A human rights report found Houthis guilty of 258 accounts of human rights violations committed in under a week against civilians in militia-run areas. These included heavily planting landmines, kidnappings, torture of peaceful opposition activists and turning mosques to sectarian radicalization centers for youth.
In its weekly report, the Yemeni Network for Human Rights and Freedoms said: “Houthi militias committed 258 accounts in violation of human rights in the week 17-23 August 2019.”
Violations occurred in different parts of Yemen but mostly took place in the Taiz and Hodeidah governorates.
The network's field monitor recorded “11 cases of extrajudicial killings by Houthi militias, five of which were deaths caused by indiscriminate shelling of populated areas in Taiz and the Hodeidah governorates.”
Among the other cases recorded were three deaths by sniper fire and two by landmines going off in public roads were recorded.
Gunmen from the radical militia, according to the report, shot dead and mutilated the body of Reemas Abdullah, a six-year-old girl, in Yemen's central province of Ibb.
“Houthi militias deliberately bomb civilians to uproot them from their homes, especially in the Taiz, Hodeidah and Ad Dali' governorates, even though the majority of those populated areas are free of any armed or government army presence,” the Network’s report deduced.
Documenting 75 cases of forced displacement, the report said that families have fled their homes in fear of intensified indiscriminate shelling fired at both residential complexes and farmland.
Landmines, which happen to be excessively planted across city and town infrastructures, also played a part in scaring civilians out of their localities.
“Each of Taiz, Hodeidah, Ibb, Hajjah and Ad Dali' are the theatre to horrific crimes and violations committed by Houthi militias and targeting both the land and people amid international silence,” said Mohammed Ahmed Al-Oumda, a human rights lawyer currently heading the Network.
The humanitarian urged the international community to “press Houthis to spare civilians the wrath of war and to get them to abide by international laws that ensure civilian protection.”
