2023-09-18 12:14:25
Repressive measures in Ibb, Yemen, for fear of a popular uprising
For fear of a popular uprising, the Houthi group escalated its repressive measures in the Yemeni Ibb Governorate in parallel with its preparations to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday throughout the areas under its control, a celebration that the group gives a sectarian and political character to emphasize its influence and dominance, in parallel with a wave of popular rejection of all manifestations of Houthi hegemony.
For weeks, the Houthi group has been working to collect data about the people of Ibb Governorate, their property, and sources of income. According to sources in the governorate, members of the group distributed to the residents of the city (193 kilometers south of the capital, Sana’a), which is the center of the governorate, forms about their property and sources of income, even if they have relatives. Inside or outside the governorate, they help them financially or spend on them.
The Houthi group escalated its security campaigns in the city of Ibb in conjunction with its preparations to celebrate the anniversary of the coup and the Prophet’s birthday (X)
The group obligated neighborhood officials, known as “neighborhood heads,” to supervise the filling out of the forms and verify all the data contained therein, which includes the identities of the residents, their numbers, sources of income and property, the nature of the dwellings, their ownership of means of transportation and weapons, and the number of their expatriate relatives or those present in the villages and cities of the governorate or other governorates. Do they have property outside the governorate?
Local sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that unprecedented security arrangements are being made by the Houthi group in anticipation of any popular movement against it in conjunction with its celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday and the ninth anniversary of the coup, especially since the people of the governorate launched a campaign to popularly celebrate the “September 26” revolution by drawing the state flag. On walls and water tanks.
According to a political activist in the governorate; This campaign “represented a great embarrassment to the Houthi militias, and prompted them to take secret measures to try to find those who adopted the campaign, and to take measures to prevent it from turning into a popular opposition movement.”
The activist, whose statements are reserved by Asharq Al-Awsat, explains that the campaign seeks to unify the position of the people of the governorate against the group, and to incite them against it in a way that prevents it from attacking its participants or targeting them directly. “The September 26 revolution is the basis for building the modern Yemeni state and its birth certificate, which it claims The militias are defending it,” he said.
Fears of an uprising
Although the Houthi coup on September 21, 2014; It was targeting the Yemeni state and the republic that emerged on September 26, 1962. The leaders of the group did not dare to announce this; Knowing the status of this revolution in the conscience of Yemenis, they sought to target it structurally, claimed to respect it, and preserved some of its aspects.
The people of Ibb confront the Houthi repression campaigns by drawing the state flag on the walls (X)
The activist says that the group remains silent regarding the participation of the people of the governorate in the campaign and does not express any objection to their drawing the Republican flag on walls, cars, and water tanks. However, it has made various secret arrangements to reach those it expects to be behind the campaign, and who aim to lead a popular movement against it in the coming days.
The pace of Houthi security arrangements is increasing, according to the sources. After the group’s leaders in the governorate noticed the return of the people’s circulation of clips and videos of the young man Hamdi al-Mukhahal, who was assassinated in a prison run by the group last March after he was kidnapped against the backdrop of his positions and incitement of the people against the practices and dominance of the Houthis.
The killing of Al-Mukhal then caused a wave of anger and a popular uprising, and during his funeral, the people of Ibb city chanted slogans against the group and demanded its departure.
The group faced this with security campaigns and kidnappings that targeted dozens of young people from the Old City, most of whom are still in prison.
Ibb Governorate, like other governorates under the control of the Houthi group, is witnessing great preparations to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, and these preparations include obligating residents, especially merchants, businessmen, and shop owners; By donating cash and in kind to the celebration, and forcing them to spread the celebration’s manifestations, such as decorations and wall paint.
Targeting activists
The Houthi group returned to carrying out a large-scale campaign of surveillance and kidnappings, and distributed its members to randomly search residents’ phones in the streets and markets, in addition to the inspections and investigations taking place at checkpoints and checkpoints.
Rapid Houthi efforts to prepare areas for celebrating the Prophet’s birthday (Houthi media)
The Houthis launched a campaign of kidnappings that targeted shop owners in the city of Ibb, the center of the governorate, because of their refusal to comply with the directives to hang and spread decorations from pieces of green fabric, install lighting in the same color, and paint the walls and sidewalks in front of their shops.
Local sources in the governorate reported that Houthi militants deployed in the streets of the city and stormed shops that did not commit to hanging and posting green decorations and lighting, and assaulted their owners before taking them to prisons.
The Houthi group kidnapped Fadl al-Hindi, a union official in the Yemeni Teachers Club in Ibb Governorate, against the backdrop of the strike carried out by Yemeni teachers two months ago to demand their salaries, which have been suspended for 7 years. This is a strike that the Houthi group worried about turning into a popular movement, especially after the broad solidarity it received. And the accompanying demands for salaries from other sectors of public employees.
For months, the Houthi group has been persecuting people because of erasing its slogans and pictures of its leaders from the walls (X)
In this context, a Houthi leader kidnapped the wife and child of a journalist from the governorate and detained them, preventing them from joining him in the city of Aden to force him to declare his loyalty to the group.
Journalist Muhammad Abdullah Al-Qadri spoke about the Houthi leader Rashad Al-Shabibi, one of the group’s supervisors in the Habesh District and a member of its Shura Council, kidnapping his wife and 7-year-old son, stipulating that he return to the city of Ibb and declare his loyalty to the Houthi group. Al-Shabibi prevented Al-Qadri’s wife and child from communicating with him or any of their relatives.
The journalist and political activist belonging to the governorate, Ibrahim Asqin, previously announced that he had received a threat from a Houthi leader to target his children. Because he addressed the violations of the Houthi group in Ibb Governorate, stressing that this threat was not the first, but rather he had received previous threats from the Houthi leader Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Al-Tawoos, the general supervisor of the governorate, to cut out his tongue upon his return to Ibb.
Likewise, journalist Ahmed Al-Sabahi announced that he had received a threat from a member of the Houthi group, who was his friend before the coup. I informed him that he would not be able to return to the governorate again.
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