Issued by CEMO Center - Paris
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Houthis turning Yemen's mosques into arms warehouses

Sunday 25/December/2022 - 04:57 PM
The Reference
Aya Ezz
طباعة

The Houthi group has deliberately encroached on places of worship, especially mosques, since its 2014 coup in Yemen.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms has accused the group of committing 3,370 violations against mosques and places of worship in 14 Yemeni provinces between January 1, 2015 and April 30, 2022.

The network condemned the terrorist crime committed by the group against the al-Ron village mosque in the southern district of Hudaydah.

The attack left several civilians dead, including children, and others injured.

The group staged the attack, while worshippers performed the weekly Friday prayer.

Mosque renovation

The Houthis impose preachers on mosques, distribute sectarian sermons, turn the Friday prayer sermons into political speeches, and use the mosques as platforms for the spread of misguided ideas and beliefs.

They also block loudspeakers during Taraweeh prayers, prevent prayers in mosques and force worshippers out of the mosques at gunpoint accompanied by a torrent of insults.

Videos that went viral have recently shown Houthi militiamen storming a mosque in Sana'a and preventing worshippers from performing prayers.

This incident was followed by a wide campaign of arrests among citizens in the capital, against the backdrop of filming and publishing the video.

The Houthi militia used loudspeakers and mosque minarets to broadcast its leader's sectarian lectures which are saturated with a culture of violence, incitement and mobilization.

Arms warehouses

The group has deliberately converted a number of mosques in Sana'a into ammunition and weapons stores.

It uses these ammunition and weapons in its war against Yemenis, according to the Council of Yemen's Scholars.

The council said almost 50 mosques in Sana'a and other Yemeni provinces have now become training camps and weapons depots.

It noted that the Houthis had also closed down a large number of mosques for allegedly violating the law.


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