Sailing to a Secret Saudi Prison: The Hazards Awaiting Yemenis Trying to Earn a
Living
“After our distress call was made, a force from the Saudi Coast Guard came not
to rescue but to arrest us. They took us to the Farzan Prison in Jizan on
charges of reconnaissance.” — Yemeni fishing boat captain Hamad Ibrahim Abdo
Majri
by Ahmed Abdulkareem
June 02nd, 2021
Mint Press News
By Ahmed Abdulkareem
AL-MAHRAH, YEMEN — Adel Khaloufah, a Yemeni fisherman from Zabid city on
Yemen’s western coastal plain, had a fishing boat he shared with three
fishermen, but always preferred to stay home hungry rather than venture out on
a fishing trip with known and dreaded consequences. Since 2015, when the Saudi
war in Yemen began, the warships of the Saudi-led Coalition and their allies
have been roaming the length and breadth of the Yemeni coasts. One day in May
2020, the fishermen got a chance for what seemed a safe and profitable trip.
They had been hired by an international company, working in the field of
maritime security and services, dubbed “Golden Star.” The mission was to return
five company employees who had accompanied an Emirati merchant ship from
al-Mahrah to the Suez Canal.
Contrary to expectations, the voyage turned out to be a nightmarish story about
the war in the poorest country in the Middle East. The fishing boat crew with
four Yemeni marine officers working for the company, which is accredited by
both the Coalition and authorities of their local allies, were arrested by
Saudi Coast Guard Forces in the Red Sea near a Yemeni island, accused of being
in a “closed area” despite having obtained all the official permits from the
Coalition.
“When we were on the return trip, our boat had stopped near a Yemeni island,
having run out of fuel in the wake of very high winds,” Hamad Ibrahim Abdo
Majri, the boat’s captain, said. “After the distress call was made, a force
from the Saudi Coast Guard came not to rescue but to arrest us. They took us to
the Farzan Prison in Jizan on charges of reconnaissance.”
An impossible life and brutal death
In the Farzan prison, the men were subjected to severe torture by Saudi
officers. Adel, who opposed the Saudi presence in the Yemeni islands, died as a
result and is buried on the island, according to his crewmates, though some
reject that news and say Adel has been forcibly disappeared in Saudi prisons.
Adel was one of thousands of Yemenis who are arrested in Yemeni waters under
various pretexts, according to Yemeni human rights organizations.
The fishing sector in Yemen was the country’s second-largest economic sector
after oil, producing about 450,000 tons of seafood annually. The industry
provided a livelihood for over 2.5 million Yemenis who lived along the Red Sea
coast and the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, many of them “old-styled”
fishermen supplying a once-thriving industry that included canneries, factories
and fish export businesses, according to Yemeni Studies. Now, life as a
fisherman in Yemen has become almost impossible, as many of the country’s seas
and islands have been restricted areas for Yemeni fishermen in the north since
2015, and sailing a few miles away from southern coasts can be hazardous.
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Secret prisons and torture chambers
At such a desperate period of Yemen`s history, with 80% of the country’s
population of 30 million in need of humanitarian aid, working under the
umbrella of Saudi forces controlling the ground and seas is unavoidable for
many to earn a livelihood — including the displaced fishermen who fled to
coastal southern areas, where the restrictions are supposed to be looser
compared to northern coasts like Hodeida. However, they are always subject to
arrest and torture, sometimes simply for approaching the Yemeni islands, even
by mistake. But mostly they are targeted for their opposition to Saudi and UAE
policies in their homeland.
The Geneva-based human rights organization SAM, which is often quite
light-handed in its criticism of Saudi Arabia, said in a recent report that
thousands of Yemenis have been arrested and tortured in secret prisons inside
the country, such as the prison of Alteenin in Seiyun and the Airport prison,
located inside Al Ghaydah in Yemen’s Mahara Governorate. In Saudi Arabia,
according to SAM, hundreds of Yemeni detainees are being tortured in the Air
Force Prison, located in the Jizan region; State Security Investigation Prison
in Riyadh; and the Dhahban detention facility, known as the “General Detective
Prison in Dhahban,” located near the Dhahban district in Jeddah.
In al-Mahrah — Yemen’s easternmost governorate, butting up to Oman and Saudi
Arabia — Riyadh has Saudized Yemen’s province by patient attrition. Recently,
the Saudi forces stationed at Al-Ghaydah International Airport have built
underground hangars and prisons containing more than 70 solitary cells, a local
source told MintPress. “Saudi Arabia continues to bring terrorist elements to
Qishn, Huswain and Al-Ghaydah in Mahra,” Sheikh Ali Salem al-Huraizi — head of
the Peaceful Sit-in Committee of Mahrah, who is known for being fiercely
opposed to foreign military presence in the province — said in April.
Al-Huraizi claimed that 100 secret prisons have been built, supported by the
U.S. and U.K. in a move aimed to turn the al-Mahrah homeland into a military
headquarters brutalizing its residents. He added that “British drones
constantly fly over valleys and cities, terrorizing children and women and
deploying spies in the cities of Mahrah.”
Strategic islands and provinces
The Saudi crackdown comes at a time when both the UAE and Saudi Arabia,
supported by Israel, have strongly entrenched their hold on the Yemeni islands,
including Mayyun and Socotra, as well as al-Mocha, al-Mahrah, and Hadramout
provinces in the eastern part of the country. On the ground, Abu Dhabi and
Riyadh have consolidated strategic positions in a manner similar to Israel’s
policy in Palestine. They adopt a program of demographic change through the
displacement of the indigenous population, the purchase of land and houses, the
naturalization of settlers, and changing the historical features of areas —
while program opponents are either assassinated or imprisoned in secret prisons.
Al-Kharakhir is a Yemeni village located in the north of Yemen’s strategic and
oil-rich Hadhramaut governorate and inhabited by more than 6,000 southern
Yemenis who speak the al-Mahri language. It is a border area between South
Yemen and Saudi Arabia according to the Jeddah Treaty of 2000. Saudi forces
have prevented residents of a number of border areas such as Kharakhir and
Thamud from building new homes, and offered them attractive sums to give up
their existing homes and move to alternative homes prepared for them in a
development in Saudi Arabia`s Najran, 120 km from their village.
Socotra, an island located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden is one of the
world’s busiest shipping lanes, is of particular strategic importance. Abu
Dhabi, supported by TelAviv, has established military and intelligence centers
on the island and the Emirati forces are intentionally changing the island’s
demographics by housing foreigners on the island en masse, mirroring Israel’s
policy in Palestine. Recently, the UAE has transported foreign persons, mostly
Israelis, on flights from Abu Dhabi to different places on the island. This
came less than nine months after the UAE established diplomatic relations with
Israel in a deal brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump. According to
informed sources, dozens of Israeli tourists entered the strategic island of
Socotra on visas granted to them by the UAE to spend their vacations there.
The Saudi-led Coalition acknowledged on Thursday, through the state-run Saudi
Press Agency, having a military base on Yemen`s Perim Island (known as Mayyun
in Arabic), a volcanic island in the Strait of Mandeb at the southern entrance
to the Red Sea. The Saudi move came in the wake of a recent AP report of the
construction of a 1.85 kilometer (6,070-foot) runway on the island belonging to
the UAE. On September 10, 2020, MintPress News revealed that the UAE and Israel
had already completed logistical operations to establish intelligence-gathering
bases and new military facilities on Socotra and Mayyun in the first months
since the normalization of ties between the two nations.
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Supporters turn critics
The Saudi statement has sparked anger in many Yemenis, including some Saudi
allies. Hamid Al-Ahmer, a 50-year-old billionaire and the most important
political and tribal leader who supported the Coalition’s invasion of Yemen,
said “The hand of the UAE tampering with Yemen and Yemenis, occupying the
islands including Socotra and Mayun, is real, unleashed and no longer hidden.”
The Peaceful Revolution Youth Council in Yemen`s south, which also supported
the Coalition’s invasion of Yemen, has expressed its dissatisfaction over the
Emirati military on the islands of Socotra and Mayun, saying:
We follow with great concern the military movements of Saudi Arabia and UAE on
the islands Socotra and Mayun… We’re very disappointed with the positions of
the Yemeni government, the presidency and political parties [referring to
ousted president Hadi and his government] regarding the Saudi-Emirati tampering
in the Yemeni islands and their use for tourism, military and commercial
purposes that do not serve the Yemeni interest and violate its sovereignty.”
Diplomatic pushback
The National Salvation Government in Houthi-controlled Sana’a has strongly
denounced the occupation of its islands, including Mayyun and Socotra, by the
Saudi-led Coalition, condemning the move as a blatant violation of
international law. Yemen’s foreign minister, Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, warned the
UAE that Yemen will not keep silent over such illegal measures by the Emiratis,
saying “If you do not leave our lands and islands, the lava of fire will soon
reach you.” A high-ranking military official told MintPress that vital and
economic facilities in the UAE will be hit strongly soon, on a daily basis,
similar to the retaliation attacks deep in Saudi Arabia, if Abu Dhabi continues
with what he described as tampering with the Yemeni islands and allowing
Israelis to enter these islands.
For its part, Ansar Allah said that Saudi and UAE efforts in the strategic
Yemeni islands and coastal shipping waters function not only as a pre-emptive
war against the Silk Line Project adopted by China, but also are aimed to
prevent Yemenis from participation in the opportunities offered under Silk
Line. The Yemeni ports were supposed to flourish thanks to the Chinese Silk
Line Project and the Chinese protection provided, and enable the development of
large projects from which the Yemenis could benefit, according to Mohammed Ali
al-Houthi, member of the Supreme Political Council and one of the most
important leaders in the Ansar Allah. According to Sana`a, the establishment of
military bases on the Yemen Islands and Saudi`s New Enterprise Operating Model
(NEOM) initiative, which will integrate Israel into the cross-border “smart”
city project, not only aimed for geopolitical and strategic influence against
some countries in the region but also aimed to disrupt the new China Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI).
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the leader most responsible for developing relations
with China, stated:
One of the reasons for the war on Yemen is the rivalry between two projects,
the Silk Line Project, which was supposed to incorporate Yemeni ports, and the
NEOM project, which will connect and link the continent of Africa with Asia
through a bridge extending from Neom to Egypt… There is competition to bring in
funds and investments. And the Saudi-led Coalition has also launched preemptive
war against the China project. The Saudis hasten to bomb Yemen and occupy
islands to forbid Yemenis from projects provided by the Silk Road and the
protection that China will provide for these areas. “
In fact, China supports inclusion of Yemen into its BRI and stated during a
meeting with al-Houthi that it stands ready to participate in the economic
reconstruction of Yemen, which acts as a bridge between the Arabian Peninsula
and the Horn of Africa.
Military response
In retaliation for developments in the country`s coast and islands and the lack
of seriousness of the Saudis and the Biden administration in the negotiations
to achieve peace, the Yemeni army commenced a massive aerial and ground
operation in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern region of Jizan, where the Yemenis
have driven more than 150 km deep into Saudi territory.
In this operation, the Yemeni army seized more than 40 military positions near
to the Doud, Al-Rumaih and Jahfan mountains in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jizan
province in a 48-hour period, killing more than 400 Saudi-Sudanese troops, and
their allied mercenary forces. Saudi military equipment was seized and at least
100 armored vehicles were destroyed and burned.
The media bureau of Yemen’s Operations Command Center released footage on
Saturday and Monday showing Saudi military locations in Jizan being overrun by
Yemeni fighters. The footage, which sparked interest on social media, included
the corpses of Saudi and Sudanese soldiers as well as Western weapons captured
by Yemeni fighters. On Wednesday, footage showed the Yemeni Minister of
Information touring Saudi military sites. Saudi Arabia has commented on the
attacks and said it is all a media fabrication. A Houthi military source told
MintPress that large-scale operations were already being prepared inside Saudi
Arabia in case Riyadh continues to implement its plans.