani expatriate workers in the Kingdom, he said, “Saudis give special respect to the Pakistani community in the Kingdom.”

PM Modi said that India is aiming to invest $100 billion in refining, pipeline and gas terminals by 2024 to create energy infrastructure.

He also emphasized that the country aims to be a $5 trillion economy in the next five years.

In the infrastructure sector alone, the government aims to have an investment of $1.5 trillion in the next five years, he added.

Modi also said, “I thank Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and my brother Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for inviting me to participate in the forum,” while speaking about Saudi Arabia’s rich culture and status as global energy hub.

“My friend and brother Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman deserves the heartiest congratulations for this success. This forum is know as ‘Davos in Desert’ and in the last century the hard work of the people of Saudi Arabia and the bounties of nature it is blessed with has converted the sands of Arabia into gold,” he said.

Earlier, he met Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al-e-Saud and discussed variety of partnership deals between India and Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Sarhan, secretary-general of the International Organization for Relief, Welfare and Development (IOR), signed a cooperation agreement with Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, General Supervisor of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) to carry out the noble project.

Each food basket weighs around 24 kg, that consists of rice (10 kg), lentils (7 kg), vegetable oil (2 kg), salt (2 kg), and sugar (3 kg).

The noble project aims at helping the Rohingya refugees to augment Saudi Arabia’s existing humanitarian interventions and give them opportunity to get life-saving food.

“IOR is carrying out such programs to complement longer-term relief and development projects that provide sustainable assistance in improving living conditions of the refugees living in Bangladesh,” Dr. Al-Sarhan said.

Saudi Arabia has left no stone unturned in supporting and aiding the needy and under-privileged Muslims across the globe, especially in Bangladesh, Yemen, African nations, and even to the poor Iranians effected by recent floods.