Rasha and Mahmoud are the latest chapters of Houthi terrorism against journalists in Yemen
English - Thursday 11 November 2021 الساعة 05:12 pmThe terrorist incident against journalist Mahmoud Al-Otmi and his wife Rasha Al-Harazi, on Tuesday afternoon, in the capital, Aden, reminded us of the heavy price that journalists pay under the conditions of the war in Yemen and the incitement against them by the parties to the conflict, led by the Houthi group.
Mahmoud lost his wife, Rasha, and their baby in the explosion of an explosive device planted under his car, while he was heading to a hospital, where a caesarean section was scheduled for the same day, in a tragic story that shook public opinion in Yemen.
Shortly after the incident, a number of activists and journalists close to Mahmoud revealed screenshots of private text messages with him, informing them that the Houthi group had arrested a number of his relatives and acquaintances in the city of Hodeidah to obtain information about his whereabouts in Aden, to which he fled from the oppression of the group that had arrested him at the beginning of the war in the city of Hodeidah.
The disclosure of these texts fueled anger among Yemenis on social media against the Houthi group, which has a long record of violations and crimes against journalists in Yemen, whom the group's leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, described in a speech at the beginning of the war as more dangerous than the fighters on the ground.
The group’s leader’s incitement turned into a systematic and organized pursuit of journalists in the group’s control areas, focusing on targeting them during the battles, leading to their liquidation in the liberated areas, as happened with Mahmoud and his wife.
It came to the point that in mid-2019 an international organization, “Reporters Without Borders”, declared the Houthi militia the second largest violator and detainee of journalists in the world among non-governmental groups after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
This announcement, which reflects the extent of terrorism practiced by the Houthi group against journalists, is confirmed by statistics issued by international and local organizations, the most important of which is the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, which issued a remarkable report earlier this month on the occasion of the International Day to Confront Impunity for Press Violators.
The Syndicate’s report revealed that media freedoms in Yemen from 2015 until the third quarter of 2021 were subjected to 1,359 violations, of which the Houthis committed 841 violations, or 63.2%, or about two-thirds of the violations, while the remaining third was distributed among the rest of the parties.
Meanwhile, a member of the Syndicate Council, Nabil Al-Usaidi, said that the Houthi group caused the deaths of 46 journalists and photographers, during the period from 2015 to June 2021.
Ten journalists are still kidnapped by the Houthi militia, including four who have been kidnapped by the Houthi militia for 7 years and have been sentenced to death, in a dangerous precedent, according to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, which called on all local, Arab and international organizations to unite efforts to stop this massacre, as it described it.
The union says that the Houthi group insists on compromising the issue of the four journalists and subjecting them to an exchange process with the kidnapped and captured combatants, stressing its strong rejection of this, calling for their speedy release and the punishment of all those who caused their suffering, which is entering its seventh year.