The hashtag "#أحفاد_الرسي_يقذفون_اليمنيات" (Descendants of the Rassi Insult Yemeni Women) has taken over social media platforms in Yemen, following a series of insults directed at Yemeni women by leaders of the Houthi group, internationally designated as a terrorist organization. These remarks have sparked widespread anger among Yemenis.

Over the past few days, social media users have shared videos and posts containing these offensive statements. One particularly egregious example was a speech by Houthi leader Hamoud Abdullah al-Ahnomi, who, according to activists, "slandered the honor of Yemeni women." He also described Yemen as a land of "ancient and modern prostitution," claiming that the "Imam Rassi" had come to purify it.

Activists, journalists, and researchers have launched a sustained online campaign, now in its third day, across all social media platforms to counter this rhetoric.

The campaign involves delving into the history of insults directed at Yemenis by "Hashemite" authorities, rooted in tribalism and racism, where they seize the property and violate the honor of Yemenis. Activists see this as a pattern established by "Hadi Rassi," who arrived in Yemen in 284 AH, and continued by the Imamate, culminating in Abdulmalik al-Houthi and his racist group, according to social media posts.

"Barran Press" has compiled some of these posts, revealing the Houthis' reliance on fabricated narratives for their racist ideology. These narratives, according to activists, include lies and distortions, and accuse their opponents of the most heinous crimes, even extending to the Prophet's companions.

Much of the backlash has focused on al-Ahnomi's remarks, prompting him to attempt a clarification under pressure from public outrage. He later offered what he called an "apology," but activists considered it an admission and a reminder of the Imamate's history of abuse against Yemenis.

In response to al-Ahnomi's apology, the head of the General Authority for Books, Yahya al-Thalaia, wrote a post titled "A False Escape, Not an Apology." He stated that "Houthi leader Hamoud al-Ahnomi is apologizing, admitting to the crime and the absurdity of his pronouncements from the biography of the depraved Yahya Rassi, and his slander of Yemenis and Yemeni women."

He added, "Despite his explicit admission – and confession is the master of evidence – and his decision to stop teaching these vulgar materials to students at Sana'a University under the name of 'national culture,' he still believes in the sanctity of the same person to whom these absurdities are attributed (Rassi)."

Al-Thalaia considered the apology a cowardly escape, "coming under the influence of the media campaign, not out of respect for the people and a retreat from this rotten ideology, but rather a desire to hide the remaining scandals of the shameful biography of this charlatan whom they claim is an Imam and a guide, and their crimes against Yemenis for centuries."

He said, "For the apology to be genuine and end the problem, it is necessary to apply the legal and religious punishment to the accused after his confession to his crime and the availability of witnesses to it. This requires subjecting him to flogging as a punishment and stripping him of his justice and refusing his testimony forever, as he has become classified as a 'depraved person,' as the verse states: 'And those who accuse chaste women, and then do not bring four witnesses, flog them eighty stripes, and never accept their testimony after that. They are the depraved ones.'"

He added, "Secondly, applying the same ruling and opinion to the depraved person from whom the story originated because al-Ahnomi is merely narrating this crime from his master and Imam, the depraved Yahya bin Hussein Rassi, known as Hadi, and the writer of his biography, the Alawi, and anyone who believes in the justice of the depraved Rassi ."

He continued, "In his explicit apology for his crime and his decision to hide and withdraw from the scene and stop teaching this falsehood, which they call national culture and force university students to accept as a curriculum, al-Ahnomi still believes in the sanctity of the one who narrated this heinous crime, the depraved Rassi. He even said in the apology itself, 'To address the issue through the prosecution and courts.'"

Al-Thalaia demanded that "the treatment through the fair and courageous prosecution and courts be the choice of all. The children of Yemen need a just and courageous ruling that criminalizes and strips Rassi and his school, his racism, his extremist and backward Takfiri ideology, and condemns them for depravity, hatred, and bloodshed."

He added, "In addition to criminalizing all tendencies towards their filthy legacy and their dark history, cutting off their roots and drying up their sources in all forms, shapes, and ways, and taking all the necessary treatments and measures to restore Yemen's honor," according to al-Thalaia.

For his part, the governor of Mahwit Governorate, Saleh Same'i, commented, "This ignorant, lying fool wants to say that Yemen was in a state of ignorance before the arrival of the criminal Yahya Hussein Rassi, who was nicknamed 'Hadi,' as if Yemen had not been Muslim for nearly three centuries, and as if the great companion, Mu'adh bin Jabal, did not spread Islam in Yemen and establish the mosque of al-Janad."

Meanwhile, journalist and human rights activist Hamdan al-Ali'i wrote, "They said that Hamoud al-Ahnomi apologized, and the stupid applauded his apology. Okay, who will apologize for the insults that are presented to us as religion on the tongue of Abdulmalik al-Houthi's ancestors?"

Al-Ali'i attached an article containing some of these insults, commenting, "Read and share this article, which mentions simple examples of their insults to Yemeni tribes," referring to the article "Insult and Slander in the History of the Racist, Terrorist, Hereditary Imamate" by writer Thabit al-Ahmadi.

Al-Ahmadi said in the article that "there is no group that has insulted honor and cast aspersions on morals and lineages, like the Shiites in general, and the Hadi-Jarudi in Yemen in particular, as a tool of war throughout their history, starting from Yahya Hussein Rassi, and up to Abdulmalik al-Houthi, to the point of considering that anyone who opposes them is the son of 'fornication' or a 'Jew' or a 'devious person' or a 'rogue' or 'a degenerate,' as in Bihar al-Anwar by al-Mujlisi."

He cited several examples, starting with "Imam Rassi," stating that the biography of Rassi mentions the following text about his political opponent, Sheikh al-Da'am: "Al-Da'am had with him depraved soldiers who drank alcohol, rapped males, and fornicated with women publicly." See the biography of Imam Hadi Yahya bin Hussein, narration: Ali bin Muhammad 'Ubaydallah al-'Abbasi al-'Alawi."

Angry posts continue to flood various social media platforms to this day, intensifying with attempts by Houthi leaders and activists to justify these insults or cast doubt on the motives behind the angry responses.