Houthi militias in Yemen have issued a new Khums law by which each Yemeni should pay 20 percent of whatever goods he has or obtains, on land or sea, to the Iran-backed militia.
The new move sparked public outrage and added to the suffering of Yemenis living under Houthi control.
Yemeni activists took to social media and demanded that the government and parliament intervene by sanctioning the Houthi group as a terrorist entity.
Money collected from Khums will be given to designated individuals who are considered the descendants of “Bani Hashem.”
Yemeni activists considered the measure a Houthi intention to lay the foundations of an apartheid system in Yemen by dividing society into classes, abolishing the national identity, and legislating to give control of the country’s wealth and state resources to the group.
In an attempt to distract the public from the discriminatory law, the Houthi leadership ordered on Tuesday night the shuttering of all gas stations in Sanaa and other governorates under militia control.
Houthis claimed that oil orders were late to arrive at the Hodeidah port, prompting their order.
Despite Houthi claims, workers at the Yemen Petroleum Company YPC, which is under the group’s control, confirmed that oil reserves are enough to last for weeks.
Houthis, however, deployed militants to gas stations to prevent any sale under the pretense of rationalizing the remaining reserves.
Sanaa residents affirmed that the Houthi decision, which deprives more than 3 million people in the capital alone of fuel, has given a boost to the black market where oil derivatives are being sold at triple the standard price.
