There are dozens of official and secret unofficial prisons where Houthi armed group unlawfully holds hundreds of civilians at Houthi-controlled areas. Abducted civilians have been subjected, at these prisons, to inhuman torture for years. Alsaleh Prison at Al-Hawban area in Taiz is one of those prisons which has been turned by Houthis from commercial and residential building to prisons for hundreds of men and many women. The association has documented 156 abduction cases where victims have been held there until this day.
Many former abductees have been interviewed by the association and talked about the different types of torture they were subjected to at Alsaleh Prison. Alshawaya, the barbeque, is a type of torture where an abductee’s hands and legs are tightly tied up and hang by long bar for hours in a pose similar to a barbequed animal. Many abductees have been tortured by fire where a blindfolded and shackled abductee is forced to sit on a heated up cooker.
We, abductees’ mothers in Taiz, demand in our rally the United Nations to urgently find a fair resolution for our abducted and forcibly disappeared sons’ cause, to keep their case away from political bargains and deals, and to immediately and unconditionally take actions to release them. We call upon Yemeni legitimate government and human rights organizations to carry out their humanitarian duties regarding the cause of the abductees, and make the necessary efforts to highlight it as mothers and wives have been feeling let down for years.
Issued by Abductees’ Mothers Association, Taiz February 6th, 2020