Yemenis everywhere mocked Iran decorating the Houthi militia leader with a human rights award and denounced it as an attempt to whitewash the heinous crimes committed by Houthis against Yemenis.
Iran, on Saturday, granted the Houthi leader in Yemen, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the late Secretary General of the Palestinian ''Islamic Jihad'' movement, Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, and the former deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority in Iraq, the martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Islamic Human Rights award.
While insurgency-linked media in Yemen praised the awarding of al-Houthi, Yemeni politicians stressed that the event reaffirms that Houthis are an Iranian proxy in the region.
“Human rights have a single declaration that has been acknowledged by all countries, and it acts as a committing reference to all international agreements and treaties related to human rights,” Human Rights Ministry Spokesman Walid al-Abara told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“The alleged human rights award set up by Iran’s mullah regime was designed to evade commitment to human rights and to whitewash Iran’s controversial record of oppressing freedoms and violating human rights both at home and abroad,” al-Abara said, stressing that the award is worthless.
“Iran, under economic siege, is no longer able to present its proxies in the region but with missile technology and moral support in exchange for serving its bloody expansionist agenda,” he added.
Al-Abara considered Iran’s move as a form of moral support and an attempt to introduce the Houthi leader to the Iranian public as a hero and garner support for him and his militia at a time Iranians are enraged by the deteriorating economic conditions at home.
Political analyst and Yemeni writer Fares al-Beil ridiculed Iran for presenting a human rights award, saying that it can’t give what it doesn’t have.
“The Iranian regime is at the top of the list of terrorism in the world, and is accused of committing grave violations of human rights and destroying countries and peoples-- so how can someone who possesses this huge balance of crimes adopt a human rights award?” al-Beil wondered.
