Prisoner Treatment in Yemen: Accounts From Marib and Beyond

I was never captured without having the upper hand, and I was never weak or humiliated.

I retained my pride and dignity, and they, they also preserved my pride and dignity.

I was held in Marib's prisons for two years and eight months. When they first captured us at the front, their treatment was terrible, immoral.

By God, I found the treatment there, as a prisoner, to be humane, beyond what we expected, since we were fighting alongside the mercenaries and had gone over to them and so on, but by God, it was humane treatment, praise be to God.

Physical torture is one form, or one crime, among the crimes committed against our prisoners in their prisons.

There are dozens of prisoners who were martyred during their captivity in numerous different ways. Some were executed by gunfire, some were burned, and some were buried alive. We documented many prisoners, more than 30 prisoners who were tortured until they were martyred under torture.

Whereas we, by the grace of Almighty God— I mean, if you compare the treatment between us and the mercenaries, when we captured a prisoner, we never By God's grace, we treat him with the utmost kindness and gentleness.

If he is wounded, we treat him. If he is thirsty, we give him water. If he is hungry, we feed him, by God's grace.

Even those who were injured, whether their injuries were minor or severe, by God's grace, we gave them the best possible treatment. Praise be to God.

Enemy prisoners in this place receive high-quality healthcare directly from a specialized medical team. Those whose condition worsens and for whom they are unable to provide the necessary healthcare are transferred to private hospitals.

There is a complete, integrated health unit inside the prison that provides healthcare to all the prisoners we have who need greater care or more medical attention.

When he got sick, they would give him IV fluids or a sedative pill to calm him down. A person would remain sick for five or six months, then die as a martyr.

And after that, around seventeen people have died as martyrs in the prison.

واحد.

Here, prisoners receive balanced nutrition.

They eat healthy meals at their scheduled times.

Prisoners are entitled to clean food, clean water, and clean clothing as well, in accordance with the teachings of true Islam.

The meals are fine. There is a service aspect that the institution is able to provide, and what it cannot provide, it can buy from outside. Treatment is generally good.

There is no abuse by security. There is no abuse by the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee at all.

They give you a piece of bread. It is not bread befitting our rights, our Yemeni rights, it is plain and small.

They give it to you, and you make it last from morning until the next morning.

One portion of rice is for four people. One plate of rice for fourteen or fifteen people.

Preventing a prisoner from communicating with family and relatives is considered a crime and a very serious violation of the prisoner’s rights.

Of course, most of our prisoners are not allowed to communicate, especially the prisoners held in Marib prisons.

At first, when I was held by them, I went a year until Eid.

It was in October, and I did not communicate with them, not until after a year.

From the very first moment a prisoner arrives there to During the investigation period, they are only kept in prison.

He is prohibited from communicating, then afterward he is allowed to communicate with his family once a week.

As for communicating with family, every prisoner makes a call every ten days.

He is allowed one call every ten days to his family.

He calls his family. Thank God, I communicate with my family.

I communicate with my family every ten days.

From December 2015 until 2020, I did not make a single phone call.

Our prisoners in the prisons of the aggressors faced harsh conditions intended to break their will and subdue them.

Those of us in prison were mujahideen and front-line fighters.

We were perhaps 30 percent, and the remaining 70 percent were all laborers.

Meaning, expatriates and residents. They were treated as Saudi nationals. They would bring them from their homes.

They would beat them. That is their method. This is the word they want, either he says it or they kill him. They have killed many.

They tell them, “We want nothing from you. Just say that we are Houthis so that you can be exchanged.”

Because of their weakness and cowardice, they cannot.

The expatriates were the ones who killed them.

And more besides. Arbitrary arrests and abductions merely because of family affiliations,

الأسرية،

and prolonged detention without formal charges or a fair trial, treating them as prisoners of war. A policy the aggression has pursued since its earliest days.