AL-MUKALLA: Ahmed Ali Ahmed Al-Yemeni had just celebrated his daughter’s wedding in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and was relaxing in bed after a long, exhausting and joyful night. On June 6, at around 7 a.m., a group of armed men and women in armed cars surrounded his house and pounded on the door. The knocking interrupted and destroyed the family’s peace and joy for the coming months.

When 51-year-old Al-Yemeni opened the door, he unexpectedly found guests – almost 20 armed, masked men and veiled women from the Houthi movement stormed his apartment, searched it and arrested him.

“They interrogated my father quickly and briefly before questioning the rest of the family,” Al-Yemeni’s son Khaled told Arab News. When the frightened family tried to resist the Houthis’ invasion of their home, the father told them to “calm down and obey.”

From Paris, where he lives, Khaled reported that Houthi police known as Al-Zaynabeat interrogated female family members and searched their rooms. The family was surprised by the raid because their father had never been involved in criminal activities.

“They searched every room in the house for any documents and evidence they could find, including my father’s education certificates and previous employment contracts. They left the house with him and also took his car,” Khaled said, adding: “My father is a calm, kind and patriotic person. He had several opportunities to leave Yemen, but he decided to stay because he had a great attachment to the country.”

While the Houthis were interrogating Al-Yemeni and his family, other armed Houthis were raiding the homes and workplaces of other Yemenis in Sanaa and other Yemeni provinces under the militia’s control. This was part of a larger campaign against Yemenis working for international aid and human rights organizations, including some UN agencies and Western missions.

The Houthis did not explain their actions against civil society and humanitarian aid, but it later became clear when they announced the discovery of a spy network of Yemenis who were using their work at international organizations as a cover for their spying activities for the United States and Israel.

Al-Yemeni has previously worked at the Danish Refugee Council, the German-funded development agency GIZ, the British-funded humanitarian aid agency Oxfam and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives. He is currently unemployed and his last job was with the Kuwaiti Direct Aid Association until 2022, his family said.

The Houthis kidnapped Ahmed Al-Yemeni from his home, took his vehicle and other papers, and took him to their notorious security and intelligence prison in Sanaa. Khaled advised the family not to inform his newly married sister about their father’s abduction.

“My sister only found out about the incident a week later. We told her that our father had immediately left for Jordan on business, which she could neither believe nor understand. We did not want to spoil her happiness.”

The family rushed to the Houthi detention camp, where they learned that their father was being held there. His captors told them that he was under investigation and refused their requests to see or speak to him.

On Monday, Khaled Al-Yemeni said the Houthis had ignored many requests from his family to see him, call him, inform them of his health condition or explain the reason for his arrest.

“They have not provided any clear or indirect explanation for the arrest. We know that several families’ homes were broken into on the same day and according to the same scenario.”

Ahmed Arman, Yemen’s human rights minister, told Arab News that the Houthis have kidnapped at least 70 Yemeni workers from foreign organizations since they began their crackdown three months ago, and have denied the families of the abducted people visits or contact with them.

The Yemeni minister further said that the Houthis had required Yemeni and foreign personnel living in the regions they control to obtain permits to travel between Yemeni cities.

On Sunday, Houthi media reported that Ibrahim Al-Hamli, the militia’s head of the Administration and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation, a body responsible for international humanitarian operations, met for five days with UN and international organization staff, including Julien Harneis, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.

The Houthi leader warned the workers against being “exploited” by the militia’s opponents for espionage purposes while they worked for foreign organizations.

After his family exhausted all avenues for their father’s release, Khaled used his social media profiles and spoke to the media to raise awareness of their tragedy.

Khaled called on the Houthis to end his family’s grief and ensure peace and joy by releasing his father. He also called on Yemeni parties not to exploit his family’s ordeal for political gain.

“We are still stunned, heartbroken and grieving since the wedding day.”