Health of Survivors of Houthi Prisons Deteriorates

A photo posted on Twitter shows journalist Tawfiq Al-Mansouri after his health deteriorated.
A photo posted on Twitter shows journalist Tawfiq Al-Mansouri after his health deteriorated.
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Health of Survivors of Houthi Prisons Deteriorates

A photo posted on Twitter shows journalist Tawfiq Al-Mansouri after his health deteriorated.
A photo posted on Twitter shows journalist Tawfiq Al-Mansouri after his health deteriorated.

Dozens of survivors from the Houthi prisons have seen their health deteriorate as a result of the physical and psychological torture they suffered while in detention, Yemeni sources revealed.

Medical sources in Marib revealed that journalists Tawfiq Al-Mansouri and Harith Hamid were transferred to hospital after their health deteriorated days after their release from Houthi prison in a prisoner swap with the Yemeni government last month.

Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani confirmed the news, saying the journalists suffered from brutal torture over the years.

The development sheds light once again on the tragic conditions of thousands of people who have been abducted by the Houthis and still remain in their prisons, he added.

In a statement to the state news agency Saba, he described as “war crimes and crimes against humanity” the psychological and physical torture, neglect and lack of health care that hundreds of politicians, media professionals, journalists, and other civilians are being subject to in the Houthi jails and detention centers.

The minister called on the international community, United Nations, UN special envoy to Yemen, and human rights organizations to pressure the Houthis to halt their systematic torture of detainees and to release all prisoners in swap deal, while ensuring that those involved are held accountable.

Rights reports documented the killing of seven civilians who were kidnapped and tortured in Houthi detention centers in 2022. They accused the group of crimes of torture against 120 abductees.

Right organizations have also documented the killing of around 300 civilian abductees under torture in Houthi camps since the beginning of their coup.



Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
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Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Syrian authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former officer in the feared security apparatus of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such announcement as the new government pursues ex-officials accused of atrocities.

The interior ministry announced in a statement that security forces in the coastal province of Latakia had arrested the "criminal brigadier-general Sultan al-Tinawi", saying he was a key officer in the air force intelligence, one of the Assad family's most trusted security agencies.

The statement accused Tinawi of involvement in "committing war crimes against civilians, including a massacre" in the Damascus countryside in 2016.

It said he was responsible for "coordinating between the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and a number of sectarian groups in Syria".

Tinawi has been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation, the statement said.

A security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Tinawi held senior administrative positions in the air force intelligence when Jamil Hassan was head of the notorious agency.

Hassan has been sentenced in absentia in France for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, while the United States has accused him of "war crimes", including overseeing barrel bomb attacks on Syrian people that killed thousands of civilians.

Tinawi had been "head of the information branch of the air force intelligence" before Assad's ouster late last year, the security source told AFP, describing the branch as "one of the most powerful and secret security agencies in the country".

Since taking power in December, Syria's new authorities have announced a number of arrests of Assad-era security officials.

Assad fled to Moscow with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom have reportedly fled to neighboring countries or taken refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority community.