Houthi supervisors prevent a party on the pretext that music is forbidden and delays the liberation of Jerusalem
English - Monday 28 March 2022 الساعة 03:52 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
The Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, has intensified its measures to combat arts of all kinds and types through fatwas of prohibition and atonement that it launches on these works, their professionals and their creators.
In this context, sources in the Ministry of Culture, which is under the control of militias in Sanaa, told NewsYemen: The militia supervisors in the ministry refused to allow the ministry to organize a musical artistic event within the program of festive events organized by various state institutions run by militias within what it calls the celebration of the National Day of Resilience.
According to the sources, the Minister of Culture, who is affiliated with the allies of the Sana’a Conference, Abdullah al-Kibsi, and who is loyal to the militias, received a strong reprimand from the militia supervisors in the ministry after agreeing to allow the musical concert to be held within the ministry’s participation program in the celebrations. Where the supervisors who supervise the plan for implementing the program of the activities of the Ministry refused to agree to hold the event and insisted on canceling the event from the list, justifying that songs and music are forbidden by Sharia, and that those who practice singing and playing music have nothing to do with Islam if they are not under the rule of infidels.
The Houthi leaders' strict stance on singing and musical arts comes among other positions that reflect the reality of the militias' ideology, which does not differ from the positions of other terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, all of which forbid singing, music and various arts and consider them forbidden.
According to the sources, the militia leaders in the Ministry of Culture added, during their justification for the ban on holding a musical artistic event, that such activities contrary to the Islamic religion are factors that prevent a divine victory for them, whether in their internal war against the Yemenis or delaying their project, which they claim aims to liberate Jerusalem.
Since the coup of the Houthi militias and their control of state institutions on September 21, 2014, the militias have prohibited and criminalized all aspects related to the establishment of artistic, lyrical and musical concerts, whether those organized by state institutions, or those organized by civil cultural and artistic forums and entities, all of which were closed either because of its closure by the militia authority, or as a result of Houthi restrictions against it.
The Houthi militia has previously implemented measures that reflect its extremist ideology. Where it issued a circular from the Education Office in Sana’a, which is under its control, banning the music of the school queue, while the Houthi feminist leaders (its armed women’s wing called the Zainabiyat) carried out a campaign among girls’ schools in Sana’a that included fatwas prohibiting singing and making female artists infidels.
