The family of a 36-year-old Yemeni journalist held in Houthi prisons said that his health condition of the latter is critical and may die because the Iran-backed Houthis are depriving him of life-saving medicines, local media reported.
Tawfiq Al-Mansouri is suffering from diabetes, heart disease, shortness of breath and swelling of extremities.
According to the statement by the family in an appeal to the public, local and international rights groups, aid organizations and the office of UN Yemen envoy, Tawfiq’s health deteriorated during the past 48 hours and the Houthis have refused to give him his drugs or take him to hospital.
The family further said, confirmed information indicates that their son Tawfiq’s life is in danger and he needs urgent transfer to the hospital, which the Houthis have rejected for months.
In May 2022, Tawfiq’s brother also told Amnesty International that their families were not even allowed to bring any medicine, even though they knew from the released detainees that Tawfiq’s health was very worrying. Since 2020, he has not been allowed to be taken to the hospital for treatment.
Since mid-2015, militias had arbitrarily detained journalists—Akram Al Walidi, Abdul-Khaleq Omran, Harith Hamed, and Tawfiq Al-Mansoori without charge or trial for more than four years. In April 2020 the specialized criminal court in Sana’a sentenced the four to death after an unfair trial.
Journalism is a victim of the war in Yemen
A conflict has been raging in Yemen between a government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition since 2015 and the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which has controlled large areas in the north and west of the country, as well as the capital, Sanaa, since the start of their offensive in 2014.
This war resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including many civilians and journalists, according to several humanitarian organizations.
As per media reports, 14 journalists are currently detained in Yemen only because of their work, while two journalists have been killed since the beginning of 2022.
Many Yemeni journalists have also been killed since the beginning of the conflict, including Nabil al-Quaiti in Aden in 2020, and Abdullah al-Qadri, who was killed in a bombing in the center of the country in 2018.
