Like many young Yemenis who were affected by limited resources and the hardships of life, Sami Haider (pseudonym - 33 years old) took a risky journey in search of sustenance and to support his family's expenses. Under the cover of night and amidst the sound of gunfire, he crossed the Yemen-Saudi border. He endured sleeping on the ground and beneath the starry sky for hours that felt like days and days that felt like years. Finally, he arrived at the bustling streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, teeming with people of various Arab and non-Arab nationalities.
Working at a glass-cutting shop, Sami earned a monthly wage of 1500 Saudi riyals. Diligently, he sent his father the monthly expenses for four years. However, after spending approximately four years away from his homeland, Sami's life took a turn on a fateful night unlike any other in Jeddah. The Saudi police apprehended him for residing without a visa. Subsequently, he was transported to deportation prisons for residency violators within Saudi territories.
Several weeks went by, and Sami eventually found himself unemployed in the city of Shibam, located in the Hadramaut Governorate.
Transformation into the Unknown!
Sami hails from a family residing in the historic city of Shibam, located in the Hadramaut Governorate. After being deported from Saudi Arabia in early 2020, he returned to his hometown. However, he found scarce job opportunities and had no choice but to work as a lime worker, earning a meager wage of a few thousand Yemeni rials, which had greatly depreciated in value. He received his wages at the end of each week.
A whole year passed, yet Sami felt that he hadn't achieved his goal of earning enough money to get married. Little did he know that the worst was yet to come. He received a mysterious phone call from a friend, who, for reasons unknown to his family, had kept his identity hidden. The friend requested Sami to disclose his location so they could meet and discuss an important matter.
When the friend arrived in a white Hyundai Santa Fe car, Sami unsuspectingly got in, unaware that his life was about to take a painful turn. Approximately four armed men accompanied him, forcefully taking him to one of the most notorious prisons in the Wadi Hadramaut district—the Political Security Prison in the city of Seiyun. In this desolate place, one could easily become a mere trace, lost within the confines of their cells. A different existence, inhabited by beings unlike ordinary humans, awaited him.
The Horrors of the Wardens: A Tale of Torture
Sami endured nearly six harrowing months of his life within the confines of the Political Security Prison in Seyoun. Surrounded by oppressive walls and subjected to merciless abuse, he suffered both physically and psychologically. Confined to a solitary cell, he was forced to endure unimaginable torment, even resorting to urinating in a corner. For the initial five days of his captivity, he remained in the dark about his fate and whereabouts.
On the sixth day, Sami was transferred to a dreadfully cramped underground cell known as "Al-Daghata." This method of torture was employed after his period of solitary confinement. The cellar was a suffocating space where the sense of impending death gradually crept into one's body. Measuring only 1 by 1 meter, its height was so limited that even a short person couldn't stand upright.
Jameel Mansour, Sami's brother-in-law (using a pseudonym), recounts the ordeal: "He was placed in an extremely narrow cell called Al-Daghata, to the point that Sami felt suffocated. Thankfully, Sami doesn't have any breathing problems; otherwise, he would have suffocated to death in that cursed cell."
After spending two agonizing days in the Al-Daghata cell, Sami was taken to an interrogation room, perpetually blinded by a blindfold whenever he was transported outside his cell. The interrogator would pose questions, and if Sami's answers failed to meet their desires or those of the two assistants, the beatings with hands and kicks with feet would commence. But the torment didn't stop there.
As Sami persisted in denying the statements and accusations, the interrogator grew enraged and ordered his assistants to bind him to an iron column. For hours, he was mercilessly whipped with a wire. They demanded that he confess to being a member of Al-Qaeda, alleging his mission was to surveil the movements of General Security soldiers and officers in the Shibam District of Hadramaut Governorate.
The methods of torture ranged from suspension by iron shackles and beatings with wires to dousing him with cold water for three hours. To his tormentors, this timeframe was sufficient to shatter the victim's psyche. Once they were assured of his mental deterioration, he was returned to solitary confinement for a few days before being transferred to a communal cell with other detainees.
The three-hour torture session left Sami plagued by severe paranoia that would haunt him for years to come. Even when he was brought back to the interrogation room and asked to sign documents whose content and danger he was unaware of, his life and future hung in the balance. Sami complied with their demands, as if escaping from one death only to face another.
Meanwhile, the victim's brother-in-law traversed the cities of Hadramaut and Al-Mahra Governorates, desperately searching for Sami. He carried his photograph, hoping to identify him. No police station, political security office, or intelligence department was left unvisited. Yet, there was no trace of Sami, as if the earth had swallowed him whole.
Jameel, the victim's brother-in-law, laments, "His photo never left my pocket. His mother vowed not to leave her place in their house in Al-Saheel neighborhood, Shibam District, until Sami is returned to her or until her heart surrenders to the sorrow of his disappearance."
One night, a year after Sami's disappearance, Jameel received a phone call from an old friend who had previously asked him to search for the victim in the Central Prison in Mukalla. This call brought certainty and rekindled hope in the hearts of Sami's family. The few words spoken were, "Sami is there," and smiles returned to the lips of a mother who believed she had lost her son forever and a father whose eyes had nearly been blinded by the intensity of his grief for his son.
The Political Ward at Mukalla Prison
In the latter part of December 2021, Sami was relocated to the Central Prison in Mukalla, where he was placed in the reception cell of the Political Ward, marking the beginning of another chapter in his story.
During the first meeting, when the victim's family inquired about his case, they received a disheartening response from the Chief Criminal Prosecutor: "There is no file." Despite the persistence of the victim's brother-in-law and referencing the Deputy Director of the Central Prison in Mukalla, who confirmed that Sami had been under their custody for more than five months, including two months of solitary confinement prior to his transfer to the political ward (House 1).
The Absence of Justice
The case file was handed over to the investigating member of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Mukalla. In February 2022, Sami underwent interrogation, and subsequently, he was granted periodic visits and phone calls. However, the case file remained unresolved for over 17 months. In the realm of the criminal prosecutor's office, punishment takes precedence over trial, and justice remains elusive within its intricate workings.
The first trial session for Sami was slated for June 18, 2023, at the Criminal Court in Mukalla. He faced charges of involvement in an armed gang, namely Al-Qaeda, and drug trafficking—a contradictory accusation that does not align but serves as a policy of persecution, even if not specifically targeting political opponents.
Sami will mark his sixth Eid behind somber walls, pouring out his grief and grievances to the Almighty. Beyond those walls, over 250 kilometers to the north, a mother's heart is wracked with pain over the loss of her son for over two years, confined within the confines of their adobe house. She made a vow and promised to remain in her place until Sami himself returned, quelling the fire that ignited with his absence years ago.
To be continued...
