A Yemeni human rights organization has documented 2,313 violations committed by the Iranian-backed Houthi coup militia against civilians in Dhamar Governorate, in the center of the country, during 2020.

In its annual report, in which it talks about the human rights situation in Dhamar Governorate during the year 2020, Musawah Organization for Rights and Freedoms said that the violations ranged from individual to collective violations, in addition to attacks on public and private property.

The report documented 874 cases of violation, which were distributed as follows: 16 cases of premeditated murder, 3 cases of torture to death, 28 cases of injuries and attempted murder, 9 cases of extrajudicial death sentences, 94 cases of torture inside prisons, 41 cases of assaults on physical integrity, 5 cases of rape and forcing girls to practice prostitution.

The report pointed out that the number of cases of abduction and arbitrary detention that were documented in Dhamar Governorate amounted to 426 cases of arbitrary arrests, of which 18 cases of arrest of activists, 39 cases of enforced disappearance, 13 cases of taking civilians as hostages, 200 cases of arbitrary arrest of travelers with political or regional motives during the passage of citizens through Dhamar Governorate, as it represents a transit area for many governorates, and it is also a link between the capital, Sanaa, and south and central Yemen.

The report also documented 1,179 cases of mass violation, which were distributed as follows: 420 cases of using historical cultural and religious objects to devote and spread the Houthi racist discourse and the exploitation of these objects for mobilization and recruitment, 24 cases of assault on educational institutions, 32 cases of robbery of relief aid and preventing its access to those who deserve it, impeding the work of organizations and 408 cases of depriving detainees of their rights in detention centers and prisons.

The report monitored 313 cases of child recruitment in the governorate and 259 cases of assault on public and private property, which were distributed as follows: 18 cases of the storming of villages, 42 cases of the storming of houses, 7 cases of looting of houses, 102 cases of collecting funds for the "war effort", 12 cases of storming houses of worship, 6 cases of occupation of homes for teaching the Holy Quran and 72 cases of looting of personal possessions.

Musawah Organization for Rights and Freedoms confirmed that the crimes and violations that it mentioned in its report do not include all the violations committed by the Houthi coup militia in Dhamar Governorate during the past year, rather, it included the violations that its field monitors could reach to the victims of these violations and document their cases, given the seriousness of the security situation and the threat that this poses on the lives and safety of its monitors in the field.