Cairo: Gunmen from Yemen’s Iran-backed Al Houthi movement detained a local journalist and five activists after a raid on an apartment in the capital Sana’a on Saturday, activists said, the latest detention of a reporter in the war-ravaged country.
The gunmen stormed the apartment at dawn and took journalist Nabil Al Sharabi and the activists to an unknown location. Al Houthis had fired guns when the men attempted to escape, activists said.
Human Rights Watch says Al Houthis have detained numerous political opposition figures, activists, and journalists.
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi are battling Al Houthis and loyalists of the country’s ousted leader in a war that has killed about 6,000 people.
Al Sharabi, the detained journalist, had worked for local daily Akhbar Al Youm, which Al Houthis closed down after taking control of Sana’a in 2014.
Hadi fled Sana’a in 2015, after Al Houthis seized his presidential palace.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate says Al Houthis have been holding 12 other journalists for several months after accusing them of acting against the movement and of supporting Hadi’s government.
Last week unidentified gunmen abducted and later released two journalists and a driver working for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Arabic TV channel in the southwestern city of Taiz.
