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Only One Visit during Four Years of Detention
In October 2019, the mother of Moath (37 years old) came to Sana'a from the village of Al-Silw in the south of Taiz Governorate to request a visit to her son who was being detained in the Security and Intelligence Service prison of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) after seeing him on the group's Al-Masirah TV channel as a prisoner. Before coming to Sana'a, she contacted a lawyer of Mwatana for Human Rights and was given an appointment to meet with one of the organization's lawyers to provide legal support to her son. Upon arrival at the organization's headquarters, she was given a “visitor card", which frightened her, as she thought that it was a card to visit her son. She did not want to see her son in the same condition she saw him in before. However, the lawyer who received her explained to her that the card was only for entering the organization's premises so that they can talk to her and know more about the circumstances of her son's case to start working on it.During her meeting with the lawyer, Moath's mother was grief-stricken and tears almost never stopped flowing from her eyes. She was clearly suffering from insomnia and lack of sleep, with a burning desire to talk. In the meeting, she was sometimes absent-minded, remembering her son's life before he was detained.Moath used to live with his wife, mother, and three children in a modest house that was not yet completed. However, it was enough for his family that he was there among them. Despite his meager earnings as a baker in the village, he was the family's main breadwinner and the source of security for his children, especially his eldest son who had not yet turned fourteen years of age and asked his grandmother not to return from Sana'a without his father.Moath's mother described the current condition of her grandchildren as pitiful even to their enemies. Since his detention four years ago, the family has struggled to make ends meet without Moath's income. She was only able to visit her son once in April 2020, eight months after his detention, when he was brought to a place in the Al-Sabeen district in Sana’a in a car with the windows tinted, before being forcibly disappeared for three years.At that time, Moath's mother was allowed to stay with him for ten minutes. As soon as he touched his mother's arms, he broke down in tears and was unable to stand on his feet. He cried out to his mother, asking her what she could do to help him. She felt helpless in the face of the jailers' intransigence and her own bewilderment at the reasons behind her son's arbitrary detention and forced disappearance.His mother was overwhelmed by his condition and appearance. He was even more emaciated than before, and signs of weariness and fatigue were evident. When she asked about his poor health, he told her that he had undergone surgery to remove a bulge in his shoulder, which might have been a tumor.Moath had previously undergone two surgeries, one to remove his appendix and another to treat a problem in his intestines. At the time, his mother and wife were the ones taking care of him. He was both an inspiration and a source of strength for them. Now, his mother is concerned about his condition in detention. She asks, "How is he doing now? Does he suffer from any complications, and is he receiving the necessary and appropriate treatment for his condition?"All of these questions were running through Moath's mother's mind, disturbing her sleep. She knew that Moath was selective about his food, always choosing what suited his sick condition. She wondered what kind of food was being given to him in detention. However, during her first visit to him, she noticed that he ate very little, as his appearance and the pallor of his face indicated that he was not getting enough nutrition.Those ten minutes passed very fast, as the jailer informed her that her time was up. Reluctantly, she held onto her son's shoulder, pleading with the soldiers to release him and take her instead of him. However, they only laughed, ignorant of her desperate plea. Despite knowing her son had been taken back to detention, she continued to visit the Al-Sabeen district where she had met him, even if only for a few minutes. She would then return to her pain, grief and restless mind.On her last trip from the village, Moath's mother hoped that she would be allowed to visit her son again, although she knew that the visit would bring her new pain. She didn't even want to visit. All she hoped for was that he would be set free and that one day she would run into him on her way back to his house, free at last.When the lawyer asked for Moath's ID card so that she could take a picture of it and use it for legal support, his mother took out the card from her purse and gazed at the attached picture of her son. She stared at the photo as if it were the first time she had seen it, tears streaming down her face. Is there any way to end the suffering of this mother, and many others like her?
