Yemeni man held by police for 3 weeks without charges

Two medical reports show the health condtion of Loui and that he suffers from liver virus or cirrhosis.

A twenty four-years-old man is being held in jail by police without giving his family permission to visit him. He was taken by the police when he discovered that they wanted him for questioning and freely went with them on Monday June 30, at 11 AM.. He has been held in jail up to today. 

The man is Loui Abdul-Wahab al-Moaid, a second-year student at Sana’a University, College of Sharia’a and Law, and whose father is the late well-known journalist Abdul-Wahab al-Moaid, writer of the Yemeni Press Encyclopedia. 

“We have spoken to all the people we know, from ministers, MP’s, high-ranking officers and they all say that we can be assured there is nothing concrete against him. The problem as they told us is who has to give the order of his release. Al-Moaid is sick and suffers from liver virus or cirrhosis and needs his medicine continuously,” Zaid, Loui’s big brother told the Yemen Observer in a phone interview.

Zaid said that his house was the first house burned during the war in Sa’adah in the district of Dhahian, destroyed with everything that he owed. “My brother is sick and needs his medicine and the doctors say that he needs tests every two weeks. I hold security authorities accountable if anything happened to my brother,” said Zaid.

Zaid said that they belong to the Zaidy sect but they were always against the rebels in Sa’adah. His uncle, Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Abdullah Huoraih, Sheikh of the district of Hajrah Fallah in Sa’adah governorate, was killed by al-Huthi rebels in 2006 while he was helping in distributing food to soldiers of the military.   “Our positions are known from the past, and we are not and can never be considered enemies to the state or the ruling system. My grand father was jailed for 32 years due to his opposition to the Imamate’s regime. If we are opposing anything we do it via the only thing we know, that is the pen,” said Zaid.

Zaid said that when they got a call from an officer to get the medicine for his brother Loui after his arrest, the officer refused to tell them what security forces are holding him or in which unit he is staying at. A number of Yemeni human organizations have sent letters to the attorney general calling on releasing Loui due to his severe sickness.  A prisoner named Hisham Hajar died last year in jail due to his health problems. Several organizations expressed their concern if anything bad might happen to Loui while he is in jail.

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