Brotherhood violations in Yemen: Kidnapping activists and blaspheming opponents

Mass demonstrations have taken place by citizens in Taiz Governorate in southwestern Yemen due to the Brotherhood's increasing violations against them. In the past few days, the terrorist group stormed some homes of political activists and took them to unknown places, according to the Yemeni newspaper Saba and the Yemeni news website Al-Asima Online, citing some citizens who were subjected to violations by the Brotherhood.

The Yemeni website stated that among the Brotherhood's illegal practices in the past few days are that they have used the pulpits of mosques and religious sermons to attack anyone who tries to adopt enlightening ideas or declare their own opinion.

One of the most prominent Brotherhood advocates who led the attack from the pulpits was the extremist Abdullah al-Adani.

Political rejection

Following these actions, the political parties in Taiz issued a joint statement criticizing what they called “the escalation of the phenomenon of defamation and questioning the beliefs of those who hold opinions” by mosque preachers affiliated with the Brotherhood in Taiz.

The parties, namely the Socialist Party, the Nasserist Organization, the Baath and the Union of Popular Forces, said in a joint statement monitored by Al-Ain Al-Akhbar that allocating three Friday sermons dedicated to incitement against political activists and people of free opinion reflects the resurgence of the growth of takfirist and extremist groups.

The statement pointed out that the culture of blasphemy, treason and incitement against writers, journalists, thinkers and opinion holders is an extension of the series of political crimes, which targeted the lives of many political fighters, intellectuals and patriots.

The Yemeni political parties that signed the statement called on the leadership of the local authority and the Awqaf Office to assume its responsibility in putting in place serious measures to curb the growth of the culture of extremism, in addition to stopping the use of religious platforms against intellectuals and opinion-holders.

The statement pointed out that these practices have transformed houses of worship into platforms for nourishing the culture of hatred and extremism and schools for the education and preparation of projects of death and extrajudicial executions.

Converting the governorate into a military barracks

In a human rights report published by the Yemeni newspaper Al-Watan, the Brotherhood turned Taiz Governorate into a military barracks, because it had recently converted many youth sports centers and schools into training camps for the Houthi militia.

It has also established many military training centers and has called for joining them, and in some cases, it forcibly pushes young people to join them.