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Exclusive - Houthis Restore Slavery in Yemen

People walk in a market street in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz on November 13, 2018. (AFP)
People walk in a market street in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz on November 13, 2018. (AFP)
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Exclusive - Houthis Restore Slavery in Yemen

People walk in a market street in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz on November 13, 2018. (AFP)
People walk in a market street in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz on November 13, 2018. (AFP)

Modern slavery is prevalent in Yemeni regions under the control of the Iran-backed Houthi militias, including the capital Sanaa.

Sources close to the group told Asharq Al-Awsat that several civilians have been forced into slavery by prominent Houthi leaders. More than 1,800 Yemenis work as servants and slaves at the residences and workplaces of high-ranking Houthi officials.

These including militias leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi, his brother Abdulkhaliq and their relatives Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, Hamza al-Houthi, Abdulkarim al-Houthi, Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Houthi, Yehya Badreddine al-Houthi, Sheikh Ashraf al-Kabsi, Abdulrab Saleh Jarfan, Hassan Amer and others.

The Houthis are working tirelessly to restore slavery in Yemen, nearly 70 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and decades after the 1962 revolution in Yemen. The revolt called for liberation against all forms of oppression and slavery.

Several local reports have confirmed that slavery witnessed a rise in Yemen during the past four years when the Houthis staged their coup against the legitimate government. Crimes linked to modern slavery vary from actual slavery, abusing people’s poverty and hunger, forced marriage, human trafficking and the forced recruitment of children, women and African migrants.

Yemeni activists revealed that since the coup, the Houthis sought to segregate Yemeni society into rulers and subjects, and masters and slaves.

They told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis are attempting to cement these ideas in society by having the Houthi family seize all aspects of the state and its institutions.

“We do not doubt this segregation because it is the literal implementation of racist ideology that is based on modern slavery and the divine right to control rule, money and the affairs of the people,” they said.

A member of the lawyers syndicate in Yemen told Asharq Al-Awsat that some Houthi elders and social figures still enslave the poor, bind their freedoms and force them to work without pay. They are also forced to the battlefield to fight for the Houthis.

The Houthi discrimination against the people is based on color, race and ancestry, he said on condition of anonymity.

The masters, who call themselves the “Hashemites”, are now at the top of Yemen’s social class. They believe themselves to be of the purest ancestry and have given themselves the privilege of ruling the country and accumulating wealth. They are followed by tribes, workers and farmers. This class is often looked down upon and discriminated against by the Houthis.

Slavery is outlawed by Yemeni law, said the lawyer. Perpetrators can face no less than ten years for buying, selling or depriving a human of his free will.

Since their coup, the Houthis have sought to turn back the hands of time and take back Yemen to the era of the oppressive imamate and all forms of slavery.

A civilian, who works for a pro-Houthi tribal leader in Saada, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I have been working for years at the sheikh’s house without pay. I cannot go back to my family or do anything out of my own free will.”

“I do not know the meaning of freedom,” he said.

He revealed that he is responsible for all the house work, as well as farming. He noted that the number of servants and slaves rose remarkably under Houthi rule, attributing it to the increase in poverty, unemployment and hunger, all of which were sparked by the coup.

Experts confirmed that poverty, starvation tactics, oppression and systematic Houthi exploitation have forced civilians into slavery.

The Minister of Awqaf in the legitimate government had previously called for the need to uncover the Houthis’ misleading practices, expose their discrimination against the people and their dividing of society into masters and slaves.

According to an international report, more than 40 million people around the world, including 85,000 in Yemen, are victims of slavery. It said the war-torn countries of Yemen and Syria account for 76 percent of slavery cases in the Arab world.

A US State Department report had also previously confirmed modern slavery in Yemen, accusing the Houthis and the al-Qaeda group of promoting slavery and human trafficking. Sexual abuse, slavery and child recruitment are among the most glaring examples of human trafficking in Yemen, it said.

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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild — but reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming, The Associated Press reported.
Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble in Israeli airstrikes. The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon's infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.
In the south, residents of dozens of villages along the Lebanon-Israel border can't go back because Israeli soldiers are still there. Under the US-negotiated ceasefire deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw by Jan. 26 but there are doubts they will.
Other terms of the deal are also uncertain — after Hezbollah's withdrawal, the Lebanese army is to step in and dismantle the militants' combat positions in the south. Israeli officials have complained the Lebanese troops are not moving in fast enough — to which they say the Israeli troops need to get out first.
Reconstruction prospects — and who will foot the bill — remain unclear.
In 2006, after the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war, Hezbollah financed much of the $2.8 billion reconstruction with ally Iran's support.
The Lebanese militant group has said it would do so again and has begun making some payments. But Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party, has suffered significant losses in this latest war and for its part, Iran is now mired in a crippling economic crisis.
The cash-strapped and long paralyzed Lebanese government is in little position to help and international donors may be stretched by the post-war needs in the Gaza Strip and neighboring Syria.
Many Lebanese say they are waiting for Hezbollah's promised compensation. Others say they received some money from the group — much less than the cost of the damage to their homes.
Manal, a 53-year-old mother of four from the southern village of Marjayoun has been displaced with her family for over a year, since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in southern Lebanon. In July, Manal's family heard that their home was destroyed. The family has now sought compensation from Hezbollah.
“We haven’t received any money yet,” said Manal, giving only her first name for fear of reprisals. “Maybe our turn hasn’t arrived."
On a recent day in southern Beirut, where airstrikes had hit just 100 meters (yards) away from his home, Mohammad watched as an excavator cleared debris, dust swirling in the air.
He said his father went to Hezbollah officials and got $2,500 — not enough to cover $4,000 worth of damage to their home.
“Dad took the money and left, thinking it was pointless to argue,” said Mohammad, who also gave only his first name for fear of repercussions. He said his uncle was offered only $194 for a similarly damaged home.
When the uncle complained, Mohammad said, Hezbollah asked him, “We sacrificed our blood, what did you do in the war?”
Others, however, say Hezbollah has compensated them fairly.
Abdallah Skaiki, whose home — also in southern Beirut — was completely destroyed, said he received $14,000 from Qard Al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution.
Hussein Khaireddine, director of Jihad Binaa, the construction arm of Hezbollah, said the group is doing as much as it can. Its teams have surveyed over 80% of damaged houses across Lebanon, he said.
“We have begun compensating families,” he said. “We have also started providing payments for a year’s rent and compensations for furniture.”
Khaireddin said their payments include $8,000 for furniture and $6,000 for a year’s rent for those living in Beirut. Those who are staying elsewhere get $4,000 in money for rent.
Blueprints for each house are being prepared, he said, declining to elaborate on reconstruction plans.
“We are not waiting for the government," he added. “But of course, we urge the state to act."
There is little the government can do.
The World Bank's report from mid-November said Lebanon's infrastructure and economic losses from the war amount to $8.5 billion. And that estimate doesn't take into account the last month of the war, Deputy Prime Minister Saadi Chami told The Associated Press.
“The government does not have the financial resources for reconstruction,” he said bluntly.
The World Bank said 99,209 housing units were damaged — and 18% of them were completely destroyed. In southern Beirut suburbs alone, satellite analysis by Lebanon’s National Center for Natural Hazards and Early Warning identified 353 buildings completely destroyed and over 6,000 homes damaged.
Lebanese officials have appealed to the international community for funding. The government is working with the World Bank to get an updated damage assessment and hopes to set up a multi-donor trust fund.
The World Bank is also exploring an “emergency project for Lebanon,” focused on targeted assistance for areas most in need, Chami said, though no concrete plan has yet emerged.
“If the World Bank gets involved, it will hopefully encourage the international community to donate money,” Chami said.
Ali Daamoush, a Hezbollah official, said earlier this month that the group has mobilized 145 reconstruction teams, which include 1,250 engineers, 300 data analysts and hundreds of auditors — many apparently volunteers.
The compensations paid so far have come from “the Iranian people,” Daamoush said, without specifying if the money was from Iran's government or private donors.
Jana, a 29-year-old architect, is volunteering with Hezbollah teams to survey the damage to her hometown of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon. Much of the city is destroyed, including an Ottoman-era market. Her father’s warehouse was hit by airstrikes, and all the medical supplies stored there were consumed by a fire.
Hezbollah officials "told us not to promise people or discuss reconstruction because there is no clear plan or funding for it yet,” she told the AP. She did not give her last name because she wasn't authorized to talk about Hezbollah's actions.