Yemeni singer’s abduction sparks anger against Houthi ‘morality crackdown’

Houthi militia, Sanaa, Yemen, Feb.19, 2020. (Reuters)
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Updated 01 September 2021
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Yemeni singer’s abduction sparks anger against Houthi ‘morality crackdown’

  • Armed Houthi figures stormed the wedding hall at almost 2 a.m. on Tuesday and abducted singer Aseel Abu Baker
  • The armed group took him to an unidentified location in the capital after confiscating his oud and other musical equipment

AL-MUKALLA: Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have abducted a young singer from a wedding hall in Sanaa for flouting their ban on singing.

It comes as the militia intensifies its so-called “morality crackdown,” residents and activists have said.

Armed Houthi figures stormed the wedding hall at almost 2 a.m. on Tuesday and abducted singer Aseel Abu Baker. The armed group took him to an unidentified location in the capital after confiscating his oud and other musical equipment.

The same singer narrowly escaped from another Houthi raid in 2019 when he was singing at a wedding in the city of Amran. He fled the event through an emergency exit shortly before the arrival of armed fighters.

Since that day, residents believe that the Houthis have placed Abu Baker on a wanted list and vowed to capture him.

From an unidentified location, the abducted singer posted a short clip on his Facebook page hours after the abduction, assuring his fans that he is in good health, and attributing his capture to “a misunderstanding.”

Dozens of his followers expressed support for him, claiming that the video was recorded at gunpoint. “We all love you … don’t be afraid. You should tell us what happened to you instead of saying there was a misunderstanding,” one said.

The Houthis, who seized power in late 2014, have imposed strict moral codes in their territory: Banning singing at weddings and public places, abducting women and men who socialize together in restaurants and parks, and harassing female artists and actresses.

The arrest of Abu Baker has sparked anger among Yemenis, who condemned the militia’s targeting of musicians in areas under their control.

Activists accused the Houthis of importing “Daesh and Al-Qaeda-like” radicalism to Yemen, and called on local and international rights groups to “name and shame” the Houthis.

“This is terrorism and shows beyond doubt that the Houthis are more extremist and fascist than Daesh and Al-Qaeda,” Sami Noaman, a Yemeni journalist who has documented the group’s morality crackdown, told Arab News.

He said that the militia has raided wedding halls and “stuck their noses into people’s personal lives,” adding: “They blackmail abducted singers into paying money for their fighters or joining the battlefields.”

He criticized the international community for turning a blind eye to the Houthi abuses.

“Yemenis can no longer count on the international community’s pressure to influence the militia. Only an uprising by Yemenis can put an end to that,” Noaman said.

Yemeni singers and vocal critics of the movement who live in Sanaa have denounced the Houthi raids on weddings.

Salah Al-Akhfash, a popular musician, shared an old photo of himself with Abu Baker, followed by a post expressing his support for abducted musicians.

A judge, Abdul Wahab Qatran, said on Twitter: “The arrest of singer Aseel Abu Baker from a wedding hall by Sanaa’s ‘Taliban militia’ is a crime that has no statute of limitations. Singing is not a crime and is permissible.”

Other Yemenis urged the Houthi movement to launch corruption crackdowns and pay public servant salaries instead of abducting and harassing musicians.

“From a wedding party in Sanaa, the Houthi terrorist gang kidnapped the musician Aseel Abu Baker and took him to an unknown destination — because songs are forbidden! The Houthi movement is a curse on the country,” tweeted Samia Al-Aghbari, a Yemeni journalist.

Earlier last month, a Houthi checkpoint in the western province of Hodeidah detained Yemeni singer Fuad Al-Kibsi for eight hours and confiscated his belongings after he violated their ban on music.


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Updated 20 May 2025
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Netanyahu says UK-French-Canada condemnation gives ‘huge prize’ to Hamas

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hit back at condemnation of his country’s military offensive in Gaza by the leaders of France, Canada and Britain saying they had given a “huge prize” to Hamas.
“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the October 2023 attack that set off the Gaza war.


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Updated 20 May 2025
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Palestinian hospital chief calls for pressure on Israel

HELSINKI: An East Jerusalem hospital chief told AFP on Monday that Gaza was in a “catastrophic” state after weeks of a complete blockade of humanitarian aid and called on countries to act to end the suffering of civilians.
Fadi Atrash, chief executive of the Augusta Victoria-Hospital in East Jerusalem — which helps Palestinians from the occupied territories and Gaza — said he could no longer “find the words” to describe the crisis faced by people in war-torn Gaza.
“We are facing a very, very critical and catastrophic situation,” he said, with all components of the health care system destroyed, and health care workers “running out of energy.”
Augusta Victoria, which had a hospital in Gaza that has been destroyed in Israeli bombings now provides health care in Gaza with the limited resources available, Atrash said.
Atrash visited Finland — which has not recognized Palestine as a state — on Monday as part of a tour of the Nordic countries.
“My main message for the Nordic countries is to put pressure to stop the war, to stop the killing.”
Humanitarian food, medical and fuel supplies have been blocked from entering Gaza for 11 weeks, and the World Health Organization has warned that two million people face starvation.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb joined other European leaders on Monday to call on Israel to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Stubb also said “forced displacement of populations is a war crime and cannot form part of any solution,” in a post on X.
Israel this month approved an expanded military offensive in Gaza but has agreed to let limited aid into Gaza.


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Gaza civil defense says 91 killed in Israeli strikes Monday

GAZA CITY: A Gaza civil defense official said that 91 people were killed in strikes and attacks throughout Monday as Israel steps up an offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The deaths had been recorded since the early hours of Monday, according to Mohammed Al-Mughayyir, an official in the civil defense agency of the Hamas-run territory. The department had earlier given a toll of 52 dead.


Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israeli port

Updated 20 May 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israeli port

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis said Monday that they would target Haifa port in Israel as part of a “naval blockade” in response to Israeli escalation in the Gaza war.
The Houthis would “begin working to enforce a naval blockade of the port of Haifa,” said military spokesman Yehya Saree.
“All companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the target bank,” the Houthi spokesman added.
The move was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s escalation of its brutal aggression against our people and in Gaza,” he said, adding their attacks on Israel would “cease once the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted.”
Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, as rescuers reported dozens killed in a newly intensified offensive.


One SDF fighter killed in attack by Daesh in eastern Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces said on Monday that one of its fighters was killed and another injured in an attack by Daesh.
Updated 19 May 2025
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One SDF fighter killed in attack by Daesh in eastern Syria

  • SDF reached an agreement in March to integrate with the Syrian government
  • Syria’s new authorities have clashed with Daesh fighters, particularly in the east

CAIRO: The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a militia group led by Kurdish fighters, said on Monday that one of its fighters was killed and another injured in an attack by Daesh in Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zor region.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Daesh in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The SDF reached an agreement in March to integrate with the Syrian government, now led by former militants who toppled President Bashar Assad last year.
Syria’s new authorities have clashed with Daesh fighters, particularly in the east. Last month, Daesh killed five SDF fighters in one of the deadliest recent attacks against the group.