The spokesman for Yemen's Baha'i religious minority in Yemen was detained by Iran-backed Houthis, a relative of Abdullah Yahia Al Ayolofi told The National.
According to the family member Mr Al Ayolofi was on his way to the market on Thursday in Sanaa when he was approached by gunmen in a white Toyota Hilux, arrested and taken with his brother-in-law.
The Houthi fighters "blindfolded [them and took them] in the car to the main Houthi prison in the National Security headquarter in Sanaa," said the spokesman's relative, who asked to remain anonymous. "Before they arrived to the prison, they threw his brother-in-law out the car because [Mr Al Ayolofi] begged them not to take him because he had no fault."
The arrest comes days after a group of UN independent human rights experts called for the immediate release of 24 people, mostly from the Baha'i community, being held by authorities in Sanaa since mid-September.
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Read more:
UN experts call on Houthis to release Bahai prisoners
Britain condemns Houthi persecution of Baha’i in Yemen
Arab Coalition to open humanitarian corridors between Hodeidah and Sanaa
Yemeni civilians who fled Hodeidah tell of violence and sleepless nights
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The five UN experts said that charges “must be dropped and discriminatory practices based on religion, outlawed”.
The detainees face charges of apostasy, teaching the Baha'i faith and spying; the latter, is subject to the death penalty.
At least 22 of those being held are Baha'is, including eight women and one minor. The individuals were prosecuted on 15 September without investigation or warning prior to the start of the trials.
“We are very concerned at the criminal prosecution of these persons based on charges connected to their religion or belief.” Referring to charges of espionage, they added, “we are particularly concerned that some of the convictions include crimes that carry the death penalty.”
“We reiterate our call to the de facto authorities in Sanaa to put an immediate stop on the persecution of Baha’is in Yemen,” the UN experts said.
In an interview with The National on Wednesday Mr Al Ayolofi said that international pressure on the Houthis in the civil war should not prevent the release of the innocent people of the Baha'i minority.
The spokesman said Houthi members were exploiting their control over the country's judicial institutions to exterminate the Baha'is in Yemen, using fabricated and unfair charged, such as alleging that the Baha's community is a Zionist movement driven by Israel and the US.
The arrest of Mr Mr Al Ayolofi was widely condemned by human rights groups who called for his immediate release.
"This latest arrest is extremely worrying considering the recent intensification of persecutions against the Baha’i community in Yemen,” said Diane Alai, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.
"I just received disturbing news of the forced disappearance of Al Ayolofi in Sanaa today by Houthis, I call for his immediate release. Those barbaric acts must stop," Rasha Jarhum, the director of human rights group Peace Track Initiative based in Canada, tweeted.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
Disturbing facts and figures
51% of parents in the UAE feel like they are failing within the first year of parenthood
57% vs 43% is the number of mothers versus the number of fathers who feel they’re failing
28% of parents believe social media adds to the pressure they feel to be perfect
55% of parents cannot relate to parenting images on social media
67% of parents wish there were more honest representations of parenting on social media
53% of parents admit they put on a brave face rather than being honest due to fear of judgment
Source: YouGov
A meeting of young minds
The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Day 4, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Not much was expected – on Sunday or ever – of Hasan Ali as a batsman. And yet he lit up the late overs of the Pakistan innings with a happy cameo of 29 from 25 balls. The highlight was when he launched a six right on top of the netting above the Pakistan players’ viewing area. He was out next ball.
Stat of the day – 1,358 There were 1,358 days between Haris Sohail’s previous first-class match and his Test debut for Pakistan. The lack of practice in the multi-day format did not show, though, as the left-hander made an assured half-century to guide his side through a potentially damaging collapse.
The verdict As is the fashion of Test matches in this country, the draw feels like a dead-cert, before a clatter of wickets on the fourth afternoon puts either side on red alert. With Yasir Shah finding prodigious turn now, Pakistan will be confident of bowling Sri Lanka out. Whether they have enough time to do so and chase the runs required remains to be seen.
THE SPECS
Battery: 60kW lithium-ion phosphate
Power: Up to 201bhp
0 to 100kph: 7.3 seconds
Range: 418km
Price: From Dh149,900
Available: Now
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
Bridgerton season three - part one
Directors: Various
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 3/5
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
