By force of arms under the name of "state", the Iran-backed Houthis have practiced ol and innovative methods against Yemenis, to impose levies and loot rights and then devour them in the bellies of insatiable leaders. Some of the corruption’s slashing salaries, establishing a collection fund in the name of teachers, and a looting authority in the name of Zakat preys on what God divided the rights of the poor and needy.
Teachers Without Bread
In Sana’a governorate alone, Yemen Details obtained confirmed information from close sources, according to which the Houthis have deprived nearly 2,000 teachers of half the salary that comes every few months, and of cash aid that UNICEF has repeatedly disbursed to save the educational system from complete collapse in the militia’s areas of control.
The sources said that the Houthis accused 2,000 teachers of interrupting teaching, and then, through leaders in the Education Office in the governorate, withdrew cash crumbs from the Sana’a University post office that came to them from their suspended dues about six years ago, in a phenomenon of corruption in a ministry headed by Yahya Al-Houthi, brother of the militia leader.
Such teachers from Sana’a governorate, and under the pretext of interruption from work, thousands of others from other governorates under the control of the Iran-backed militia, suffer from violations of their functional and financial rights, between dismissal from the job and replacement of its members, to being denied any financial dues.
In an attempt to absorb the complaints of teachers and millions of parents of students, the Houthis passed in September 2019, the "Teacher and Education Support Fund Law", which includes imposing sums of money on many goods and services, including 1% of the value of each phone bill, 1% of customs fees for all commodities, and one riyal for each liter of gasoline, diesel and household gas, which amounts to billions per month.
The Houthis referred Yemeni teachers in the areas under their control to the list of "the poor and needy", the most important zakat banks and the categories entitled to it, especially as it jumped the numbers of zakat revenue to numbers that were unimaginable to the heart of human beings in Yemen.
In May 2018, the decision of the head of the Houthi authority was issued to establish the General Authority for Zakat, created under a new Zakat law, which sparked widespread controversy.
The new authority transferred zakat from the local administration’s prerogatives to it, centralizing supply and spending, in addition to taking over the tasks and functions of the Social Welfare Fund, which has been active since 1996 in relieving the burdens of poor groups.
While the zakat returns were not more than YR5 billion (equivalent to YR15 billion according to the current exchange rates), the Houthi authority imposed huge sums on taxpayers, increasing annually, and the year 2020 reached about YR75 billion , of which only YR19 billion was spent. Last year exceeded YR100 billion, most of which was looted.
The nearly YR80 billion of arbitrary zakat proceeds last year went into the pockets of Houthi leaders, while it was announced that it was spent on fake projects to help the poor, orphans and the needy, group marriage and pay debts of debtors. Informed sources said.
