Exposed: How Houthi’s brutal treatment of African migrants in Yemen sparked deadly fire at immigration center

A fire that killed dozens in the Yemeni capital has shone a light on conditions for refugees detained in Houthi-held Sanaa. (UN/File)
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Updated 12 March 2021
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Exposed: How Houthi’s brutal treatment of African migrants in Yemen sparked deadly fire at immigration center

  • Rights group accuses Iran-backed militia of starting blaze that killed dozens in Sanaa
  • Yemenis outraged over migrants’ deaths, call for international investigation

DUBAI: Details have emerged of how a bungled attempt by Yemen’s Houthis to suppress protests at an overcrowded detention center led to dozens of African migrants perishing in a deadly blaze.

Anger has grown in Yemen and around the world after the blaze on Sunday in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa shone a spotlight on the Iran-backed militia’s “inhumane” treatment of refugees.

Graphic videos and images of burnt bodies have circulated on Twitter, with calls condemning the Houthi’s silence on the blaze.

The group has failed to provide an official death toll or revealed the number of injuries.

 

 

A senior figure in Sanaa’s Eritrean migrant community told AP at least 44 migrants were killed and that the death toll could be much higher.

Local reports suggested hundreds may have perished in the blaze at the facility housing 900 people. The fire took place in a hangar within the complex containing 350 refugees. 

The UN’s International Organization of Migration (IOM) said at least 170 were injured and an unknown number had died.

Many local reports – including that of Yemeni human rights group Mwatana – claimed the blaze was started by the Houthi militia.

Attempts to contact a Houthi spokesman were unsuccessful.

The fire took place days after migrants at the facility on Khawlan Street started a protest against mistreatment and poor conditions, according to Mwatana.

 

 

A migrant detained in the center said the Houthis were also extorting them by demanding a fee in exchange for their release.

Witnesses said Houthi guards attempted to end the protest on Sunday afternoon, and when migrants refused, they fired “projectiles” into the hangar, which sparked the blaze.

“We tried to escape but the ward doors were locked, and we were cramped inside,” a detainee told Mwatana. “I could hear the sound of explosions and the sounds of my friends groaning…but I could not help anyone.”

Mwatana said: “The horrific incident once again underscores how desperately international investigations and credible accountability are needed for Yemen.

“States should immediately take concrete steps to ensure criminal accountability and reparations for Yemen, including violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees.”

 

 

Yemenis have expressed their anger on social media with many accounts using the hashtag “HouthisBurnBlackRefugees” along with “BlackLivesMatter” and posts calling for justice for those killed.

In a statement to Arab News, the IOM condemned the inhumane conditions at the detention centers in Sanaa.

“For years, IOM has strongly and publicly advocated against the use of migrant detention centers in Yemen and continues to call for all migrants to be released from detention, particularly those held in inhumane conditions,” the agency said.

“If the local authorities chose to detain migrants, the conditions must respect human dignity,” the statement added. “This was and is not the case in the immigration holding facility in Sanaa, as horrifically shown by the deadly impact of the fire.”

 

 

The Yemeni government, which was driven from Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014, have demanded an international inquiry into the blaze.

Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Aryani accused the militia of recruiting detained migrants to fight in the civil war.

“We strongly condemn the horrific crime committed in migrant detentions run by the terrorist Houthi militia in the seized capital, Sanaa, which led to the death and injury of hundreds of them,” he said.

The minister said the Houthis had attempted to cover up the massacre by burying victims in a mass grave. 

Yemen has long been the destination for millions of refugees from the horn of Africa attempting to seek refuge. 

Many have settled in Yemen for decades, and integrated into Yemeni society.

In 2020, movement restrictions and border closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic led to an extremely low rate of migrant arrivals in Yemen, according to the IOM. A total of 37,535 people arrived in Yemen last year, compared to an estimated 138,000 in 2019 with similar numbers arriving the year before.

UNHCR Representative for Yemen, Jean-Nicolas Beuze, told Arab News that although the IOM has been taking the lead in the response to the detention center fire, many other NGOs have joined forces to help those affected.

Aside from giving medical assistance, Beuze said that the UNHCR is providing mental health assistance to the African community in Sanaa.

“It has a huge psychological impact on the African community in Sanaa and Yemen on the whole,” he said with reference to the fire disaster.  

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Turkiye’s Erdogan launches ‘Year of the Family’ with an attack on the LGBTQ+ community

Updated 31 sec ago
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Turkiye’s Erdogan launches ‘Year of the Family’ with an attack on the LGBTQ+ community

  • Despite its low profile in Turkiye, the LGBTQ+ community has emerged as one of the main targets of the government and its supporters in recent years

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan marked the launch of Turkiye’s “Year of the Family” on Monday with an attack on the LGBTQ+ community and the announcement of measures to boost birth rates.
Citing the “historical truth that a strong family paves the way for a strong state,” Erdogan unveiled a series of financial measures to support young families.
The president returned to themes he has espoused before about LGBTQ+ people, including the portrayal of the LGBTQ+ movement as part of a foreign conspiracy aimed at undermining Turkiye.
“It is our common responsibility to protect our children and youth from harmful trends and perverse ideologies. Neoliberal cultural trends are crossing borders and penetrating all corners of the world,” he told an audience in Ankara. “They also lead to LGBT and other movements gaining ground.
“The target of gender neutralization policies, in which LGBT is used as a battering ram, is the family. Criticism of LGBT is immediately silenced, just like the legitimate criticisms of Zionism. Anyone who defends nature and the family is subject to heavy oppression.”
Despite its low profile in Turkiye, the LGBTQ+ community has emerged as one of the main targets of the government and its supporters in recent years.
Pride parades have been banned since 2015, with those seeking to participate facing tear gas and police barricades. In recent years, meanwhile, anti-LGBTQ+ rallies have received state support.
Turning to the “alarming” decline in the population growth rate, Erdogan said Turkiye was “losing blood” and recalled his 2007 demand that families have at least three children.
The president also pointed to people getting married later in life and rising divorce rates as causes for concern. Turkiye’s annual population growth rate dropped from 2.53 percent in 2015 to 0.23 percent last year.
“If we do not take the necessary measures, the problem will reach irreparable levels. In such an environment, population loss is inevitable,” he added.
To combat the threat to the family, Erdogan revealed policies such as interest-free loans for newlyweds; improved monetary allowances for the parents of new-born children; financial, counselling and housing support to encourage new families; and free or low-cost childcare.


UAE president welcomes Azerbaijani counterpart to Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

Updated 3 sec ago
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UAE president welcomes Azerbaijani counterpart to Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

  • President Ilham Aliyev reaffirms his country’s dedication to enhancement of growing ties with the Emirates in various sectors

LONDON: Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, on Monday greeted Ilham Aliyev, his counterpart from Azerbaijan, who is visiting the Emirates to take part in Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

During their meeting at Qasr Al-Shati in the capital, the leaders discussed ways in which cooperation between their countries might be enhanced in terms of the economy, investment, development, renewable energy and climate action.

They also examined key aspects of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and its role in efforts to enhance global awareness of the challenges related to sustainability, the Emirates News Agency reported. Aliyev also reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s dedication to growing ties with the UAE in various sectors.

Other officials present at the meeting included Mohammed Murad Al-Balushi, the Emirati ambassador to Azerbaijan, and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week began on Jan. 12 and continues until Jan. 18.


Moroccan activist jailed for criticism of earthquake response

Updated 15 min 23 sec ago
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Moroccan activist jailed for criticism of earthquake response

  • El Haouz province, to the south of Marrakech, was one of the areas hit hardest by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region in September 2023, killing close to 3,000 people and wounding 5,600

RABAT: A Moroccan activist who criticized the kingdom’s response to a major 2023 earthquake was jailed for three months on Monday for defamation, according to his defense team.
Said Ait Mahdi, who leads a group for victims of the El Haouz earthquake and has been in detention since December 23, was tried for “defamation, insult and the publication of false allegations aimed at infringing on privacy.”
Three other accused, also members of the group, were charged with “insulting public officials.”
“The Court of First Instance of Marrakech condemned Said Ait Mahdi to three months in prison and acquitted three others,” one of their lawyers, Mohamed Nouini, told AFP.
Ait Mahdi was also ordered to pay 10,000 dirhams ($1,000) in damages to each of the civil parties, Nouini said, adding that he would appeal the verdict.
According to the lawyer, the case was based on “complaints from local officials following social media posts they considered offensive.”
El Haouz province, to the south of Marrakech, was one of the areas hit hardest by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region in September 2023, killing close to 3,000 people and wounding 5,600.
It also destroyed around 60,000 homes in the High Atlas mountains, forcing many families to live in tents through the winter.
Ait Mahdi’s group has campaigned for faster reconstruction and more aid to those affected.
The Moroccan authorities said in December they had issued 57,000 reconstruction permits and that more than 35,000 homes had been or were in the process of being rebuilt.
The authorities have put in place an $11 billion, five-year reconstruction and development plan for the six provinces hit by the disaster.


Israel’s ambassador to UN calls on Security Council to thwart Hezbollah attempts to rearm

Updated 20 min 29 sec ago
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Israel’s ambassador to UN calls on Security Council to thwart Hezbollah attempts to rearm

  • Israeli authorities say continuing extensive presence of Hezbollah weaponry in southern Lebanon could cause them to ‘reconsider’ 60-day timeline for withdrawal of forces
  • Israel has violated November ceasefire agreement hundreds of times, killed 33 civilians, blocked citizens from returning home, continues to demolish houses and infrastructure

NEW YORK CITY: Israel’s permanent representative to the UN on Monday expressed concern about what he described as Hezbollah’s ongoing military build-up, accusing the group of attempting to rearm with Iranian assistance.

Danny Danon called on the Lebanese government and the international community to curb “the smuggling of weapons, ammunition and financial support through the Syria-Lebanon border and via air and sea routes.”

The ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Lebanon in November mandates a 60-day halt to hostilities, during which time Israel must withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah must withdraw its forces to positions north of the Litani River.

In an urgent letter to Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, Danon said that Israel has detected several attempts to transfer weapons and cash to Hezbollah since the agreement was signed.

“We have witnessed hundreds of violations, including 168 prominent violations,” he wrote in his letter, a copy of which Arab News has seen.

“These violations include: attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild its military infrastructure; presence of Hezbollah activists south of the Litani; attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon; attempts to transfer funds intended for Hezbollah; presence of Hezbollah arms north of the Litani.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces have handled some of these complaints, Danon added, but in many instances “Israel had to take action by itself in order to thwart them.”

Hezbollah has halted its rocket attacks against Israel, and Israeli forces have stopped the continual bombing of Beirut suburbs, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon.

However, both sides accused the other of breaching the ceasefire agreement. Israeli forces remain in the south, where they continue to destroy homes and infrastructure. They have also fired on Lebanese citizens, killed at least 33 Lebanese residents in the past month, and prevented people from returning to their homes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel is obliged to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon within 60 days of Nov. 27. They will initially be replaced by troops from UN Interim Force in Lebanon, followed by Lebanese army forces.

But Israeli authorities have warned that the continued extensive presence of Hezbollah weaponry in the south, and the group’s efforts to rebuild, could cause them to “reconsider” their planned timeline for withdrawal from the country.

Danon welcomed the “encouraging” steps taken by the Lebanese army to dismantle some of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani. But he lamented what he described as the slow pace of the efforts and the lack of capacity to effectively address “the full scope of violations,” in light of the “vast military arsenal found on the ground, that has been erected during the years.”

He warned: “Israel will not tolerate any violation of the ceasefire understandings.

“The existence of terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon that continues to threaten Israeli citizens is unacceptable.”

He called on the UN’s peacekeeping force to work “in a much more robust and effective way” to implement Security Council Resolution 1701 and the recent ceasefire understandings. Resolution 1701 was adopted by the council in 2006 with the aim of resolving the conflict that year between Israel and Hezbollah. It calls for an end to hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the withdrawal of Hezbollah and other forces from parts of the country south of the Litani River, and the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups.

Danon accused UNIFIL of interpreting its mandate “leniently” and of opting not to take “all necessary action to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind.”

He continued: “As a result, UNIFIL allowed the severe restriction of its freedom of movement, which Hezbollah exploited to systematically establish terrorist infrastructure on private property.

“We are concerned that lessons have not been learned, and that today we are witnessing yet another refusal by the force to adapt to Hezbollah’s changing modus operandi.”

Dannon urged the Security Council to monitor and expedite the Lebanese army’s actions on the ground throughout Lebanon, and to insist that “all the terrorist infrastructure present in Lebanon is removed and to make sure that any attempt to smuggle arms to Hezbollah is thwarted.”


Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter

Updated 13 January 2025
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Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter

  • The "Freedom Farm" would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers
  • Jimmy Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians

TULKAREM: Palestinian activists and residents planted a grove of 250 olive trees in a northern West Bank town on Monday in memory of the late US President Jimmy Carter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
The former president’s legacy is “rooted” among Palestinians and across the globe, said Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union. Carter was one of the few world leaders who “stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,” he said.
Under clear winter skies, Palestinian kids helped a handful of adults place the trees into newly dug holes. Melhem said the 10-dunam (2.5-acre) grove in the city of Tulkarem, titled “Freedom Farm,” would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees in the past.
The advocacy group for farmers in the West Bank launched the project in collaboration with US-based nonprofit Treedom for Palestine, which plants trees to empower Palestinian farmers.
Carter, who died last month at the age of 100, brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.
In his later years, Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians, saying conditions in the occupied West Bank amounted to apartheid. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
“I think planting olive trees that live at least 100 years old like him is a very suitable way to honor his life and his legacy,” said George Zeidan, the Carter Center’s Director in Israel and Palestine.