Houthi militants have reportedly beat a pregnant mother to death in Ibb in front of her four children while attempting a house raid to arrest her husband, according to activists.
Local Yemeni media said the attack took place on Thursday when Houthi militants arriving in an armored vehicle stormed the house of the woman identified Ahlam al-Ashari in the al-Odain district in the Ibb province of Yemen.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The 29-year-old mother was severely beaten in various parts of her body and sustained several deep wounds to her head and face, which led to her death immediately after she was transferred to al-Odain Hospital in order to treat her, according to local Yemeni media outlets.
The Taiz Center for Human Rights has called for urgent investigations into the murder of the young mother and holds the Houthis accountable for her death.
“The center stresses the need to uncover the circumstances of the case, prosecute the perpetrators and stop the repeated tampering and the successive attacks on human rights. This crime is a violation of all international norms and laws and human rights, and reflects the terrible collapse of rights and freedoms in the areas under the control of the militia coup and the increasing number of crimes committed by the Houthi security forces,” read a statement released by the center.
The victim's father, Ali Abdulkarim al-Ashari confirmed in a complaint published by activists on social media that armed men from the al-Odain Security Department stormed his daughter's house and attacked her and her children, which led to her death.
The victim's husband appeared in a video in distress and seeking help.
“Where are those claiming to support the oppressed. They killed the mother of my children. My children have become orphans. Where is the ‘master’ who claims to support justice,” the husband said, referring to the Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi.
Last year, a rights group said that the Houthi militia in Yemen are holding dozens of women without bringing them to trial or charging them with a crime, often torturing the detainees and blackmailing their families.
An Associated Press investigation last December showed that thousands of Yemenis have been imprisoned by the Houthi militia during the five years of Yemen's war. Many of them suffered extreme torture - being smashed in their faces with batons, hung from chains by their wrists or genitals for weeks at a time, and scorched with acid.
Read more:
Houthi official accused of prison torture at Yemen’s Central Security prison
‘Castrated, beaten, paralyzed’: Yemeni doctor reveals horrors of Houthi torture
