Hodeida - Saba:
Six fishermen returned on Saturday to the fish landing center in al-Salif district, Hodeida governorate, after more than four months of kidnapping and torture in the prisons of the Saudi aggression forces. This incident adds to the ongoing series of violations targeting Yemeni fishermen in the Red Sea.
During their reception, Rami Maqsharah, Director of al-Salif Fish Landing Center, highlighted that the returning fishermen represent a stark example of the escalating suffering endured by Yemeni fishermen. They face arbitrary arrests, seizure of boats and property, and deprivation of their livelihoods, perpetrated by both the Saudi-led coalition forces and their mercenaries in Eritrea.
Maqsharah condemned these criminal practices against unarmed fishermen and called on international human rights and humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene. He urged the coalition countries to halt these assaults, protect fishermen, and guarantee their right to safely carry out their activities within Yemen’s territorial waters.
He noted that such incidents are not isolated but rather systematic, repeating over recent years, threatening the safety and security of Yemeni fishermen and undermining their ability to sustain their work amid harsh economic and living conditions imposed by the ongoing aggression and blockade.
The fishermen themselves reported that they were fishing within Yemen’s territorial waters near Aqban Island aboard a traditional "jalibah" boat with eight fishermen when an armed patrol belonging to the Saudi-led coalition intercepted and kidnapped them at gunpoint.
They explained that the 20-member patrol took them to prisons on Farasan Island, where they were subjected to handcuffing behind their backs and harsh interrogations under torture, facing false accusations before being transferred to detention facilities in Jizan region.
The fishermen detailed that their detention on Farasan Island lasted seven days under brutal conditions before being moved to Jizan prisons, where they suffered dire humanitarian conditions, including starvation, lack of medical care, and confiscation of some of their belongings.
They pointed out that Saudi authorities released two of them overland for undisclosed reasons, while the others were released at sea after months of arbitrary detention, without compensation for their losses or the return of confiscated property.
Before departing al-Salif to return to their homes, the center’s director handed over cash amounts provided by the General Authority for Fisheries in the Red Sea to help cover their travel expenses and basic needs, in a humanitarian gesture to alleviate their suffering.
This incident serves as new evidence of the extent of violations against Yemeni fishermen in the Red Sea, calling for urgent international action to protect them and hold accountable those responsible for these blatant breaches of international laws and norms.
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