Houthi militias in Yemen released an activist they detained a year ago, local activists reported on Friday. Believing that he had died after torching his body, Houthi militants cast the captive’s body on the streets earlier this week in Dahmar, where he was found.
Footage showing the activist’s blistered skin went viral on social networking sites.
Identified as activist Mounir al-Sharqi, footage showed the extent of the torture he was subjected under Houthi imprisonment.
Sharqi has been held captive for over a year with no apparent charges.
Activists reported that hundreds of those incarcerated in Houthi-run prisons in Dhamar, Sanaa and other cities under coup control had received the worst forms of physical and psychological torture.
Sharqi was found unconscious after being thrown on Dahmar streets. Torture marks are etched all over his body.
According to the sources, militias have established black sites in Dhamar, other than official prisons such as the Shouna prison in the Ma'abar area.
Black sites are being used by Iran-backed Houthi militias to probe, interrogate and torture captives.
Houthi militias have stepped up arrests and house raids in the governorates of Ibb, Dhamar and Hajjah, local sources reported.
Human rights activists reported that dozens of civilians were round up by Houthi militiamen in Ibb governorate districts after refusing to join Houthi militant ranks.
Local sources also confirmed that militias bomb-laced three houses and detonated them west of Dhamar, burning down a citizen's farm.
Most of the violence breaking out is against the backdrop of a sweeping refusal of Yemenis of being drafted into militia ranks.
For the third consecutive day, Houthis have continued their siege on al-Qadm village in Dhamar, preventing any person or entity from entering or leaving the area.
“Houthi militias continue to impose a siege on al-Qadm residents in the Atma governorate for the third day in a row, and continue their campaign of kidnappings and raids against villagers,” Dhamar’s media center for local reporting said.
According to local sources, more than 40 residents, including children under the age of 10 and elderly people over the age of 80, were kidnapped in the past three days as nonstop raids swept across village homes terrorizing children and women.
