He survived war, famine and disease, but did not realize what was to come: civilians were kidnapped and tortured en masse for not supporting that side.

The photo was sent to the author of this article by the WhatsApp Association.
Hundreds of men have disappeared in Yemen, a country where rebels and official state armies are fighting.

In recent years, this phenomenon has gained momentum.

Mwatana, an independent human rights group, is monitoring the kidnapping, torture and murder of people in Yemen. This is stated in a recent report released by the group.

21 m. Othman Abdo was kidnapped by civilians in civilian clothes four years ago from a mosque courtyard near his home in the rebel-controlled city of Sana’a. They pushed him into a car without numbers and took him to an unknown place. Mr. Abdo’s loved ones knew nothing of him. Four months later, he called and said he was locked up in a rebel-controlled Political Security Agency in Sana’a. Relatives put in a lot of effort until 2017. In February they were finally allowed to visit him.

“When I first saw him, his condition was horrible, it obviously tortured him,” Othman’s mother told Mwatana. “They cut off his wrist, his joints and back ached.”

According to the young man’s relatives, he urgently needed medical help, but the kidnappers did not allow it. His mother said she had to sell the family home to help her jailed son and cover the costs of a subsequent trial. The guy was questioned and accused of collaborating with Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE and with the government itself.

Killed and buried

Such stories are common in Yemen. The report revealed a grim picture: 11 informal detention centers, some of which were created by Hussite insurgents linked to Iran, others by their enemies, armed groups loyal to the Yemeni government, or military formations backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Kidnaps those who support or are suspected of supporting opposite sides of the conflict. Kidnapping is used as a means of demonstrating one’s power in the regions.

All parties to the conflict deny that they have kidnapped and imprisoned people. The report states that from 2016 onwards. 1,600 people were jailed, 770 people were kidnapped, and 344 people were tortured. These data are based on data from former prisoners, their families, witnesses and lawyers. Investigators confirmed the deaths of 66 people arrested, many of whom were electrocuted, beaten, wounded and hanged. It is feared that in reality many more have died.

The house did not return and 26 m. Saleh (false name). 2016 September 16 Seven masked separatists from the United Arab Emirates-backed military forces closed their eyes, put him in a military car and took him to Abyan province. For years and three months, family members heard nothing from him, and eventually a relative of the man who jailed him reported Saleh’s death.

“They tortured, killed and buried my son. “I didn’t get a chance to see him, I didn’t get his body back,” Saleh’s mother said.

The woman’s son was buried without ceremony where she was killed. The suffering of Saleh and the families of hundreds of people of similar destiny does not end there.

Records higher mortality than in the heat of conflict

Health workers almost always come and go in silence. People who have died from COVID-19 for fear of becoming infected are buried without mourning.

The cycle of digging wells and the rushed funeral in Aden continues with the sun and the desire for humidity. Aden is the provisional capital of war-torn Yemen, home to a government recognized by the United Nations.

Al Radwan Cemetery has expanded rapidly in recent months, with new graves increasingly closer to the residential buildings that line the cemetery. Here is my digging machine. I just dug 20 grave graves, ”CNN told GhN. Salehas.

Local medical services say mortality in Aden is increasing dramatically, despite the relatively moderate war that has devastated the site in recent years.

The city recorded 950 deaths in the first half of May, which is almost four times more than the 251 deaths recorded in all of March, according to a report by the Ministry of Health.

These 950 deaths recorded in the two weeks of May represent almost half of the number of victims that the city suffered during 2015, when the country was devastated by the civil war.

At that time, Aden was devastated by intense battles, rockets exploded in the streets and bullets rang out. Now the city’s greatest tormentors have calmed down.

In addition to COVID-19, an outbreak of a mosquito-borne virus called chikunguja is rampant in the country. It also recorded over 100,000. known cases of cholera. Many hospitals and medical centers have closed due to lack of funds and doctors’ concerns about their personal safety caused by the coronavirus. Serious flooding destroyed the city’s power grid this spring.

“Yemen has survived the wars and cannot cope with the three pandemics, the economic collapse, the war and the coronavirus,” CNN told Dr. Ishraq Al-Subei, a health official responsible for fighting the disease.