wandering in a torrent of questions
Hussein al-Hadi, a 55-year-old tribal elder from the Khawlan al-Tayyal district in Sanaa governorate, was among those who arrived to offer condolences to the al-Ruwaishan family at the " Al-Saala Al-Kubra" in southern Sanaa. This was on the evening of Saturday, October 8, 2016, the same day the hall was bombed by the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition. Hussein was one of the injured.
After the incident, his daughter, Abeer al-Hadi, recounts that the family started searching for him. When they reached the bombing site, they were informed that their father had been transferred to the Modern German Hospital. They rushed there, where they met with the attending doctor who assured them that their father was in good condition, suffering only minor injuries, adding, "His friends came and took him."
The family was shocked by this news and requested to review the hospital’s surveillance footage, only to discover that their father had been kidnapped. At that time, the family had no idea who had abducted him or where he had been taken.
According to his daughter’s testimony, the family later received information that he was being held at the central prison in Amran, under the control of Ansar Allah (Houthi). This information came on October 22, 2016, fourteen days after he was injured in the bombing of the Al-Saala Al-Kubra in Sanaa.
Some family members went to the prison in hopes of seeing him. Upon arrival, they were informed by the prison director that their father was being held on charges related to the Al-Saala Al-Kubra bombing but was prohibited from receiving visitors.
The family was gravely concerned about his health, but the prison director assured them that his health was stable and he had recovered. They returned to Sanaa without being able to visit him and held a meeting at the home of Sheikh Abdul Samad Duwaid. Sheikh Duwaid then contacted the prison director, who confirmed that the victim was in their custody and that they would eventually be allowed to visit him.
The next day, several members of the Bani Shaddad tribe went to visit him in the Amran central prison, only to be shocked when the prison director completely denied his presence and refused to allow them entry, reneging on his previous promise.
In 2017, seven months after his enforced disappearance, the family continued their efforts and managed to obtain a memorandum from the Specialized Criminal Prosecution, directed at the Political Security Organization (now the Security and Intelligence Service), requesting permission for them to visit him. Yet, the Political Security Organization denied having him in their custody.
The family did not give up; they continued to pursue the case, knocking on every door. In 2020, they submitted a memorandum to the former Attorney General, asking for his whereabouts to be revealed. However, the Director of the Attorney General’s Office refused to let them meet with the Attorney General and informed them that their father was being held by the National Security. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights then intervened, facilitating a meeting with the Attorney General. However, according to the daughter, the Attorney General provided them with no useful information.
In 2023, the family made repeated appeals to several security agencies to uncover his whereabouts, but all responses stated that he was not in their custody.
The family then reached out to a member of the Supreme Political Council, who informed them that their father’s case had reached Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s office. Later, they received a call from the Prime Minister’s Office, stating that Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s office had recommended they follow up with an official at the Ministry of Interior.
However, they were unable to reach this official. During a subsequent visit to the same Supreme Political Council member's office, the family was informed of a directive from Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s office to release their father, yet this release has not occurred.
During this time, Abeer mentions that a friend of her younger brother suggested they reach out to someone named "M. Sh." to follow up on their father’s case. When her brother met with this person and explained the situation, he informed them that there were two unidentified bodies from the Al-Saala Al-Kubra bombing and that her brother should conduct a DNA test. Her brother initially refused, but "M. Sh." insisted, stating that the order to perform the test came from a senior official at the Ministry of Interior. Nonetheless, the family refused to conduct the test, convinced that their father was alive and had been forcibly disappeared.
Abeer wonders, "Why, after seven years, does this high-ranking official now request a DNA test, knowing about the case since the day of the incident?"
According to the daughter, their conviction that their father is still alive was reinforced when they heard his voice in a video broadcast by al-Masirah Channel, in which he called out to their cousin three times. Additionally, his phone continued to receive messages sent by the family for three months after his disappearance.
The family has suffered immensely in their pursuit of Hussein al-Hadi’s case. Despite the trauma they endured from the Al-Saala Al-Kubra bombing and their initial optimism about his condition, they were later devastated by his enforced disappearance.
To this day, the family of the disappeared, Hussein al-Hadi, remains lost amidst a sea of questions and mounting suffering, especially as he was the sole provider for his family of seven children (five daughters and two sons), two of whom have mental and physical disabilities. These circumstances have left the family in dire financial and emotional distress, with the only hope of his children and loved ones being to see him alive and reunited with them once more.
The Ansar Allah (Houthi) group must disclose the fate of all those forcibly disappeared, put an end to the crime of enforced disappearance that continues to affect the families and loved ones of the victims, release them, provide redress for their harm, ensure justice, and terminate other enforced disappearance crimes in all areas under their control.
