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.
Jamal Mustafa Recalls to Asharq Al-Awsat Years with Saddam, his Imprisonment and Executionhttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5084825-jamal-mustafa-recalls-asharq-al-awsat-years-saddam-his-imprisonment-and-execution
Jamal Mustafa Recalls to Asharq Al-Awsat Years with Saddam, his Imprisonment and Execution
Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel during the interview.
Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan, late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law and second secretary, broke his silence and sat down with Asharq Al-Awsat to recall his time in prison and his years with the late president.
It’s not easy being Saddam’s son-in-law, son of his tribe and to rally the tribes to defend Baghdad only to discover that it has been occupied by the Americans, who have printed your image on playing cards and named you Iraq’s ninth most-wanted man. It’s not easy to seek safety in Syria, only to be turned away and then find yourself in prison.
It’s not easy to live in solitary confinement, and to be accused, while in prison, of leading a resistance and of sending booby-trapped cars. It’s not easy to learn while in prison that Saddam was detained by the American forces. It’s not easy to be summoned to trial in the Dujail case only to come face-to-face with Saddam himself.
It’s not easy to learn that “Mr. President” was executed at dawn on Eid al-Adha and that his corpse was strewn in front of then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's house as he was celebrating his daughter’s wedding.
It’s not easy to learn from a judge in 2011 that there was no reason for you to remain on trial and that he was capable of releasing you in exchange for a hefty sum of dollars. Mustafa did not have that sort of money, so he was forced to remain in prison for nearly a decade before being released in 2021 due to a lack of evidence.
Weeks ago, I came across an old photo of Saddam with his whole family. Pictured were Saddam, his wife Sajidah, and his sons Uday and Qusay, daughter Raghad and her husband Hussein Kamel al-Majid, daughter Rana and her husband Saddam Kamel al-Majid, and daughter Hala and husband Mustafa. Five of the six men in the photo have been killed and only Mustafa remains.
Saddam Hussein surrounded by his family. (AFP)
He was born in Tikrit on October 1, 1964. He joined the president’s guard and was encouraged to continue his studies, earning a degree in political science. He played a major role in promoting sports and enjoyed strong ties with athletes. He was tasked with the tribe file and consequently forged extensive tis with them. He was trusted by Saddam and joined government meetings.
Mustafa was arrested on April 21, 2003, and released from al-Kadhimiya prison on June 17, 2021. He headed to Baghdad and later Erbil where he met with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. He then left Iraq for the Qatari capital Doha where he resides with Saddam’s widow Sajidah.
I approached Mustafa for an interview after he had shied away from the media, and he agreed to break his silence. As is tradition with tribes, he refused that I leave without a late lunch. The main meal was Habeet, the traditional Iraqi dish and Saddam’s favorite.
After leaving our meeting, I recalled what Abdul Raouf Rashid, the judge who issued the death sentence against Saddam in the Dujail case. He told me: “We acted according to the law and justice. Unfortunately, some officials turned the case into one of vengeance and gloating when they chose to execute him on Eid al-Adha. They desecrated Saddam’s corpse. Their actions are practically a gift to Saddam’s supporters who will keep his memory alive for a long time.”
I asked Mustafa about his time behind bars. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that he was on good terms with head of the Revolutionary Court Awad al-Bandar, who issued the death sentence. “He used to relay some of Saddam’s messages to me. (...) He was a good and brave man,” he said.
He recalled how he would receive cigars from Saddam that had his signature, a signal that he had received his messages. “I still have some of those cigars,” added Mustafa.
Saddam Hussein and Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan.
On Saddam’s morale during his time prison, Mustafa recalled: “The Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims know him well. They know that he was a brave and unyielding man. (...) It is no secret that he was aware that he was going to be executed. Everyone in jail was aware of this and we could not shake off the thought.”
Mustafa accused the trial of being corrupt and that any conviction could be made against Saddam to justify laying down the death penalty against him. “The trial was a farce. It was held by the Americans at Iranian orders and carried out by Iraqi agents to appease their Iranian and American masters. It was a tool to take revenge against the former regime,” stressed Mustafa.
Mustafa was with Saddam when he came under a failed assassination attempt in Dujail. “He was visiting Dujail just like any other city or village in Iraq. He met with citizens there who welcomed and celebrated his visit. He spoke to citizens and among them a woman. A sheep was slaughtered in his honor, and when we were about to get into our car, the woman splattered blood on the vehicle. We read this as a bad sign. So, we changed cars.”
“Soon after the convoy came under gunfire from gunmen hiding in nearby orchards. The president left his vehicles and several cars were damaged and people were injured. The president walked among the people to reassure them. After speaking to them, he returned to the car and headed back to the location where he had earlier delivered a speech. He delivered another speech before departing and we returned to Baghdad,” recalled Mustafa.
Saddam ordered the arrest of the suspects in the assassination attempt. “An hour after the attack Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani implied during a visit to Syria that they were behind the assassination. He said so from Damascus. This is damning evidence that Iran was behind the attack. They wanted to assassinate him. They knew that if they killed Mr. President that Iraq would fall in their hands,” he added. The suspects were eventually tried and executed.
Mustafa recalled the first day he was summoned to trial in the case. He entered the courtroom and saw Saddam there. “I remember exactly what I told him: ‘Peace be upon you, my father, father-in-law and dear leader,’” he revealed.
At the trial, Mustafa accused Iran of orchestrating several attacks in Baghdad, but the judge dismissed them, saying he was summoned to defend Saddam. Mustafa told the judge: “Mr. President is seen as a criminal by several of Iraq and the Ummah’s enemies, but he is a leader and brave son of Iraq and the Ummah.”
“You ask if I was punished for being Saddam’s son-in-law. The answer is yes. I remained in prison for 18 and a half years. Driven by spite, they only sought revenge. I paid a price and they tried to take revenge against me by keeping me in jail for so long. They came up with all sorts of charges against me, such as leading a resistance from behind bars,” continued Mustafa.
“They believed that I could have used my extensive ties to stage a coup once I was released from prison. So, they believed it was best that I remained and died there.” Mustafa was kept in solitary confinement for years. He recalled some sympathetic guards who treated him with respect because they were aware of his work in the sports sector and his vast network of relations.
Returning to Saddam, Mustafa said he met him twice while they were in prison. He recalled how painful it was to see him as he was his idol and he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. “He was a lion among them. He was firm in his principles and strove and sacrificed to uphold them.”
Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan's image on the playing cards of most-wanted Iraqis regime figures released by the US military.
Their first meeting took place in the jail and Mustafa said Saddam was in high spirits. They met the second time at court when Saddam declared that he had been tortured along with other detained leaders.
Mustafa learned of Saddam’s death when he noticed that the guards had taken away the radio the Americans had allowed them to keep so they could listen to the news. “We woke up one morning and it was gone. I also noticed a translator among our usual guard. This is a sign that something had happened,” he explained.
“Eventually we learned that Saddam was executed and martyred,” said Mustafa. “I said the following: ‘from now on Saddam will be a symbol of courage, heroism and sacrifice for all Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims. He will remain an eternal Arab leader.’ The translator translated my words to the guards, who remained silent. We then performed the prayer for the dead. Among us was Tariq Aziz, a Christian, but he also performed the prayer.”
“We were all in shock. His martyrdom was a shock to all honorable patriotic Iraqis, as well as Arabs and Muslims. He was also a great loss because he stood against the enemies. Everyone sensed his loss,” Mustafa added.
Saddam was executed on Eid al-Adha, which Mustafa said was deliberate to insult and humiliate the Arabs and Muslims.
“At the time, we heard claims that his corpse was strewn in front of Nouri al-Maliki's house. Maliki is allied to Iran. He was celebrating his daughter's wedding. The body was taken there to seal the revenge. They have never served or offered Iraq anything but revenge and destruction.”
The body was taken to Tikrit and later Al-Awja, Saddam’s birthplace, in the Salahuddin province. He was buried there and mourners from all over the world came to pay their respects. The grave remains a secret to only the most trusted people.
