Barran Press
The Houthi group, internationally designated as a terrorist organization, has confirmed the burial of dozens of unidentified bodies in Saada Province, northern Yemen, raising renewed suspicions of extrajudicial killings within the region’s detention facilities.
Houthi media reported that approximately 60 unidentified bodies were buried in Saada, which serves as the group's stronghold. The burial was coordinated by the Houthi-controlled prosecutor's office in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross, as these bodies had been stored in the refrigerator of the Republican Hospital in Saada.
The group has not provided further details regarding the identities of the buried bodies, only stating that some are believed to belong to individuals of African nationality. Human rights activists have expressed concerns that the bodies may belong to civilians who were abducted and subsequently died under torture in Houthi prisons.
Several months prior, the Houthi group announced that it had buried around 62 unidentified bodies in its main stronghold, claiming that these bodies had been preserved for several years in government hospital freezers.
Previous reports from Yemeni government sources have indicated that hundreds of abducted and forcibly disappeared individuals have died due to torture in Houthi detention centers over the course of the ongoing conflict and insurgency.