Activists hold Houthi security chief in Ibb district responsible for mother’s killing

Yemeni activists and several rights groups are holding Shaker al-Shabibi, a Houthi supervisor and security director of the al-Odain district, responsible for the death of a young mother who was brutally beaten to death.

Houthi militants reportedly beat a young mother to death on Thursday in Ibb in front of her four children while attempting a house raid to arrest her husband, according to activists.

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NGOs that monitor human rights violations committed by the Houthis in Yemen like the Geneva-based SAM Organization and US-based American Center for Justice have condemned the recent killing, both naming al-Shabibi directly.

“The SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms condemned the murder of a 25-year-old Yemeni citizen in her home and among her children, after she was assaulted with extreme brutality by the security forces of the al-Odain directorate in Ibb governorate led by Colonel Shaker al-Shabibi, nicknamed ‘Abu Bashar’ who is linked with the Houthi militia, before dawn a day Thursday, December 24, 2020, under the pretext of searching for her husband,” the SAM Organization said in a statement.

American Center for Justice (ACJ) based in Dearborn, Michigan, released a similar statement calling for an independent investigation into the killing.

“American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls for an urgent, impartial and transparent judicial investigation free from any external interference in the judicial body to ensure that perpetrators are speedily brought to justice and apply the penalties prescribed by law,” the ACJ said in a statement.

Al-Shabibi released a statement of his own via the pro-Houthi al-Khabar al-Yemeni news website denying the involvement of his security men but admitting that he had ordered two soldiers to the house on Thursday to search for the victim’s husband wanted on theft charges.

“The investigating officer, accompanied by two security soldiers, was sent on Sunday morning to bring the accused in and upon their arrival in front of his house, they were told that he was not present, so they returned to the Directorate's Security Department, and no storming or raid operation took place,” al-Shabibi said in a statement that activists have cast doubt on.

Yemen’s Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed has described the killing of a young mother by the Houthis in front of her children in the Ibb province as a heinous crime, adding that Yemenis “cannot find peace and preserve dignity without resisting and defeating this criminal group.”

Read more:

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