Documentary on Houthi Crimes Wins US Award

Bardis Al-Sayaghi. (Twitter)
Bardis Al-Sayaghi. (Twitter)
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Documentary on Houthi Crimes Wins US Award

Bardis Al-Sayaghi. (Twitter)
Bardis Al-Sayaghi. (Twitter)

“Detained Under Houthis” won the platinum award for Best Shorts Documentary at the Los Angeles-based Independent Shorts Awards (ISA) in August.

Filmmaker Eric Trometer’s documentary shed light on three Yemeni women who were detained by the Iran-backed Houthi militias but survived their imprisonment.

They chose to be part of the documentary to recount their torture at the hands of the militias.

Bardis Al-Sayaghi, a Yemeni poet and human rights activist, told Asharq Al-Awsat that she is proud to be featured in the documentary because it is a “victory for around 3,000 women who are unjustly held in Houthi prisons.”

She recounted how the torture she endured by the Houthis’ female jailers, the “Zeinabeyyat”, at a Sanaa prison in 2018 cost her her vision.

The brutality she survived motivates her to tell her story until all detainees are released, she added.

She said: “During my detention, I suffered all forms of torture and terror. I was beaten with electric rods in the face and head until I lost vision in my right eye.”

“My hands were cut with knives and I still have scars to this day,” she revealed.

In a written statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Trometer said the award is a testament to all the Yemenis suffering in the country.

He said that the lack of news coverage on Yemen prompted the team to produce a modern movie about the many tragedies in Yemen.

He wanted the voice of women who suffered in Yemen to remain in the minds of viewers so that they could research and find out more about what is happening.



Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.