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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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Long Waits for Canadian Visas Leave Gazans in Limbo

Reem Alyazouri and her husband, Ashraf Alyazouri, who escaped Gaza and reached Toronto, pose for a photograph in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 30, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
Reem Alyazouri and her husband, Ashraf Alyazouri, who escaped Gaza and reached Toronto, pose for a photograph in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 30, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
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Long Waits for Canadian Visas Leave Gazans in Limbo

Reem Alyazouri and her husband, Ashraf Alyazouri, who escaped Gaza and reached Toronto, pose for a photograph in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 30, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
Reem Alyazouri and her husband, Ashraf Alyazouri, who escaped Gaza and reached Toronto, pose for a photograph in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 30, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

Reem Alyazouri's escape from a bombarded Gaza City through Egypt ended in Toronto on Sept. 4.
But as she and her family wrestle with applications for work permits and health insurance, her mother and father remain stuck in Cairo waiting for Canadian visas after fleeing Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza seven months ago, Reuters said.
"My mind is busy with my parents," she said. "I feel guilty, believe me. When I came here and I left them behind they told us, 'Go and start your life. ... Don't worry about us.'"
The family is trying to come to Canada through a temporary residence program for Gazans with relatives here. Alyazouri's brother Hani Abushomar, a Canadian citizen, applied for six of his family members to join him in Canada hours after the program was launched in January.
Nine months and a harrowing exit from Gaza later, his mother and father remain stranded in Cairo. They completed the last major step of the visa application process - submitting biometric information - six months ago.
They are among thousands of Palestinians waiting for visas from Canada, a country that prides itself on welcoming people from around the world.
Canada said in May it would bring in up to 5,000 Gazans - expanding on a pledge in December to take in 1,000 from the Palestinian enclave. Months later, just over 300 have arrived, with 698 applications approved out of over 4,200 submitted.
Reuters spoke with multiple applicants who said they have been waiting for months since submitting biometric information, dashing their hopes of a swift reunion with relatives in Canada.
Canada has made no promises on how long it would take to process visas for Gazans fleeing the conflict and says it has little control over who is able to leave the enclave.
A cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 last year, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, ignited the war that has flattened most of Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and killing more than 41,800 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
Canada's focus "is on keeping families together and bringing them to safety as quickly as possible," immigration department spokesperson Julie Lafortune wrote in an email. The primary barrier is getting out of Gaza, she added.
Application processing times vary "based on the details and complexity of each file, and many factors are outside of the IRCC's control," Lafortune said, referring to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada department.
The immigration department would not say how many applicants have submitted biometric information and are waiting in Egypt.
BARRIERS TO ENTRY
Immigration lawyers say the wait for Gazans is longer than those faced by other groups fleeing conflict or disaster, and that the small numbers approved contrast with hundreds of thousands of visas granted to Ukrainians under a similar program offering temporary status.
One Canadian immigration expert said some of the visa requirements for Gazans - such as having to provide employment information dating back to when they were 16 - are unusual.
"Canada has a lot of experience in designing temporary, ad hoc programs and this one has an inordinate amount of barriers and hurdles for people to meet," said University of Ottawa law professor Jamie Chai Yun Liew, who focuses on immigration.
Liew said the Gaza program is moving slower than other Canadian temporary immigration programs, including those for Ukranians and survivors of the 2023 earthquake in Syria and Türkiye.
As of April, Canada had approved nearly 963,000 applications under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel since March 2022. So far nearly 300,000 people have arrived in Canada under that program.
Australia has granted about 3,000 visitor visas to people from Gaza since October 2023 and about 1,300 have arrived in the country, said Graham Thom, advocacy coordinator with the Refugee Council of Australia, a research and advocacy group.
'EVERYTHING IS UNCERTAIN'
Gazans who have managed to get to Egypt live in limbo, surviving off savings or donations, without access to government services, said immigration lawyer Debbie Rachlis, adding she represents dozens in that position. Many are survivors of trauma.
They beat the odds just by getting that far, and for most, the escape came at great personal risk. The Gaza City neighborhood where Alyazouri and Abushomar's family lived has been "erased," he said. They were forced to flee from their home multiple times. Alyazouri's daughter was injured.
"Something in my heart is broken," Alyazouri said.
The Canadian government said it continues to put forward the names of applicants to local Israeli officials, "but does not ultimately decide who can exit Gaza."
"Israel has agreed to Canada's request for the exit of extended family members in Gaza as part of their expanding humanitarian efforts. However, at present, the Rafah border crossing is closed,” Lafortune wrote, referring to the main entry point between Gaza and Egypt.
Abushomar has been waiting with his mother and father for visas in Egypt, where people in their position lack papers to work, access health care or open a bank account. He says he will eventually have to return to Canada to work and worries for his parents, especially his mother, who has dementia and joint problems.
For now, Abushomar says, "Everything is uncertain."