In 2019, the citizen Ahmad Hussein Al-Jashmi and his family, as well as the citizen Abdullah Ali Ali Al-Hayee and his family, decided to move from Ans in Dhamar Governorate to Aden Governorate in search of livelihood and to work in selling qat (a stimulant plant) due to the difficult living conditions caused by the blockade and aggression in the country. Al-Jashmi and Abdullah worked in selling qat in the qat market in Dar Saad, Aden Governorate.
In October 2020, as usual, Al-Jashmi went to the market to look for the qat merchant he worked for, who was from Al-Hodeidah. When he couldn't find him in the market, the workers in the area told him that an armed group affiliated with the Transitional Council had come earlier and arrested the merchant and others with him. Al-Jashmi then went to the police station to demand the financial returns for the value of his qat with the detained merchant, which amounted to 1,300,000 Saudi riyals. However, he was also arrested by the police station without any reason.
Four days passed without anyone asking about Al-Jashmi. The police station told him to find a guarantor from the people of Aden in order to be released. Al-Jashmi contacted his friend and neighbor, Abdullah Al-Hayee, who had been living in Aden for a long time. Abdullah immediately responded and said, "I'll be there at the police station tomorrow."
Late on Friday night, October 16, 2020, and under the orders of the director of the Orchards Department in Dar Saad, Mouslih Al-Dharhani, two military vehicles stormed the house of Abdullah Ali Al-Hayee in Inma Residential City in Aden Governorate. Everyone in the house, including women, children, and men, as well as those who worked with him in selling qat from his tribe, Ans-Dhamar, were arrested, according to one of their relatives.
Nabila, the wife of the detained Abdullah Al-Hayee, who had returned to her husband's village in the Ans tribe, said, "They beat my husband, humiliated him, and tortured him, along with everyone else, on the pretext that they belong to 'Ansar Allah' (Houthi movement). Then they beat me with a stick and threatened my husband that they would harm me in front of his eyes if he didn't confess. My husband, with blood pouring from his body, said to them, 'I will confess to whatever you want, as long as you let my wife leave the station.'" Abdullah Al-Hayee was tortured to death, and his body was taken out of the police station in a taxi and transported to an unknown location. They filed a report claiming that he had escaped from prison and fled from justice, and Adnan Ahmed Fadl, the public prosecutor of Dar Saad/Aden, was brought to the station to endorse the report prepared by the director of the Dar Saad Police/Mouslih Al-Dharhani.
Hanan, the wife of the other detainee, Ahmad Hussein Al-Jashmi, also confirmed that she was subjected to the same threats as Nabila. They told her husband that they would sexually assault her if he didn't confess. He was also forced, under coercion, to agree to their demands and confess to what they wanted, on the condition that the women be left alone and released. After that, the women were released, and Hanan added, "They left us, and a soldier drove us in his black car to our house. He told us, 'As advice, leave Aden at the earliest opportunity, go back to your homeland, Dhamar, so we returned to Dhamar.'"
The forces of the Transitional Council forced Ahmad Hussein Al-Jashmi to make confessions, including assassinating scholars and mosque imams. Among those crimes they forced him to confess to were incidents that took place in 2015, even though they did not move to Aden until 2019. All these confessions were made under torture. This is just a small part of the injustice, suffering, torture, and violations that thousands of prisoners in the prisons of the Transitional Council in Aden Governorate are subjected to.
The following individuals are still detained without any charges or due legal process to ensure justice or their rights:
- Abdullah Ali Ali Al-Hayee, 28 years old
- Jabr Ali Ali Al-Hayee, 12 years old
- Ali Abdulmalik Mohammed Al-Hayee, 13 years old
- Ali Abdul Karim Mohammed Al-Hayee, 14 years old
- Sannan Ali Ali Al-Hayee, 13 years old
- Jabr Nasser Sareeb
- Ahmad Hussein Al-Jashmi
- Galib Ali Al-Dhubiani
Until now, eight qat sellers remain imprisoned in secret prisons belonging to the Transitional Council, and they have not been released or even allowed visitation. False charges were fabricated against them in an attempt to involve them in the ongoing political conflict and settle scores with the Transitional Council's opponents, despite their complete lack of involvement. They have not been accused of any crime other than seeking a livelihood by selling qat in Aden Governorate. Their only "crime" is being from northern regions, which has led to their unjust inclusion in the conflict.
The families of the detainees hold the responsibility on the Department of Orchards, including the director of the department, Mouslih Al-Dharhani, for all criminal practices against the detainees. They also hold him responsible for fabricating charges and lies against their innocent children. They call upon all honorable activists and human rights advocates to condemn this heinous crime committed by elements of the Southern Transitional Council against innocent citizens.