An armed militia in the Al-Mahra province kidnapped a Yemeni journalist named Yahya Al-Sawari and took him to the Criminal Investigation Prison. He was later transferred to a detention camp of the Saudi forces at Al-Ghaydah airport.

                                                                                                                              

A reporter for "Almawqea Post" in Al-Mahra said that Al-Sawari was kidnapped while trying to take photos of the wounded in a security incident carried out by local militias with the support of the Saudi forces on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

 

The reporter said that Al-Sawari tried to reach the wounded people in Al-Ghaydah General Hospital, but an armed militia accused of belonging to the governor of Al-Mahra, Rajeh Bakrit prevented him from filming. They arrested him there and took him to the criminal investigation prison in the province.

 

The reporter said that the criminal investigation department transferred Al-Sawari to the central prison in the province after accusing him of malicious allegations such as obstructing the work of staff in the hospital. They sent a file of those charges to the Attorney General.

 

The reported said that militias of the governor of Al-Mahra, Rajih Bakrit, kidnapped Al-Sawari and took him to the central prison on military crews on Thursday, the fourth of July 2019 and then took him to Al-Ghaydah airport and handed him to the Saudi forces at the airport.

 

Yemeni laws prohibit the imprisonment of any accused person in the central prison until a court order is handed down by a competent court, which condemns the accused's actions.

 

After the arrival of the Saudi forces to Al-Mahra province at the end of 2017, they transferred Al-Ghaydah airport to a military base of its forces. Several prisons were opened there and many people were detained, as "Almawqea Post" reported in a previous field investigation.

 

Local sources in Al-Mahra province told "Almawqea Post" that Saudi forces in Al-Mahra had previously distributed notes to the security forces in Al-Mahra entrances to arrest Al-Sawari as he arrives the city, but these forces refused to do so with list of names of anti-Saudi figures.....

 

The sources, who asked not to be metioned, said that the criminal investigation department in Al-Mahara had also been informed by the Saudi forces to arrest Al-Sawari at any moment, after Al-Sawari published a series of reports revealing the practices of Saudi forces.

 

In addition, the organizing committee for the peaceful protest of Al-Mahra expressed its condemnation of Al-Suwari's abduction in Al-Mahra. It held all responsibility on the Saudi forces and Governor Rajih Bakrit for his detention.

 

In a statement, that "Almawqea Post" received a copy of, the committee said that the abduction of Al-Sawari and other citizens and civilians confirms the development of secret prisons by Saudi forces inside Al-Ghaydah airport, which has been transformed - last two years - to a military barracks to arrest all those who resist the illegal presence of the Saudi forces in the province.

 

The committee denounced the silence of the judicial institution and the public prosecution in Al-Mahra and the silence of the Human Rights Commission towards the transfer of Al-Sawari to a secret Saudi prison, considering that a serious development that reveals secret premises and prisons that are not subjected to the judicial and security authorities of the legitimate government.

 

The committee called on the journalists' syndicate and all local, Arab and international human rights organizations, media organizations and journalists to condemn such practices and violations against the press, journalists and media personnel by the Saudi forces in Al-Mahra, who carried out the kidnapping.

 

Yahya al-Sawari is a Yemeni journalist and has worked in several media organizations, most notably a reporter for Bilqis channel, along with his subsequent work with other media and research outlets.

 

During his stay in Socotra in 2017, Al-Sawari prepared several television reports published by Al-Jazeera and revealed the practices of the UAE forces in Socotra.

 

Last year, several television reports were prepared about the situation in Al-Mahra province during the presence of Saudi forces.