Houthi militia abduct a child, demand paying YR 500,000 for his release

As part of their criminal operations in violation of international law and children's rights, the pro-Iranian Houthi militia continues to kidnap children from the streets, schools and villages, send them to the fronts to fight in defense of the their projects.

Local sources in Dhamar governorate said that the militia kidnapped the child Abd Ellah Muhammad Al-Maweri (14 years old) and sent him to Saada Governorate for training in Iranian sectarian behavior before sending him to one of the fronts.

The sources indicated that the child, who is the only son of the director of the Human Rights Office in Dhamar, disappeared without warning from the Governorate, but his father, after a great search for him, discovered that in his son in Saada Governorate, the militia had kidnapped him among a large group of children there.

The sources indicated that, after his disappearance, his father traveled to Sana'a to search for his son, and knocked on all doors to search for his son, to reach the specialized supervisor called Abu Haider Al-Shaafi, who specializes in child abduction, and who told him that his son was with a supervisor in Saada governorate with the aim of a fifty-days combat training course.

The sources confirmed that the Houthi supervisor demanded YR 500,000 for his release.

The Houthi militia uses schools and educational facilities to attract children to forced recruitment, through an education system that incites violence,.

According to Yemeni government reports, since the outbreak of the war on September 21, 2014, the Houthi militia has recruited more than 30,000 children to participate in their military operations.