The Houthi insurgents began confiscating the western neighborhood of Sanaa, claiming they were built on endowment lands, after imposing a 20 percent levy for the "Zakat of Rikaz."
Although a year has passed since the Houthis announced their intention to confiscate large areas of land in the Asr region on the western side of Sanaa, many did not expect that the insurgents would take this step and summon hundreds of families in this neighborhood, whether from indigenous peoples or residents or who bought lands and built their homes and businesses.
A document signed by the head of the so-called Endowment Authority, Abdul Majeed al-Houthi, and viewed by Asharq Al-Awsat, announced the process of confiscating the lands of the Asr neighborhood.
The Authority claimed that about 700 years ago, an imam endowed this area for the benefit of the Houthi dynasty residing in Sanaa only and allocated the remaining part of its revenues to the indigenous residents.
According to the document, all ownership of this region, including lands, homes, and farms, has devolved to the Authority. It also stipulated that the confiscation process would be implemented in two stages.
In the first stage, the residents are obligated to write monthly lease contracts acknowledging that they do not own the land, while the second phase would include residential buildings owned by people from outside the region.
It argued that if residents disagreed with the confiscation committee about the rent, the indigenous residents had to report the matter to the Houthi supervisor of Sanaa, Khaled al-Madani.
According to the document, the Awqaf Authority authorized Madani to make the decision he deemed appropriate. Residents are obliged to implement that decision and have no right to object to it.
The confiscation plans coincided with the Houthi militia's plan to demolish 500 archaeological buildings in the Old City of Sanaa, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The planned demolition includes four crucial markets intending to establish a sectarian shrine in the city.
Residents described the plan as a new Houthi crime against Yemen's land, history, and heritage, saying it was complementary to previous steps targeting the city and changing its demographic composition.
The Undersecretary of the Yemeni Ministry of Information, Abdulbaset al-Qaedi, criticized this step, saying the Houthi militia is running an organized looting of citizens' property based on a myth nearly seven centuries old.
He warned that one of the Houthi leaders would come out again with a new commandment to plunder other areas, and eventually, Yemenis would become tenants of the land.
Nabil, a region resident, mocked the Houthi justifications for looting a residential neighborhood and confiscating it entirely, saying they must answer questions about the ownership of the land and the Imam who received it.
Yemenis owned this land even before the arrival of the ancestors of the Houthi dynasty to Yemen, said Nabil, expecting that the move would lead to clashes with the population.
