“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.
