The Essence of Our Homeland in Her Eyes
At the outset, we anticipated documenting a case that echoed the familiar tragedies we had grown accustomed to hearing. However, as Aya began her narrative with the words, ‘It was one of the worst days of my life,’ I realized that I was about to embark on a different tale. It was the story of a young girl, tender in age but mighty in her actions.
She commenced by recounting a story of suffering and injustice, where she experienced a loss of security and family. Aya’s parents had separated when she was a child. While her mother resided elsewhere, Aya lived happily with her father in their small home.
On March 27, 2019, her father received a phone call from a friend, who requested his assistance in a land dispute. Aya’s father, Hajj Muhammad Ismail al-Makhmari, a lawyer in his seventies, agreed to accompany his friend to the Al-Eshash area in Amanat Al-Asimah.
Aya recounts, “My father had never been late in returning home after 6:00 pm throughout our entire lives, but on that day, he went out and didn’t come back.” It wasn’t until a year and a half later that Aya learned her father had been forcibly disappeared by the Security and Intelligence Service of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis).
One day, towards the end of the year 2020, an armed man accompanied by a group of Ansar Allah (Houthi) escorts arrived at Aya’s house. Aya was living there alone since her father’s disappearance. The man informed her that her father was being held in their custody for his own protection, as there were rivals who sought to seize his land. Initially skeptical, she asked the man to provide proof in the form of a letter written by her father himself. To her surprise, he handed her a letter bearing her father’s handwriting, which led her to believe that they were genuinely safeguarding him. Aya says, “I was just sixteen years old back then, and I used to trust them. I was a naive child who believed everything.”
Aya continued her narrative, her eyes brimming with determination, strength, and confidence. The sixteen-year-old girl embarked on a mission to pursue her father’s case, declaring, “No one but me will take up this task. I have no one else in this world except him.” She went to the building previously known as the National Security, hoping to see her father. However, she was informed that he had been transferred to the Political Security Prison (now known as Security and Intelligence) and that his case file was located there. She made her way to the Security and Intelligence building, where they confirmed her father’s detention but refused to grant her permission to visit him.
Aya stood firm, refusing to back down from the gate of the Security and Intelligence building until she could see her father. Eventually, she was granted permission to enter and visit him. She was taken to a room referred to as the “waiting room,” where she laid eyes on her father for the first time in a year and six months since his disappearance. However, he was no longer the same. He appeared feeble, exhausted, swollen, and unable to walk unaided. Two gunmen supported him, despite his healthy legs when he left their home eighteen months earlier.
Witnessing her father’s condition, Aya couldn’t contain her anguish and began to shout, “What have you done to my father?!” Her father then proceeded to tell her about the continuous torture he endured for six long months. He also told her how they subjected him to distressing recordings of girls screaming, falsely claiming that his daughter was being held captive by their hands.
They subjected him to relentless beatings, causing injuries all over his body. Overwhelmed with anger and frustration upon witnessing her father’s suffering, Aya emerged from the visit consumed by rage. In a scene of mixed emotions encompassing anger, helplessness, and courage, she began to pick up stones and hurl them at the Security and Intelligence building. During this tumultuous act, a person named “Abu Imad” caught sight of Aya from a window in one of the Security and Intelligence buildings. Reacting swiftly, he reprimanded her and commanded the women stationed at the entrance gate to remove her from the premises.
Following that incident, Aya’s father endured multiple instances of torture. Each time he was subjected to such brutality, Aya was denied access to visit him until a month had passed. It was only after enduring a month of torture that her father reached out to her, requesting sedatives to alleviate his suffering. When Aya mustered the courage to ask why her father was being treated this way, an individual known as Al-Baqir responded callously, saying, “Your father deserves what is happening to him. He has insulted us and our leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi. There is nothing you can do to help him. Leave now and don’t attempt to cause any trouble for your own safety.”
Afterwards, Aya embarked on a grueling journey that, in her own words, felt like it added a hundred years to her age. She reached out to an individual working in the Office of the Presidency of the Republic and later connected with another person associated with the Specialized Criminal Court. It was only then that the first trial for her father was scheduled. During the initial court session, Aya discovered that her father had been detained on suspicion, along with his friend who had been with him on the day of his disappearance. Aya recounts, “Following the second court session, I was informed that my father’s friend had been released. I brought this to the attention of Judge Muhammad al-Sufyani, which greatly angered him, prompting him to return the case file to the Specialized Criminal Prosecution.”
And so, the arduous journey of struggle resumed within the corridors of the Public Prosecution Office, the courts, and the security and intelligence departments, stretching on for an entire year. Aya says, “Not a single member of the public prosecution was willing to take on my father’s case file.”
Meanwhile, Aya was facing the additional challenge of juggling her high school exams with her relentless pursuit of justice. She had to find a way to reconcile her studies with attending court hearings, meeting with prosecutors, and keeping up with her exam schedule. There were times when she would arrive late at the examination site, forcing her to navigate through lengthy procedures at the Ministry of Education before finally being able to take the test within the ministry headquarters.
Afterwards, Aya turned to social media as a last resort, and her plea gained traction through an online campaign that started in October 2022. Despite the unexpected nature of her situation, Aya received a phone call on the night of Eid Al-Fitr in 2023, bearing the news of her father’s impending release. A surge of joy overwhelmed her, as if the entire universe celebrated alongside her. However, her elation turned to despair when she was unexpectedly asked to provide a commercial guarantee, at 2 a.m. on the day of Eid.
Aya persevered, resuming the arduous journey of navigating through lengthy procedures, all while upholding the law and asserting her constitutional rights as well as those of her father. Nothing could deter her from her determined path until, finally, on January 4, 2023, she obtained a release order from the Specialized Criminal Court.
At that very moment, I set aside my pen and gazed into her eyes, where I saw our Yemen in all it’s form: its resilience and vulnerability, its injustices and affections, and all the intricate contradictions that encompass our country. Overwhelmed with pride for this courageous and resolute young woman, I couldn’t help but interrupt her, asking, “Aya, how old are you?” She responded, revealing that she was merely twenty years old. I took a brief pause to compose myself, as my astonishment reflected on my face.
She spoke to me with unwavering resolve, her gaze locked onto mine, as she recounted the courageous stand she took to fight for her rights. However, as she delved into the depths of her father’s suffering, who was burdened by liver disease and diabetes, a profound sense of anguish and powerlessness washed over her. She averted her eyes away in an effort to contain her tears.
Aya recounts, “For twenty painstaking days, I embarked on a grueling quest to secure a commercial guarantee, encountering numerous challenges along the way.” On January 23, 2023, she arrived at the prison with the required guarantee, filled with hope to finally reunite with her father. However, she was met with a disheartening reality. Shockingly, she learned that her father had been assaulted once again and the authorities refused to release him despite the presence of a court order and the fulfillment of the required guarantee.
Aya’s story is similar to thousands of stories in which Yemeni girls are transformed into resilient women, who fearlessly defend their loved ones with unwavering determination. She provides an exceptional example of Yemeni women who refuse to succumb for helplessness and instead strive to create a meaningful life.
As we said goodbye to Aya that day, we were overwhelmed with gratitude for her incredible strength and resilience, which left us deeply moved, but also filled with a mix of anger and sadness. Aya’s plea is not unreasonable or unattainable. All she asks for is the liberation of her father and the accountability of those responsible for his unlawful detention, the violation of his dignity, and the denial of his fundamental rights. We wonder if there are still those who will lend an ear, or if their hearts remain closed and indifferent.
