News - Yemen: Abdulqadir Al-Murtada, head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, has revealed new information regarding the assassination of poet Rashid Al-Hattam, a member of the Qifa tribes, inside prisons run by Saudi-backed mercenaries in the occupied city of Marib.  

He added, "Confirmed information indicates that mercenaries of the Islah Party in Marib cut off the hand of the late detainee Rashid Al-Hattam during his interrogation in one of their prisons, causing severe bleeding that led to his death." Al-Murtada noted that the aggression’s mercenaries covered up the crime, buried the victim in Marib, and refused to hand over his body to his family.  

The Islah Party’s refusal to hand over Al-Hattam’s body prevented his family from transferring and burying him in his hometown of Rada’a in Al-Bayda province. This refusal was reportedly due to fears of exposure and a potential forensic examination. 

Al-Hattam’s family faced intense pressure from the aggression’s mercenaries and some tribal figures loyal to the Saudi-backed mercenaries in Marib, leading to his burial in the city under unprecedented restrictions, without allowing his family to see him, according to local sources.  

It is worth noting that Al-Hattam was abducted by Islah mercenaries while he was in Marib in mid-January, shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire in Gaza. His abduction followed his public chanting of slogans such as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" in celebration of the Palestinian resistance’s victory, during a live broadcast on his Facebook account.

With this crime, the Islah Party has once again demonstrated its ongoing campaign of killing, kidnapping, imprisoning, and torturing those who oppose the American and Zionist agendas. Furthermore, its militias continue their routine practice of arbitrarily arresting passersby and travelers, subjecting them to severe torture without any legal justification.

Many citizens have reported cases of kidnapping, extortion, and robbery while traveling through occupied Marib, particularly along the Al-Abr route. Armed gangs, reportedly supported by mercenary authorities, frequently abduct, loot, and even kill travelers.

These actions in the occupied provinces constitute war crimes and blatant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. However, human rights organizations have largely remained silent on these atrocities.