Yemeni journalist assaulted by Houthis receives hospital care in Jordan

A Yemeni journalist attacked by Iran-backed Houthis in Sanaa last week has flown to Jordan for medical treatment. It comes as local and international campaigners condemned the militant group for persecuting dissenting voices in Yemen.

Majili Al-Samadi, the head of Voice of Yemen Radio, posted a photo taken on a Yemenia flight from Houthi-controlled Sanaa to Amman and a message in which he said goodbye to his followers, followed by another about his hospital care in Jordan.

“Tomorrow, I’ll have my third therapy session for suctioning clotted blood beneath my skin, which was caused by an assault on me by an armed group linked with the Houthis,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

On Jan. 1, less than a day after Al-Samadi criticized a judge at a Houthi-run court for denying his appeal against a ban on his radio broadcasts, an armed group with suspected connections to the Houthis assaulted him, for the second time in six months, and broke the windows of his car outside his home in Sanaa.

He said the attack caused his hands to swell and become red as a result of blood clots and that he was having difficulty moving his hands and legs.

In early 2022, the Houthis shut down Voice of Yemen Radio and five other radio stations for refusing to broadcast the group’s propaganda. The first attack on Al-Samadi was in August, after he continued to protest against the broadcast ban, and supported public demands for the Houthis to pay government employees’ wages.

Meanwhile, Yemeni human rights advocates and government officials urged the Houthis to release outspoken judge Abdul Wahab Qatran and halt their escalating persecution of dissenting voices.

The Houthis abducted the judge from his home last week after besieging it for hours, wrecking the property and detaining other his members of his family. Hours earlier, he had expressed support for Al-Samadi and criticized the Houthis for silencing opponents through intimidation.

The Houthis have not commented on the kidnapping but the judge’s sons said the group falsely accused him of possessing and consuming alcohol.

Yemen’s information minister, Muammar Al-Eryani, strongly condemned the Houthis for attacking Al-Samadi, Qatran and others who oppose their rule, and accused the group of attempting to exploit the conflict in Gaza as a means to silence their critics and deflect public outrage over their failure to pay public-sector workers.

“These assaults and threats indicate the Houthi militia’s state of panic, as well as its attempts to use regional events to silence critics of its actions, continuous robbery of the state’s public funds, and refusal to pay employee wages,” the minister wrote in a message posted on social media platform X.