Aid workers abducted by the Houthis have gone months without being heard from, The Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing the families of those taken.
Ahmed al-Yamani, an aid worker abducted only a day after celebrating his daughter’s wedding in June last year, was taken from his home in Saana. His family told AP they haven’t heard from him in months.
During the raid on al-Yamani’s home, Houthi gunmen pointed their weapons at his family and separated female relatives into a separate room. “They left the house with my father in an armored vehicle and took his car,” Khaled, the 28-year-old elder son of al-Yamani, told AP over the phone from France.
Al-Yamani is one of dozens of UN and NGO workers supporting the poverty-stricken country, who the terror group has taken. The Houthis have reportedly terrorized the families, and their personal devices have been confiscated.
The al-Yamani family was allowed to see their loved one once in August, when the Houthis instructed them to travel to a meeting spot. Pulling up in a blacked-out bus, a gaunt-looking al-Yamani was allowed to exist and briefly speak with his family, who said he had lost a significant amount of weight.
UNICEF public health consultant Dr. Ali Mudhwahi, 56, was also arrested in June 2024. The Houthis took him from his office blindfolded after interrogating him and his colleagues for hours, according to the report.
His family had not heard from Mudhwahi for eight months, but told AP that his wife, Safiah Mohammed, said they now receive minutes-long phone calls every month or two. She shared that the family have been given no information on where he is being held.
“In the last three calls, his voice sounded exhausted," Mohammed shared. "I can sense he’s not okay.”
“They took the head of my family. They took our sole provider," she added. "I’m trying to hide my pain from my daughter but ... I’m worried.”
An anonymous doctor also recounted to AP how his brother, who worked with UNESCO, was arrested last year and his cousin, who worked for another UN agency, was arrested in September.
The doctor’s cousin had been called in for questioning by the Houthis multiple times but did not return after the final summons in September.
"We're ghosts of people," the Sanaa doctor said.
He shared that he had been allowed to speak to his brother every few months but the calls were limited to 10 minutes.
Houthis claim UN workers are spies for Israel, the West
Despite their families’ denial, the Houthis abducted many of the aid workers after accusing them of working as spies for the West and Israel. They received no trial or formal charges.
Hazam al-Assad, of the Houthis' political bureau, told AP the aid workers "were in possession of advanced spying devices and eavesdropping equipment for intercepting calls and identifying locations.”
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq strongly denied the accusation, asserting the Houthis’ claims were “baseless and extremely distressing.”
“Our staff are impartial humanitarian and development professionals," Haq said.