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Hodeidah Inmates Face Torture for Refusing Houthi Recruitment

Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
    Sanaa, Hodeidah – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Hodeidah Inmates Face Torture for Refusing Houthi Recruitment

Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA
Pro-government Popular Resistance on the outskirts of Hodeidah, EPA

Inmates held at the central prison in Hodeidah refused to fight alongside Houthi militias prompting Houthi gunmen to resort to violence.

Houthis set fire to prison cells and fired rounds of live bullets, killing at least three prisoners and injuring 20 others.

This came at a time Houthis amped up violence practiced against residents in areas they control. Since the break of war, Houthi militiamen are held accountable to countless looting of bank funds and imposing restrictions on commercial companies.

Reports also warned against the Iran-backed coup carrying out plans on making sales on large properties belonging to the former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, in Hodeidah and Taiz.

Houthi militias are planning to transfer hundreds of inmates on Sunday from the central prison to unknown locations, likely training camps after which they will recruit them to fight among the insurgency’s ranks, relatives of prisoners and security sources in Hodeidah told Asharq al-Awsat.

Sources said Houthis fired randomly at the prisoners, set fire to jail cells, and used gas bombs in an effort to quell the uprising of prisoners who refused to leave the prison.

A squad of Houthi militiamen led by Abu Ali al-Kahlani killed three prisoners and wounded 20 others, sources added.

Houthi ranks have been diminishing over battles with government forces and allies—pushing militias to recruit and release inmates from Houthi-run prisons in Sana'a, Ibb, Dhamar,and Hajjah. According to security sources, Houthis managed to recruit more young people, adolescents and civilian staff.

Sources said that hundreds of Hodeidah prisoners who refused to fight alongside Houthi ranks face torture and coercion—while relatives urge international humanitarian organizations to intervene to stop Houthi crimes against their imprisoned relatives.

Houthi militiamen refused to allow the family visits to prisoners and refused to allow food and water to enter jail cells, sources said.

“They will not eat or drink anything until they bow down to carry out what is required of them,” inmate relatives cited Houthi prison guards as saying.

The central prison in Hodeidah, nestled south of the city, holds more than 700 prisoners.

Many fear that the group will take up prisoners as human shields if they insist on refusing to comply with the group's desire for their recruitment.

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Arab World

Kurdistan Region Blames ‘Terrorist Group’ for Peshmerga Attack

Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
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Kurdistan Region Blames ‘Terrorist Group’ for Peshmerga Attack

Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)

Five members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were wounded in two separate drone attacks targeting military positions in northern Iraq’s Duhok province, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said on Tuesday.

The council said the strikes occurred on Monday and Tuesday in the town of Amadiya, where surveillance posts were being set up. The attacks were carried out using drones, it added.

Kurdish intelligence sources suspect a splinter faction of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind the strikes, suggesting the group aimed to disrupt ongoing peace efforts in both Türkiye and Syria.

“These are terrorist attacks,” the Security Council said in a statement, vowing to take “all necessary measures” against groups that threaten the region’s security and stability.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and maintains bases in northern Iraq.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said Tuesday that the recent drone attacks on Peshmerga forces may have been intended to derail ongoing peace efforts among Kurdish groups across the region, as well as political developments within the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The council suggested the twin strikes in Duhok province were connected to peace negotiations between Türkiye and the PKK, as well as intra-Kurdish talks in northeast Syria, where Kurdish factions are seeking unity under what is known as the “Kurdish Unity Conference.”

It also linked the attacks to the final stages of forming the Kurdistan Region’s new government, warning that “certain groups and factions are working to obstruct peace and stability in the region.”

The comments came days after Syrian Kurdish factions held what was described as a “historic conference” in the northeastern city of Qamishli, calling for a decentralized democratic state.

The event brought together Kurdish delegations from Syria, Iraq, and Türkiye, and was attended by a US delegation.

Kurdish expert Kifah Mahmoud has suggested that factions within the PKK were likely behind the recent drone attacks on Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq.

Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that the attacks were linked to the ongoing peace initiatives in the region, both within Kurdish territories and at a broader geopolitical level.

“These developments are related to the peace processes, whether in the Kurdish regions or at the regional level,” Mahmoud said.

“We have positive negotiations between Türkiye and the PKK, as well as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) moving toward a peaceful stance with Türkiye. Most importantly, there’s a positive trajectory in relations between Baghdad and Erbil, along with ongoing regional negotiations between Washington and Tehran.”

Mahmoud believes that these efforts are not well-received by more hardline factions within the PKK. He pointed out that the PKK has long been divided into parallel wings operating under different names in various active regions, with some factions opposed to peace initiatives in Kurdish territories.

While some Kurdish officials have speculated that Türkiye may be indirectly involved in the attacks, Mahmoud dismissed this theory, instead attributing responsibility to the more radical PKK factions based in areas such as the Qandil Mountains and Sinjar, as well as near Amadiya.

He also rejected suggestions that the strikes were aimed at disrupting the formation of the Kurdistan Region’s new government, asserting that the main objective was to undermine the ongoing peace processes within Kurdish areas.