UN slams Houthis Over Yemeni Aid Worker’s Death

The UN has demanded that the Iran-backed Houthis provide an explanation for the death of a Yemeni national working for an international aid organization.

David Gressly, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, expressed his sadness on Saturday over the death in Houthi detention of Hisham Al-Hakimi, the security and safety director at the international charity Save the Children, calling on the militia to share the reasons for the worker’s death with the UN and its partners.

Save the Children suspended its operations in Houthi-controlled areas last week to put pressure on the Yemeni militia to investigate the death of Al-Hakimi.

The organization said in a statement that the Houthis arbitrarily kidnapped the 44-year-old worker in September and refused to impart information to the organization or his family regarding his whereabouts or the reason for detaining him.

Yemeni media reports and activists said that the Houthis kidnapped the worker from his home in Sanaa and threatened to harm his family if members talked to the media.

Al-Hakimi’s death has prompted condemnation and calls from local and international rights groups and activists, as well as the government, for the Houthis to release abducted aid workers, and cease intimidating organizations that provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to millions of Yemenis.

The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties has cautioned about the effect of Houthi operations in Yemen against foreign organizations, adding that the Houthis have used its security and justice institutions to harass charity workers.

Human rights activists in Yemen have warned that the three UN workers held by the Houthis could be killed, citing the militia’s violent history of murdering prisoners.