Houthi leaders plunder relief aid provided by merchants and organizations to the poor

English - Tuesday 18 May 2021 الساعة 09:47 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, Exclusive:

The Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - prevented a number of merchants and businessmen in the capital, Sanaa, from distributing financial and in-kind aid to the poor and needy people in a number of directorates of the capital, and sought to acquire them for their benefit.

Local sources in the Ma'in district in the capital, Sana'a, told NewsYemen: One of the merchants - NewsYemen keeps his name - was distributing financial aid in the Al-Sunainah area on the penultimate day of the last month of Ramadan to the poor and needy when he was surprised by three Houthi crews storming him and his assistants and preventing them from distributing aid On the pretext that this aid should be delivered to the Zakat Authority, which is controlled and administered by the Houthi militia.

The sources added that the Houthi supervisors threatened the merchant to arrest him if he did not stop distributing financial aid to the people and handing it over to the Houthi Zakat Authority. However, the merchant issued them a bond worth one hundred million riyals that he paid to the Houthi Zakat Authority, and told them: These zakat funds have paid them doubly. What I distribute to people is from my money, and you have nothing to do with that.

The sources added that the Houthi supervisors, after they were unable to find a justification for blackmailing the merchant, told him that what he was doing needed a security clearance from the intelligence apparatus under the pretext of the necessity to know the source of this money, before the merchant asked them whether you want to prevent me from helping the poor or do you want to give you a part Who is this aid ?! And this is the matter to which the Houthi supervisor responded by saying: As long as you have paid the zakat prescribed by you to the Zakat Authority, we will not prevent you from distributing aid to people, but you must allocate part of it to the soldiers and supervisors in the region.

Noting that the merchant delivered the Houthi supervisor about (20) envelopes containing financial aid, which is equal to the number of supervisors and soldiers belonging to the militia who had to leave the merchant to complete the distribution of his aid to people after the process of extortion.

In a related context, local sources in the Haziz area told NewsYemen: The Houthi militia supervisors prevented one of the organizations from completing the distribution of about 400 food baskets to the needy in the Haziz area on the twenty-seventh of the blessed Ramadan.

According to the sources, the organization's employees were distributing food baskets in the area according to pre-prepared lists of the names of families in need of assistance before Houthi militia security leaders prevented them from completing the distribution of food baskets without giving any justification for the prevention.

Noting that the Houthi leaders forced the organization's staff to stop completing the aid distribution process. It robbed more than 270 food baskets that were supposed to complete their distribution to the poor in the Haziz area.

The Houthi militia practices bullying, robbery, looting and extortion against relief organizations and merchants who provide aid to the poor and needy. Where its supervisors and leaders loot that aid for them or distribute it to the elements of their militia.


International reports - including the report of the Security Council's Group of Experts - accused the Houthi militias of obstructing and looting the relief aid provided to Yemenis through international organizations and robbing them, but these accusations have not yet been met with any serious international positions, as many international organizations are accused of colluding with the Houthi militia in stealing And plunder the aid.