Amnesty International announced that the number of executions conducted by Saudi Arabia this year has surpassed 100, raising concerns that the death penalty is being used in the kingdom in violation of international law.
The number of executions is less than the 196 executions conducted in 2022. However, it is still nearly double the number of state-sanctioned killings conducted in 2021.
“In clear contrast to Saudi Arabia’s repeated promises to limit its use of the death penalty, the Saudi authorities have already executed 100 people this year, revealing their chilling disregard for the right to life,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement on Friday.
She further added that “The authorities’ relentless killing spree raises serious fears for the lives of young men on death row who were under 18 at the time of the crimes.”
Last year, Saudi Arabia ranked third in the world for the number of executions carried out.
The number of recorded executions tripled from 65 executions in 2021 to 196 in 2022 in the kingdom.
More than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out since King Salman assumed power in 2015, according to a report published earlier this year by British-based Reprieve and the ESOHR.
The Amnesty director noted that in the month of August, the number of executions carried out by the Saudi government was averaging four executions per week.
The sanctioned killings have extended beyond Saudi nationals as well, with the rights group reporting that a Pakistani man was executed over the crime of drug smuggling.
Groups like Amnesty have accused Saudi authorities of executing people in the country following “grossly unfair trials that fell far short of international human rights standards”.
The ministry of human rights in Sanaa called on the UN and international organizations to step in and stop the criminal acts committed by the Saudi regime against Yemenis residing in the Kingdom.
The Ministry of Human Rights in Sanaa denounced the arbitrary arrest of the Yemeni citizen, Marwa Abd Rabbuh Hussein Al-Sabri (29), by the Saudi authorities in Holy Mecca while she was performing the Umrah act of worship, and the “fabrication of false malicious charges against her.”
In a statement, the Ministry confirmed that the sentence issued against this Yemeni woman by the Saudi regime, which entails imprisoning her for a year, represents a flagrant violation of human rights and all humanitarian laws, in addition to being contrary to religious and social values.
After receiving insults targeting Yemenis from a Saudi policewoman inside the holy place, Al-Sabri responded to the degrading statements by calling out the Kingdom’s criminal acts against her country.
“Saudi Arabia destroyed our country,” she told the officer.
The statement indicated that this act, “in addition to it being a new provocation to the feelings of millions of Yemenis and their traditions, values, and noble customs that oppose insulting the dignity of women and demand upholding their status, the Saudi regime carried out two crimes, first arresting her while she was performing the sacred rituals against a crime she did not commit and the other being that the [Saudi] regime did not respect the sanctity and holiness of the place.”
The Ministry stressed that “those provocative actions against the feelings of all Muslims require proposing a new approach toward separating the sacred rituals from the power and tyranny of the Saudi regime.”
“It is indignant that the Saudi regime commits such an act against a Yemeni woman who came to perform rituals while subjecting her to security harassment and verbal assault, which prompted her to utter a word summarizing what was committed over eight years of killing and siege against her people, while the regime continues its cold-blooded crimes and siege against the Yemeni people.”
مروة الصبري امرأة عظيمة من بلد عظيم وشعب أعظم مروة الصبري واجهت سطوة الجبروت والبوليس والمخابرات السعودية بحزم وقوة لم يعهدها النظام السعودي ولا يريد أن يسمع كلاما من هذا سيسمعه من الف مليون رجل وامرأة سيبذل الشعب اليمني كل ممكن لإخراجها وإعادتها لأولادها وأهلها pic.twitter.com/BGZxIgnXWM
This violation is added to a series of previous crimes committed by the Saudi regime against Yemeni women, including killing, siege, and humiliation, the Ministry further stressed.
In its statement, the Ministry of Human Rights demanded the immediate release of the Yemeni citizen and called on all the Yemeni people and human rights activists in the Arab and Islamic world to condemn this act and show solidarity with what Yemeni women have been subjected to.
The Ministry also called on the United Nations and other humanitarian and international organizations to condemn and denounce the incident and to put pressure on the Saudi regime to release her, in addition to pushing the Saudi authorities to stop their crimes, violations, and arbitrary arrests against Yemeni citizens residing in the Kingdom, demanding the UN to provide them with legal protection.
Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights calls on international organizations to take a stance rejecting the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemenis residing in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen condemns the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemeni citizens (AP)
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights in Sanaa condemned on Sunday the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemenis residing in Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Yemeni Ministry pointed out that the crime of executing citizens Mohammad Muqbil Al-Wasel, 27, from Dhamar Governorate, and Shajaa Salah Mahdi Jamil, 29, from Ibb Governorate, came after unfair and non-public trials, where the victims were deprived of the right to defend themselves.
According to the statement, the Saudi regime refrained from giving information to the relatives of the victims about the circumstances of the execution, which under international human rights law is considered torture, ill-treatment, and a crime.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights stressed that this crime is added to a black record and long lists of collective and individual execution crimes committed by the Saudi regime against its people and Yemenis, as many Yemeni expatriates were previously executed in similar circumstances.
The statement underlined that these crimes are a disgrace to the advocates of democracy and freedom of opinion and expression, which the United Nations, especially the US, claims to uphold.
The Yemeni Ministry called on all organizations, peoples of the world, and free countries to take a stance in the face of the crimes of the Saudi regime and condemn this crime, holding the international community and the Security and Human Rights Councils responsible for the continued crimes of the Saudi regime.
Last November, the Dhu Ali tribes called on human rights bodies and organizations to assume their moral and humanitarian responsibility by forming an independent investigation committee into the crime of arresting, torturing, and killing the Yemeni expatriate in Saudi Arabia, Ali Al-Ali, as well as other crimes.
It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia executed twice as many people in 2022 as it did in 2021, according to statistics released today by AFP.
As Saudi Arabia is hardening crackdown on dissent, including targeting its citizens who live abroad, a Yemeni-American citizen has been detained in Saudi Arabia while performing the ‘Umrah’ pilgrimage at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.
Mohamad Salem was taken into custody on November 1 and has been transferred to a maximum-security facility typically used for high-profile political prisoners and suspected terrorists.
Salem, a 63-year-old of Yemeni origin, is one of several Americans who have recently run afoul of Saudi authorities.
Abdallah Moughni, a family spokesman from the US state of Michigan said on Sunday that Salem traveled to Saudi Arabia with two of his sons to perform the Umrah pilgrimage.
While in line, he got into a verbal altercation with security officials who separated him from his sons.
Later, two men approached him, saying they were from Libya and asking what happened.
“At this point, Mohamad was livid, he was furious. He just let it out. He said, ‘If it was not for Mecca and Medina, we would burn this country to the ground’,” Moughni was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The two men turned out to be undercover Saudi agents, and Salem was detained.
Salem’s relatives have grown increasingly concerned for his welfare since he was transferred to Dhahban Central Prison, where rights groups previously documented allegations of torture via electrocution and flogging.
Saudi Arabia is often criticized for not tolerating dissent and has recently been in the spotlight for decades-long prison sentences handed down to a number of women who tweeted and retweeted posts critical of the Riyadh regime.
This week, Carly Morris, an American woman who has publicly accused her Saudi ex-husband of trapping their daughter in the kingdom under so-called guardianship laws, was briefly detained.
Last month, Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old US citizen of Saudi origin, had received a 16-year prison sentence apparently because of Twitter posts on topics including the war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
All sentences were handed down weeks after President Joe Biden of the United States set aside his past condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record to travel to the kingdom, despite criticism from rights groups and Saudi exiles.
It was a moment when the US urgently needed the kingdom to keep up oil production. But the Biden administration has ended up with no more oil or any improvement in human rights.
Saudi rights advocates say Biden’s attempts to soothe the crown prince have only emboldened him.
Saudi authorities illicitly monitor and strike out against their citizens in the US and other Western countries. Since the gruesome murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi crown prince has been emboldened to commit more crimes against dissidents. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered at the mission in October 2018.
Since bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested hundreds of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others for their political activism, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnation of the crackdown.
Freedom House, a research and advocacy group, says Saudi Arabia has targeted critics in more than a dozen countries.
Saudi Arabia, a key ally of the US and the ‘Israeli’ regime, has had one of the poorest human rights records in the world for decades.
Al-Masirah Yemeni news channel reveals footage of Ethiopian migrants murdered by Saudi border guards and cites survivors stating that it the massacres are carried out daily
Footage of Ethiopian migrants massacred by Saudi border guards.
The Yemeni Al-Masirah news channel on Saturday revealed footage it said was of a “mass grave containing dozens of African victims killed by Saudi border guards.”
The footage shows Saudi border guards filtering out dozens of Ethiopian migrants, believed to have been taken in the moments before they were killed.
The channel quoted African survivors of the massacre saying that “Saudi soldiers deliberately electrocuted dozens of Ethiopian migrants in a room where they were gathered.”
African migrants placed in body bags after being murdered by Saudis on the Saudi-Yemen borders.
“Saudi border guards shoot directly, often using mortars, to eliminate migrants gatherings,” one survivor noted.
Ethiopian migrants confirmed to the channel that, “the Saudi border guards kill about 5 migrants at the border every day and injure many more.”
Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement warned about the United States and the United Kingdom’s fresh malicious intentions in the war-ravaged country.
Ali al-Qahoum, a member of Ansarullah’s Political Bureau, raised the alarm in an interview with Beirut-based al-Mayadeen network on Sunday.
There is “a direct US military presence in Yemen, and an influx of US forces, specifically in Hadhramaut,” he said, referring to Yemen’s biggest province, which spans from the country’s center towards its eastern areas.
“There is also an influx of British forces into al-Mahrah,” he added, referring to Yemen’s second-largest province that neighbors Hadhramaut to the east.
The US and the UK were preparing for a fresh round of escalation in Yemen, he further warned without elaborating.
The Western countries have been contributing heavily and unabatedly to a war of aggression that a Saudi Arabia-led coalition has been waging against Yemen since 2015.
The coalition has been seeking, unsuccessfully though, to restore Yemen’s power to the country’s former Western- and Riyadh-aligned officials. The war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Washington and London have been providing the coalition with direct arms, logistical, and political support, including through outfitting it with precision-guided ammunitions that the Saudi-led forces have been using amply against Yemen’s civilian population.
Al-Qahoum said new US and British military delegations had arrived in Yemen earlier this week.
Reporting on Wednesday, Yemen Press Agency cited informed local sources as saying that Hadhramaut’s Provincial Governor, Mabkhout bin Madi, had held a face-to-face meeting with the US delegation in his office.
The Ansarullah official, however, asserted that despite the Western states’ apparent preparations for a new flare-up in Yemen, “the Yemenis are ready to defend their dignity and every inch of their country.”
“Ansarullah has military capabilities that preserve Yemen’s sovereignty and independence,” he added.
The crises resulting from the Saudi-led aggression and blockade on Yemen don’t seem to be ending. The truce has ended without a true humanitarian relief to the Yemenis’ sufferings. The forces of the coalition of aggression, along with the United Nations, were more unjust than sparing those people a window for life after more than seven years of their tight siege and aggression.
The Yemenis are circulating news of embryological malformation at an unprecedented pace. To tackle the issue, Al-Ahed News lens documented some cases at the Sabeen Hospital in the capital, which is the first standard maternity and childhood hospital in Yemen.
It was astonishing to see a premature baby, who was born in the seventh month of pregnancy, and came to life with several malformation in the head, the neck, the back, and the limbs. His pain didn’t have the chance to be embraced by his mother, as his deteriorating health condition requires to be kept inside the incubator.
Doctors soon brought another baby with a swollen belly. The doctor diagnosed his case as having a colonic malformation.
Such horrible cases weren’t reported before the war. It was very rare to have a malformed baby or an early delivery.
Other incubators were full of premature babies whose malformations are complicated and spread all over their body organs.
The incubators were full of children who came to life with malformations resulting from the criminality of the American-Saudi aggression. They had in their inside and outside alike scars that pain the heart.
The Intensive Care staff confirmed to Al-Ahed News that they receive similar cases on a daily basis, with the Health Ministry being unable to finalize an accurate survey to the ongoing war. An earlier report by the Health Ministry, published in August, emphasized that the blockade and the heavy bombardment of internationally prohibited weapons, have led to the rise in the congenital anomalies and miscarriages at the level of 350,000 miscarriages and 12000 malformed cases.
In a visit to one of the hospitals in the capital we discovered this number of cases, so what is the size of the nationwide catastrophe that the aggression has committed against the future generations? Who will bear the repercussions? And when will the aggression stop stealing the rights of the Yemeni people in front of the hypocrite world’s eyes?
The continued closure of Sana’a International Airport has tragic effects that threaten the lives of many, such as the case of thalassemia patients
The leader of Ansar Allah movement asserts that the US was working to escalate chaos in Yemen, but the Yemeni people thwarted these plans.
The leader of the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi
The leader of the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, said on Tuesday that the US plans were aimed at dismantling Yemen internally, fueling divisions and fragmentation, and stirring internal differences.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the September 21 revolution, Al-Houthi explained that the United States adopted a destructive policy against Yemen and did not care about the interests of the Yemeni people, adding that the US plans were paving the way to completely control and occupy Yemen.
He indicated that Washington was working to escalate chaos in Yemen, underlining that the alertness and action of the Yemeni people are what foiled the schemes of the United States and its allies.
The Yemeni leader pointed out that Washington was working to strip the Yemeni army of its military capabilities, noting that the targeting of the state’s military, civil, and administrative facilities unravels the destructive policy of aggression that aims to force Yemen into total collapse.
Al-Houthi added that Washington has turned its embassy in Sanaa into a headquarters for managing all sabotage activities in Yemen, adding that all Yemeni parties were sure that what the US ambassador in Sanaa was doing represented a clear violation of the country’s sovereignty and independence.
He mentioned that some Yemeni political parties were responding to US demands, but the resistance of the Yemeni people confused the Americans.
The leader of the Ansar Allah movement emphasized that the slogans, goals, and popular momentum of the revolutionary movement were broad, stressing that the revolution was not restricted to one group without the other; rather, it belonged to all components of the Yemeni people.
The popular movement expressed the awareness and values of the Yemeni people, as well as their rightful demands that are far from any factional and sectarian discourse.
Al-Houthi said the Yemeni people insisted on gaining freedom in its true sense in order to obtain their rightful independence on September 21.
He considered that the aggression against Yemen revealed the reality of those who wanted to continue the guardianship over the country and exposed their hostile policy, adding that the aggression confirms the hostile policy of the Americans and their allies against our people.
The Yemeni leader noted that the aggression targeted government and service facilities, which shows the true American intentions to destroy everything in the country.
He pointed out that the coalition of aggression destroyed all infrastructure and even targeted courts, prisons, cemeteries, and schools and sought to tighten the noose on Yemenis in their livelihood by means of a harsh inhuman siege and economic conspiracies.
Regarding normalization with the Israeli occupation, Al-Houthi said Washington and its allies are seeking to bring about change in the region under the title of normalization and the loyalty of Arab regimes to “Israel”, stressing that Yemen stands against the path of normalization and by the Palestinian cause and the free people of the nation against its enemies.
Al-Houthi mentioned that the coalition of aggression and traitors among the Yemeni people are plundering the Yemeni oil wealth and controlling the country’s resources and wealth.
Earlier, the Supreme Political Council in Yemen, headed by Mahdi Al-Mashat, affirmed the country’s geographical and social unity and sovereignty over its wealth.
The Yemeni Ministry of Water and Environment warned about the level of pollution in drinking water in the country’s strategic coastal province of al-Hudaydah, raising alarms about the serious health hazards derived from the repeated exposure to traces of heavy metals, including lead, mercury, and arsenic.
During a press conference held in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa on Sunday afternoon, the ministry elaborated on the adverse consequences of the tight Saudi-led blockade on the water and environment sectors of Yemen.
Abdul Karim al-Safiani, deputy director of Yemen’s Water Resources Organization, stated the organization has discovered high levels of radioactive substances and toxic metals in a number of fresh water resources in al-Hudaydah province.
He also underlined that the Saudi-led military coalition has destroyed more than 2,995 water facilities, including dams, barriers, pumps, reservoirs, and irrigation systems and networks, since 2015.
Safiani also sounded the alarm that more than 20 million Yemenis, according to statistics provided by international organizations, do not have access to clean drinking water.
Abdulsalam al-Hakimi, deputy minister of Water and Environment, also said that the damage to Yemen’s water and environment sector as a result of the ongoing Saudi-led aggression and siege is estimated to stand at more than $1.7 billion.
Hakimi stressed that irregular diesel fuel distribution and its high price have forced water pumping systems to decrease their capacity.
He noted that Yemeni authorities have tried to import spare parts to expand national water and sewage treatment networks in light of a UN-sponsored ceasefire, and several water wells and treatment plants have come on stream as a result.
The Saudi-led aggression on Yemen has resulted in a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation services for nearly half of the country’s population.
According to the United Nations, Yemenis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance, while access to clean and safe drinking water remains crucial for the good health and survival of a whole nation.
The International Organization for Migration [IOM] has said that Yemen is suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, as nearly 15.4 million people lack access to safe water and sanitation.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Yemeni official says that the Saudi-led coalition blockade on Yemen is a deliberate crime against all Yemenis.
Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi (Archive)
Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, a senior member of the Yemeni Supreme Political Council, considered Sunday that the Saudi-led coalition is intending to starve the Yemeni people as a weapon of war against Yemen.
In a tweet, Al-Houthi condemned the ongoing naval and air blockade on Yemen, adding that the blockade is a deliberate crime against all Yemenis.
“The continuation of the siege and the Saudi-led coalition’s refusal to implement provisions of the ceasefire, which is an official document under the auspices of the United Nations and the Security Council, amounts to an intentional crime against all Yemeni people,” Al-Houthi affirmed.
الاستمرار في الحصار برفض حتى تنفيذ بنود الهدنة التي تعتبر وثيقة رسمية باشراف الامم المتحدة ومجلس الامن يؤكد الجريمة المتعمدة باستخدام التجويع للشعب اليمني سلاح ضد المواطنين #رفض_تنفيذ_الهدنه_تجويع_متعمد
Al-Ruwishan: Yemenis will restore their rights by all available means
In the same context, Jalal Al-Ruwishan, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister for Defense Affairs, indicated that there is clear evidence that the Saudi-led coalition is continuing its aggression on Yemen in violation of the extended UN-brokered truce.
In an interview for Al-Masirah television, Al-Ruwishan pointed out that the truce would be “meaningless and pointless” if it does not lead to the reopening of Yemeni ports and airports.
The official stressed that Yemenis will restore their rights by all available means, adding that “if the Saudi-led war coalition keeps on violating the ceasefire, the Yemeni nation will not accept a failed truce.”
Al-Ruwishan underscored that “our people and armed forces have not tied domestic and defense issues to the truce, and have been not held down by it. They are doubtful about the sincerity of aggressors and forces of aggression.”
He also mentioned that Saudi Arabia and its allies are not abiding by the UN-brokered truce.
Yemen…we have strategic deterrence weapons to extract our rights without decreasing
Families of the seven Yemeni migrants reveal to Al Mayadeen English who killed their sons as Ansar Allah, Saudi coalition trade blames.
‘Tortured to death’: Saudi Army kills seven Yemeni migrants trying to cross border amid UN silence
Yemeni migrant Abdullah Hasan Saeed left his village in Al-Hudaydah on May 9 toward the Yemeni crossing-border of Al-Raqo to find a job in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On May 12, his father Hasan received a call from the Republican Hospital in Saada telling him the Saudi Army has tortured and killed his son.
“A Saudi bullet in his back killed him,” Hasan, father of Abdullah, told Al Mayadeen English in a phone call. He added, “There are also signs of torture on his body.”
Abdullah, 28, is one of seven Yemeni citizens tortured and killed by the Saudi Army while on their way to the Kingdom seeking job opportunities to make a living.
Saudi Arabia launched a military aggression against Yemen in 2015 following the success of Ansar Allah popular revolution to topple the US-Saudi-backed corrupt government of Abed-Rabu Mansour Hadi.
On May 12, Al-Masirah TV, citing its reporter in Saada, reported that seven corpses of Yemeni migrants tortured and killed by the Saudi Army in the bordering area of Al-Raqo have arrived at the Republican Hospital in Saada.
Insan Organization condemned this crime and published the names and images of four out of the seven citizens tortured and killed:
– Abdullah Hasan Said, from Al-Hudaydah Province
– Abdullah Darweesh, from Al-Hudaydah Province
– Khaleel Darweesh, from Al-Hudaydah Province
– Mohammed Al-Badani, from Ibb Province.
“The Saudi soldiers have tortured several Yemeni civilians along the border area of Al-Raqo until they died, as seven bodies of civilians arrived in the Republican Hospital in Saada, bearing signs of torture by beating and electrocution,” Yemeni Eye of Humanity Center For Rights and Freedoms said in a statement, pointing that the number of victims will most likely increase.
“This crime revealed the true face of this takfiri Wahhabi regime that rules Saudi Arabia and does not accept coexistence with others,” the statement added.
Ahmed Abu Hamra, Director of Eye of Humanity Center For Rights and Freedoms, condemned this Saudi crime, saying, “The Saudi regime’s record is full of daily crimes in the border areas.”
“We have contacted all UN organizations regarding these crimes, but organizations do not take any action,” he noted.
Full-fledged crime
On May 13, the Saudi-led coalition in a statement published by Saudi Press Agency (SPA), said, “Ansar Allah’s allegations that there are deaths in the border area of Al-Raqo, with the Saudi forces dealing with them, are untrue.”
“Dozens of migrants were killed in the process of forced displacement and armed clashes launched by the Houthis,” SPAreported, citing the US-backed Saudi coalition allegations in the statement.
Hasan, father of Abdullah, from Al-Marawi`ah District of the port city of Al-Hudaydah, denied the Saudi allegations and accused the Saudi Army of killing his son Abdullah. “He was killed by a Saudi bullet over a Saudi territory off Al-Raqo area.”
Asked what job Abdullah was seeking in the Kingdom, he replied, “He used to work in restaurants.”
Yemeni Ministry of Health said on May 12 in a statement that the torture and killing of the seven Yemeni citizens is “a full-fledged crime and a grave violation of international and humanitarian law…”
“The coalition continues to shed Yemeni blood by various means, whether by airstrikes, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery, or torture till death,” it added.
The Ministry also called on the United Nations to hold the Saudi-led coalition accountable for war crimes and to refer these crimes to the International Criminal Court.
Mourning
Hasan Saeed said his son Abdullah was married and the father of a 3-year-old boy and a 40-day-old baby girl.
“The whole family is mourning his death,” Hasan told Al Mayadeen English. “He was working to feed his sons and five other brothers and sisters.”
Mohammed Ali, a neighbor of Abdullah, said the entire village is mourning the death of Abdullah.
“He was very kind to all who knew him,” Ali told Al Mayadeen English.
“The UN has been covering the Saudi atrocities against Yemenis and the international community should put an end to this discrimination against Yemenis,” Ali cried out.
Tortured to death
Khaleel Darweesh had spent two years in the Saudi Kingdom gathering money to get married. In 2021, he returned home to Yemen to get married. Now his wife is pregnant in the second month, his brother Hamed said.
Khaleel Darwish while in Saudi Arabia (Exclusive)
After Eid Al-Fitr, Khaleel Darweesh, his brother Hamed, and cousin Abdullah Darweesh left Al Marawi`ah District of Al-Hudaydah toward Al-Raqo crossing border aiming to return to the Kingdom.
However, Khaleel and his cousin Abdullah decided to cross the border on May 11, leaving behind Hamed in Al-Raqo market, and they were captured and tortured to death by the Saudi Army using water and electricity.
Khaleel Darweesh left along with brother Hamed right (Exclusive)
“They weren’t killed in clashes with Ansar Allah, as the Saudi coalition claimed,” Hamed told Al Mayadeen English.
“They were peaceful migrants carrying nothing other than food and water,” the 32-year-old Hamed explained.
Hamed survived the torture because he said he didn’t travel with Khaleel and Abdullah on the night of May 11 and remained at Al-Raqo market until the second day.
Hamed received the news of migrants being tortured to death on May 12 and went to look, but found his brother Khaleel and cousin Abdullah amongst the tortured migrants.
Khaleel during his wedding party wearing Yemeni uniform (Exclusive)
“I found their frozen bodies,” Hamed told Al Mayadeen English of his brother and cousin. “I wish they were killed by bullets rather than being tortured to death.”
“I will never try again entering the kingdom of torture and terrorism,” Hamed told Al Mayadeen English when asked if he plan to return to the Kingdom as a survivor. “It is the Kingdom of barbarism, and the UN is silent about Saudi crimes against Yemeni migrants.”
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
The Saudi kingdom of blood has yet another time committed a heinous crime against the peaceful activists of the Shia-populated Qatif province.
As part of a heavy-handed crackdown led by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] against political dissidents and pro-democracy campaigners, the Riyadh regime executed two young men from the Qatif over trumped-up allegations of involvement in terrorist activities.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior alleged in a statement on Saturday that the death sentences were carried out against Hussein Ali Al Abu Abdullah and Mohammad Khodr al-Awami.
The ministry further claimed that the Saudi nationals “collaborated with terrorist groups, fomented unrest and insecurity in the country, possessed weapons, ammunition as well as rocket-propelled grenades and attempted to disrupt national security.”
Last month, two human rights organizations filed a complaint at the United Nations against arbitrary executions in Saudi Arabia, especially after the execution of dozens of prisoners in a single day in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights [ESOHR] and Reprieve, a UK-based non-profit organization of international lawyers and investigators, said the Riyadh regime openly declared its disregard for international principles as well as its commitments and obligations through the executions of 81 men, 41 of whom were Shia Muslims, in March.
Social media users have reported heavy deployment of Saudi security forces in the city of Qatif to crush any protest against the recent execution of scores of dissidents.
State news agency Saudi Press Agency said on March 12 that the authorities had executed 81 people in one day on a variety of offences.
The 2022 executions exceeded the total number of Saudi Arabia’s punishments by death throughout last year.
Back in early January 2016, Saudi authorities also executed 47 people, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who had vociferously called for democracy in the kingdom and advocated anti-regime protests. Nimr had been arrested in Qatif, Eastern Province, in 2012.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed more than 900 prisoners in an increasing rate. In 2019 alone, Saudi Arabia set a record number of executions after authorities executed 184 people, despite a general decrease in the number of executions around the world.
Ever since MBS became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested dozens of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others perceived as political opponents, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations of the crackdown.
Human rights activists warn that Saudi officials are planning to execute over 40 teenagers over their participation in anti-regime protests in the Shia-majority Qatif region.
Muslim scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind bars and tortured as freedom of expression, association, and belief continue to be denied.
Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to target activism.
A Yemeni media report has revealed that Saudi Arabia, which has been waging a devastating war on Yemen for over seven years, is planning to annex a number of key Yemeni provinces.
According to a recent report by the Crater Sky, a Saudi official held a meeting with a committee consisting of a number of people from the Yemeni provinces of Hadhramaut, Shabwah, al-Mahrah, and Abyan to announce that the kingdom has decided to grant the people of those provinces the right to self-determination so that they would be able to join Saudi Arabia.
During the meeting, the Saudi official also announced that the decision would not be overturned, the Aden-based website reported.
The official also referred to the Yemeni provinces, which are rich in natural resources, as “Saudi Arabia’s Arab South.”
According to the report, the kingdom’s decision comes as part of its plans to have access to the Indian Ocean.
Saudi Arabia launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi plan to annex the Yemeni provinces comes while Saudi-backed forces have been consistently losing ground in recent months, especially in the key Ma’rib province, as the Yemeni armed forces continue their advances to free their country.
Under another plot attributed to Riyadh, Hadi announced last month that he had delegated his self-proclaimed powers to the “presidential leadership” council and dismissed vice president Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that the former Yemeni president had been forced by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] to step down.
Rai al-Youm, an Arabic language digital news and opinion website, confirmed the WSJ report, adding that Hadi’s private meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, which took place during the latter’s recent visit to Riyadh without the attendance of any Saudi official, was behind MBS’s decision.
Hadi had once resigned from the presidency in early 2015 and fled to Riyadh following a popular uprising led by the Ansarullah movement. He later rescinded his resignation after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi royal complained about the United States’ lack of commitment to defending the kingdom from retaliatory attacks by Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, even as Riyadh continues to violate a recent ceasefire deal.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, who is also a former Saudi intelligence chief, expressed disappointment about Washington’s declining support for Saudi Arabia, and said Riyadh feels “let down” by the United States in tackling security threats to the kingdom by the Yemeni resistance movement.
“Saudis consider the relationship as being strategic, but feel as being let down at a time when we thought that America and Saudi Arabia should be together in facing what we would consider to be a joint, not just irritant, but danger to the stability and security of the area,” the prince said in a video interview with Saudi newspaper Arab News published on Monday.
“We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, and perhaps at this time it’s one of the downs, particularly since the president of the United States in his election campaign said that he will make Saudi Arabia a pariah and of course he went on to practice what he preached,” Faisal added.
Ties between Washington and Riyadh have been shaky after US President Joe Biden took office and since the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents.
Shortly after taking office last year, the US president declared that he would end “American support for offensive operations in the war.” A year into his presidency, however, the White House keeps approving weapons sales to the Riyadh regime.
Hundreds of Americans have on several occasions held demonstrations in major cities to denounce the bloody Saudi-led war on Yemen, urging Congress to support a proposal that would end the “unconstitutional” US involvement in the aggression.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states. The objective was to bring back to power a Riyadh-friendly regime and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
Shortly after the onset of the war, the regime in Riyadh also triggered a tight blockade on Yemen, where the population is in dire need of basic supplies such as food and medicine.
The Saudi-led war has stopped well short of all of its goals, despite killing hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
A ceasefire agreement between the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that has been invading and occupying the war-ravaged country since 2015 and Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement was mediated by the United Nations on April 2, but Riyadh has on multiple occasions violated the truce by bombing civilian areas across the impoverished country.
The Opposition Group in the Arabian Peninsula marked on Monday the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of 41 Shia activists who were brutally beheaded by the Saudi regime for fabricated crimes only because of their participation in peaceful demonstrations across the kingdom.
Held in the Iranian city of Qom, the event included a memorial session for the martyrs, then member of the Opposition Group in the Arabian Peninsula, Sheikh Jassem, delivered a speech in which he said that this massacre is the biggest in term of numbers.
He then explained that in particular, the biggest share of those different security executions targets the Shia population in the Arabian Peninsula, only because they are leading the activism to change and reform the political and social reality.
Sheikh Jassem further stressed that those activists were using a civilized manner based on holding peaceful demonstrations, and raising the legitimate popular demands, adding the unfolding events are a continuation of the accumulative historic course of confronting injustice and oppression.
On March 12th, Saudi Arabia has executed 81 prisoners in a single day over alleged ‘terror-related offenses,’ in the largest mass execution carried out by the highly-conservative Arab kingdom in recent memory.
Half of the executed prisoners are political prisoners who have been detained years ago for their participation in peaceful rallies against the Saudi regime, and they come from the highly Shia-populated eastern regions of Qatif and Ahsaa.
The 41 martyrs who exercised their supposedly legitimate right to express their opinion and demand justice and equality in their country, were gathered in a same list with ‘terror’ cases to deceive the local and international public opinions that the punishment was based on ‘terror’ charges.
Added to the bloody crime, the Saudi intelligence apparatus banned the families of the 41 martyrs from holding memorial ceremonies; not even to create a WhatsApp group to receive messages of condolences. The Saudi regime’s intelligence further threatened them not to speak up at all.
In the kingdom of reversed standards, who serves justice? And who compensate the undue losses of the families of the victims?
On the 4th anniversary of his assassination, Al Mayadeen English interviews the secretary of President Saleh Al-Sammad about several topics including his memories with Al-Sammad.
Q&A: Remembering President Saleh Al-Sammad, 4 years after his assassination by US-backed Saudi airstrike
Ahmed Al-Razehi, the secretary of Saleh Al-Sammad, former president of the Supreme Political Council, an executive body formed to rule Yemen, recalled Al-Sammad martyrdom with his six bodyguards on 19 April 2018 by a US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrike. He said it was a “tragedy,” and since then, he has been devoting his life to publishing his memories with Al-Sammad on social media.
In an exclusive interview with Al Mayadeen English, Al-Razehi said he did not expect that the US-led coalition would target Al-Sammad in “this treacherous and cowardly way”.
An airstrike targeted the Al-Sammad convoy in Hodeidah after he delivered a speech at the local councils’ assembly along with the Hodeidah governor.
Late President Saleh Al-Sammad along with his secretary Ahmed Al-Razehi (left) during a popular event (Courtesy of Al-Razehi for Al Mayadeen English)
62 persons were accused of participating in the assassination of Al-Sammad according to the Specialized Criminal Court verdict. The primary figure accused of his assassination is US President Donald Trump, followed by Saudi Arabia, UAE leaders, and Yemeni military leaders of the Hadi Saudi-backed Government.
Al-Razehi talked about how Trump and other leaders of the Saudi coalition must be brought to justice. He sent his messages to the countries that were involved in the assassination of Al-Sammad, and mentioned the kind of relationship Al-Sammad wanted to establish with western and neighboring countries.
Here is the full interview:
Q: First of all, tell us how did you survive the assassination of Saleh Al-Sammad and his bodyguards, and what was your reaction when heard the news about his assassination?
A: I wasn’t with President Saleh Al-Sammad during his last visit to Al-Hodeidah Governorate, during which he was targeted by the US-led coalition, and I wish I had been with him, to have the honor of martyrdom with an exceptional leader like President Al-Sammad, who made every effort to promote and defend Yemen and achieve the aspirations of the Yemeni people in liberation, independence, building a modern Yemeni state, and achieve victory for the oppressed Yemeni people.
The news of his martyrdom was a tragedy for me, and I did not expect that the US-led coalition forces would target him in this treacherous and cowardly way. For me, the news of his martyrdom was a target of the whole Yemeni state and an assassination of an entire country. His only concern was Yemen and building a state of institutions. He devoted his life to this goal. He was in the first ranks of the front lines to fight the Saudi aggression.
Despite my grief and sorrow, his assassination represented a source of pride for me, because President Al-Sammad offered his soul to this country as an exceptional leader. History has recorded his brave stance in its brightest pages, and the martyr President Al-Sammad will remain immortal in the hearts of generations inspired by his sacrifice and redemption.
Q: The first accused of the assassination of Al-Sammad is former US President Donald Trump… Why wasn’t the case brought to the International Court of Justice, as it is the judicial organ of the United Nations empowered to settle disputes between states?
A: The accused persons in Case No. 12 of 2019 are 62 persons, and the top person of interest is US President Donald Trump. The case took its own course in the national judiciary: the Criminal Appeals Division in Hodeidah Governorate convicted 16 defendants of the crime of assassination and were sentenced to death and to discretionary penalties, with all their properties confiscated.
Regarding the foreign defendants in the assassination of President Al-Sammad, including US President Trump, the first-instance verdict postponed the decision of panel proceedings against them and returned the case file to the Prosecutor’s Office for investigation.
Thus, there are two tracks in this heinous crime, the first is through the national judiciary, being the only competent body in this case, and the second track is the prosecution of the accused before the international judiciary. Some procedures are taking place in this aspect, by completing the file of this case and others tho prosecute the leaders of the aggressor countries and all those involved in committing war crimes against the Yemeni people, and all details will be revealed at the right time through the competent authorities.
Q: How can the leaders of the US-led coalition countries be prosecuted to punish the killers of Al-Sammad and his companions?
A: The judicial and concerned authorities have been collecting evidence to complete documents related to the crimes committed by the offenders and bring these judicial cases to national or international supreme courts – in order to ensure that the leaders of these countries and all those involved in the assassination of President Al-Sammad and his companions will not enjoy impunity and remain unpunished.
The legal organizations and centers have been responding vigorously to the prosecution of Presidents and military leaders in their countries. Therefore, there will be a day when they will be convicted for the grave crimes they committed against the Yemeni people.
Late President Saleh Al-Sammad with his secretary Ahmed Al-Razehi (right) (Courtesy of Al-Razehi for Al Mayadeen English).
Q: Why are Yemeni criminals fleeing from justice like Hadi and Al-Ahmer who are not yet arrested, seized, or their properties confiscated?
A: There are procedures carried out by the Yemeni judiciary as a judicial authority that operates independently and professionally in this aspect according to legal procedures, so the judiciary is taking its own course.
There are also procedures taking place regarding the preventive detention of the property of the leaders of mercenaries and traitors affiliated with the US-Saudi-led aggression involved in committing war crimes against the Yemeni people and destroying their properties and capabilities. The offenders will not benefit from these leaders or prevent them from judicial or popular prosecution.
Q: Could you recall Al-Sammad’s discussions with the US and Britain, regarding the war on Yemen in light of his speech to The New York Times in 2015, in which he expressed the desire of Ansar Allah to establish normal relations with the US and KSA?
A: President Al-Sammad affirmed more than once Yemen’s openness to dialogue with various countries of the world, except the Zionist entity, and keenness to establish cooperative relations based on respect for Yemen’s sovereignty and independence and non-interference in its internal affairs, based on peer-to-peer and not subordination and dependency, taking into consideration the Arab and Islamic issues, notably the Palestinian cause which is the central issue of the Ummah (nation).
President Al-Sammad also affirmed that Yemen is keen to enhance cooperation with its regional and international environment in a way that serves Yemen’s interest, security, and stability, and also achieves the security and stability of the region in the face of the challenges it faces.
Maybe this liberation trend didn’t attract his belligerents, and the countries of regional and international power felt threatened by this approach. They took this initiative as an attempt that would prevent them from exercising their hegemony over Yemen, and from plundering its resources, and violating its sovereign decision.
Q: What was Al-Sammad’s role that upset America and Britain and pushed them to take part in the cowardly assassination?
A: President Saleh Al-Sammad was an exceptional figure, the consensus of the national forces, and a unique leader in the history of Yemen, distinguished by his courageous stances, asceticism, and political acumen, stripped of all worldly ambitions and not even having a home for his family, except for his residency in Saada, which was also hit by the raids of aggression.
He led Yemen in a difficult period overwhelmed by the forces of evil and tyranny, and despite the challenges of aggression and siege, we witnessed during his presidency a lot of achievements, both at the level of the state institutions, laying the first rock of the modern Yemeni state through his national project, “A hand that protects and a hand that builds”.
President Al-Sammad’s liberation and renaissance approach, getting out of the mantle of dependency are precisely what disturbed the countries of aggression, led by America, Britain, and the international powers, which planned to target him. They thought they would succeed to eliminate his liberation project, but the result was the opposite.
Q: Finally, what message would you like to send to the international community on the fourth anniversary of President Al-Samad’s martyrdom?
A: The international community should be well aware that the assassination of the martyr President Al-Samad will not go unnoticed, and will remain a witness to its complicity in the crime.
The second message is that the assassination of President Al-Sammad will not weaken the will of the Yemeni people, but will rather increase their determination to continue steadfastness and persistence in the face of the forces of aggression and hegemony. This murder will be a strong motive for the leaderships in Yemen to follow his approach and pursue the building of a free and independent Yemen and to continue his project “A hand that protects and a hand that builds”.
The third message is that President Al-Sammad will remain immortal in the conscience of the Yemeni people and inspire all the free people in the world in the face of arrogant forces to free themselves from political tutoring and dependence, and live with dignity and pride, whatever the challenges and difficulties could be.
And the fourth message on the [fourth] anniversary of the martyrdom of President Saleh Al-Sammad is that the Yemeni people will not forget this crime and its perpetrators will be punished sooner or later, as they are unbreakable people.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
KSA can no longer “pretend” that things are under control and going according to plan. Actually, there is no plan, and no horizon, for the Saudis.
Saudi Arabia Abandoning its Puppet in Yemen: Coming to Terms
News just broke in from Yemen that the so-called “legitimate” Yemeni President AbedRabbu Mansur Hadi (widely mocked as a Saudi puppet) announced that he’s surrendering “power” to a new “Presidential Council”. The “Presidential Council”, Hadi’s statement goes on, will have to enter into negotiations with other parties in Yemen to reach a political settlement. This important step comes after about one week of Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it’s halting its military operations and easing restrictions and blockade on Yemeni ports for a two–month period.
After seven long years of aggression in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is coming to painful terms with the truth on the ground. The Saudi enterprise in Yemen has failed miserably in all directions. The Saudi-led coalition “to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen,” the banner under which KSA launched its war on Yemen in 2015, has all vanished. Only UAE is still in it, though half-heartedly. The large sums of money that KSA invested in Yemeni espionage groups have gone in vain, with no real achievement on the ground. The government of Hadi does not have a significant real presence or control in Yemeni territories. The Hadi government is still stationed in a Riyadh hotel, leaving Ansar Allah in control of the North and West of Yemen (where the main population is concentrated), and the secessionist Transitional Council controls most of the South and Eastern parts of Yemen (with the sporadic presence of Al Qaeda & ISIS). After seven years of war, Hadi and his government are practically powerless and irrelevant.
But what’s more catastrophic for the Saudis is the way military operations are going. The war launched in 2015 is now back-firing very badly. ARAMCO, the giant Saudi oil company, has become a regular target of the Yemeni attacks. Yemeni missiles and drones are reaching strategic economic and military targets inside KSA more frequently than ever before. That’s an unimaginable and embarrassing situation that the Saudis have never anticipated.
To put it in a word: It’s obviously defeat, plain and simple. KSA can no longer “pretend” that things are under control and going according to plan. Actually, there is no plan and no horizon for the Saudis. Realities on the ground must be acknowledged, the sooner the better. That’s the background for Hadi’s dismissal. The Saudi know very well that Hadi, in his position for ten years, cannot be entrusted with leading a new stage in Yemen. A totally new group will be needed for the negotiations with Ansar Allah and Sanaa government. It was noted that Hadi’s deputy and strong military commander, Ali Mohsin Al Ahmar, was also dismissed.
The person who was chosen to replace Hadi, as head of the “Presidential Council”, is Rashad Al Olaimi. Al Olaimi was known in the Yemeni circles as one of the closest personalities to the USA, always advocating for a more American role in Yemen. Al Olaimi’s selection gives further indication that negotiations with Ansar Allah will be the top priority for the new Saudi–backed Yemeni side. The Biden administration has long advocated a political arrangement in Yemen that includes Ansar Allah as a main party.
What’s next?
We’ll have to wait and see the reaction of Ansar Allah to the new call for a Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue with the new “Presidential Council”. It is known that Ansar Allah so far has insisted on negotiating with KSA on a state-to-state basis, i.e. Yemeni-Saudi negotiations, refusing to grant KSA the image of the mediator or sponsor to the peace talks between the Yemenis.
However, this time things look serious. Saudi Arabia appears keen to get off the tree and embark on real negotiations with its adversaries in Yemen, Ansar Allah. There is a pressing interest for the Saudis to prolong the brittle ceasefire that is now in place and try to make it permanent. The Saudis don’t want to see their oil facilities in flames any time soon. Therefore, they will be ready for real concessions. A kind of negotiated settlement in Yemen that sees Ansar Allah holding major positions in the national Yemeni government is probably in the minds of Saudis. Ansar Allah, in its turn, has always wanted peace with dignity in Yemen. Yemenis always wanted the peace that preserves Yemen’s sovereignty, and if the Saudis are ready for it, then Ansar Allah will be there. And let’s not forget that the Saudis have tried to negotiate with Iran about Yemen’s issues, during many rounds held in Iraq, but received a firm answer from the Iranians that Sanaa, and only Sanaa, is the right address for that purpose.
For that higher goal, formalities could be overlooked. Ansar Allah and Sanaa government could accept to negotiate with KSA indirectly through its “Presidential Council”. Without a doubt, negotiations will be very difficult and complex, because of the broad range of horny issues like the South-North sensitivity maps, the role of Al Islah Party (Muslim Brotherhood), and Yemen’s political positioning in the region. But the beginning itself is a positive step. If Saudis give up the “victory” notion and start readiness to acknowledge the Yemeni realities, then this will be a starting point to achieving peace in the war-torn country.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Under the truce deal, Sanaa airport should open for limited commercial flights and Hodeidah seaport for fuel ships.
‘If you return to fight, we shall return to our punishment’: Yemenis react to UN-brokered truce
Mohammed Saleh Al-Sawdi was sitting under a tree inside the garden of Al-Thawarah Hospital in Sanaa at 2:37 pm on April 3rd, 19 hours after the UN-brokered two-month truce went into force at 7 pm (16:00 GMT) on April 2nd.
“I suffer from an ‘articular surface’ and a disability”, the 27-year-old Al-Sawdi told Al Mayadeen English with his crutches beside him. “I made two surgeries, but they did not succeed. Doctors advised me to travel abroad to get better treatment”.
“I don’t have a budget that allows me to travel abroad and pay for flights and treatment”, he said. “I was injured by the Saudi airstrikes at the Haradh District of Hajjah province, bordering Saudi territory”.
Al-Sawdi said he has become alone since the missile targeted his residential neighborhood in Haradh in 2015, pointing out that he has been receiving treatment in Sanaa since then.
He is one of 32,000 critically ill and stranded Yemeni patients that the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE said in 2021 need life-saving treatment abroad, but the closure of Sanaa airport for the fifth consecutive year prevented them from doing so.
The UN announced on April 1st a two-month truce in Yemen that went into effect at 7 PM on April 2nd, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. The Ansar Allah-led National Salvation Government, the Hadi exiled Government, and the Saudi coalition welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire.
“The parties accepted to halt all offensive military air, ground, and maritime operations inside Yemen and across its borders; they also agreed for fuel ships to enter Hodeidah ports and commercial flights to operate in and out of Sanaa airport to predetermined destinations in the region”, read a press statement by the UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg.
“They further agreed to meet under my auspices to open roads in Taiz and other governorates in Yemen. The truce can be renewed beyond the two months with the consent of the parties”, Grundberg said in the statement.
The UN special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg held on Wednesday a press conference via Zoom, where Al Mayadeen English asked him a question: Who are the warring parties that signed the two-month truce? Is it between Ansar Allah and Hadi Government or between Ansar Allah and the Saudi-led coalition?
Grundberg told Al Mayadeen English that the deal is not signed but agreed upon between Ansar Allah and the Hadi Government which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition.
On Saturday, Iran and Iraq welcomed the ceasefire in Yemen. Iran also called for a negotiated solution to the seven-year conflict, whereas Iraq said that a political solution is the only way to end the war in the country.
If the truce is implemented, it would be a breakthrough, as the first truce between Yemen’s Ansar Allah and the Saudi-led coalition was in 2016.
According to UN estimates, 377,000 Yemenis have been killed directly or indirectly by the end of 2021 since the war broke out in March 2015.
Saudi Arabia launched its western-backed aggression in March 2015 after the success of the 21st of September popular revolution that toppled the corrupt Government of Hadi and forced him to flee the country.
Opening Sanaa Airport
Opening Sanaa International Airport is going to secure a humanitarian corridor for Yemeni patients who could not travel via Saudi-backed Government held airports in south Yemen for fears of being arrested, or because their health situation cannot endure traveling by land for 16 hours.
On April 4, the General Director of Sanaa International Airport, Khaled Al-Shayef, said that “We expect the first flights between Sanaa and Cairo airports to start within the next two days”.
The Supreme Medical Committee at the Ministry of Health in Sanaa has invited in a statement “patients with severe cases, those who are registered and not registered with the committee, and who could not travel by land to Aden and Seiyun Airports, to travel through Sanaa airport”.
“Critical cases can travel via the airport if opened, but I don’t have the money for medication and flights”, Al-Sawdi said, due to his “difficult life circumstances”.
“Of course, I’m thrilled about this truce because it will open Sanaa airport for sick people to travel abroad for treatment”, he added.
“Reports of violating the truce are going to cause problems for normal citizens; I urge the Saudi coalition to fulfill its commitment under the truce and let Yemenis live because seven years of war and blockade are quite enough”, Al-Sawdi stressed.
Sanaa airport has been closed by the Saudi coalition since August 2016 and was strictly used for UN operational tasks flights and personnel.
Fuel ships
According to AFP, 18 fuel ships are to be allowed into Hodeida port, a lifeline for Yemen, and two commercial flights a week can resume in and out of Sanaa International Airport.
Ali Al-Mokhtar hopes that the war will completely end soon and that this truce will not be temporary.
“We hope this truce will be the beginning of an end to the war, and that the Saudi coalition will not use it to rearrange its ranks and return to the war and shelling again”, Al-Mokhtar told Al Mayadeen English as he fills his motorcycle with fuel from the black market in Sanaa because of the fuel blockade imposed by the Saudi aggression since January.
“I hope the dealers will reduce the price of gasoline. What they have earned in the last three months is enough”, Al-Mokhtar explained.
Yemen Petroleum Company announced on Sunday and Monday the entry of two fuel ships into Hodeidah port, according to the company spokesperson.
“The UN envoy should pressure the Saudi coalition to release the rest of the ships quickly, and this is a natural right for the Yemenis, and not a free concession” Al-Mokhtar added.
‘Saudis are our enemies’
“Hopefully this truce will hold, but if there are violations by the Saudi aggression, we will respond; ‘but if you return (to fight), we shall return (to Punishment)’,” said 63-year-old citizen Abdullah Saleh Al-Qatani, citing a holy Quran verse.
“If Saudi Arabia wants peace, Yemenis are peacemakers, and if they want war, we are fierce fighters and Riyadh should remember the state of Aramco after the latest Jeddah attack”, said Al-Qatani
“Saudi Arabia accepted peace now following the third operation to break the siege”, Al-Qatani told Al Mayadeen English. “If Mr. Abdul-Malek Al-Houthi launches three or four similar attacks, the kingdom will not only accept the truce, but will end the war”.
“The Saudis are our enemies since the last century, since the rule of Imam Yahya, King of Yemen”, Al-Qatani explained.
“It was clear, the Saudis will order its Yemeni mercenaries to violate the truce, and this has already happened”, said Al-Qatani.
Hours after the truce went into effect; the Saudi mercenaries violated the truce by launching rocket attacks and shelling building constructions on several front lines.
In the northern province of Al-Jawf, Saudi-backed mercenaries launched three Katyusha rockets against positions of the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees in the Al-Ajasher desert.
A military source in the Sanaa government said on April 3rd: “86 violations have been committed by the Saudi coalition forces in the southern front of the coastal province of Hodeidah, including building military fortifications, hovering of eight spy aircraft, rocket and artillery bombardments, and various gunshots.”
“They have no principle because the US and Israel back them”, Al-Qatani told Al Mayadeen English while standing near a newsstand on Al-Zubairi Street in Sanaa.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Peaceful popular protests continue in Bahrain after dozens were executed days ago in Saudi Arabia, and amid the continued arrest of Bahraini citizens.
Saudi Arabia executed 81 people on Saturday, sparking the protests in Bahrain
Peaceful popular protests continue in Bahrain in condemnation of the mass execution that took place in Saudi Arabia last week, and in support of political prisoners in Bahrain.
Bahrainis took to the streets, carrying photos of martyrs and detainees along with photos of opposition leaders, and chanting against the Saudi and Bahraini regimes.
Saudi authorities executed 81 Saudi nationals and residents it claimed were involved in “terrorist activities” inside the kingdom.
The Saudi Press Agency reported the mass execution and said that seven Yemenis and one Syrian were among those executed on “terrorism-related charges”, whereas Saudi opposition media said local authorities executed 40 detainees from the Al-Qatif region at once.
A senior Yemeni official has reacted to a recent report that the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] is considering inviting the Ansarullah resistance movement and other Yemeni parties for consultations, saying the kingdom cannot be a mediator as it is a perpetrator of the bloody war.
“What is being circulated in the media about the GCC invitation for talks is in fact an invitation by Riyadh,” head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
“Riyadh is itself a party in the war, not a mediator,” he asserted.
The remarks came after two Gulf officials told Reuters that formal invitations would be sent within days for the talks, planned to be held in Riyadh between March 29 and April 7,to discuss military, political and economic aspects of the war.
Ansarullah officials, they added, would be “guests” of GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf at the body’s Riyadh headquarters and would have his security guarantees if the group accepted the invitation.
Gulf officials, who declined to be named, also noted that former Saudi-sponsored Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, had agreed to the discussions.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states.
The objective was to return to power the Hadi regime and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemeni forces have continued to grow stronger in the face of the Saudi-led invaders, advancing toward strategic areas held by Saudi-led mercenaries, including Marib province, and conducting several rounds of counterstrikes against Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent months.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 