Name: Mohammed Khalid Mohammed Alhaj
Arrestee: Houthi group
Date of arrest: March 5, 2018
Mohammed alhaj cannot recount the details that paralyzed him, as whenever he enters the conversation he collapses and cries, and soon asks others to leave the place and twists in silence. The most difficult situation in which a person is subjected is to tell the insults he received, the torture that paralyzed his movement, how what happened to a construction worker who works for a daily wage and the basis of his life is based on movement.
Mohammed al-Haj supported and treated his sick mother and took care of his orphaned sisters, from his work as a bricklayer. That was before you saw him paralyzed: "I used to work in one of the buildings next to the ghee and soap factory in Taiz, in order to provide a living for me, my mother and my sisters, I was their only support, I sacrificed my happiness for them. Abu Ali al-Shami came to the building asking for my name, and I answered him: it is me. I was happy and thought he wanted me for work."
Mohammad stopped talking, asked for time to overcome his sorrows, as the joy he felt during the arrival of Abu Ali al-Shami was a joy resulting from his guarantee of a new job in which he guaranteed the continuity of his family's expenses: his sick mother and his orphaned sisters. That joy, however, was the beginning of events that would make him what he is now: a body stretched out on a mattress, paralyzed and unable to move.
Al Haj thought that Al-Shami was a customer of high status since he was accompanied by armed men, and he did not consider him a leader with the Houthi group in the areas they control in the Taiz Governorate. As soon as the name "Mohammed Khalid Mohammed Al-Hajj" was mentioned, Mohammed stood confidently and smiled, believing in the quality of his work, saying, "I am the one you're looking for." At that moment, Mohammed continues speaking, "The man began slapping me on the face without any reason or justification other than me telling him that I am the person he is searching for. There were eight armed men around him, pointing their weapons at me."
Mohammed starts to cry before resuming the narration of the events that followed his transfer to the Salih City Detention Center, which is a residential city that has not been completed yet. The Houthis have turned it into a large, multi-building and multi-purpose detention facility in the Al-Houban area, northeast of Taiz city.
They threw Mohammed into a small room, adding that, "I cannot sleep in it. The room had a foul smell. On the second day, they brought me a meal, and after that, they decided to give me two meals and 75 milliliters of water per day."
Mohammed remained for four days without any interrogation. He kept thinking about his mother and her treatment, saying, "I wanted to reassure her, but how could I?!"
He couldn't find a way to reassure his mother because no one questioned or interrogated him during the three days of his detention. Then, at 4:00 p.m. on the fourth day, they took him for interrogation. When he arrived in front of the investigator, the first thing they asked him was to confess that he was a member of ISIS (Daesh). The Houthis use this accusation against anyone who opposes them, although it has no connection to the extremist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Mohammed falls silent for a moment, pondering the meaning of the word "Daeshi." He says, "What does being a 'Daeshi' mean? I am a construction worker, I don't know anything." He lowers his head, then raises it again with tears glistening in his eyes. He continues, "They blindfolded me, handcuffed my hands, and suspended me. The torture began. I endured more than 30 punches and slaps to the face until I passed out. I was bleeding from the nose due to what I had been subjected to."
Mohammed tries to regain control over his tears by resorting to silence for a moment, but his tears continue to flow uncontrollably. Afterward, in a voice trembling with sorrow, he asks the monitoring team to give him a little time.
After half an hour, Mohammed continues narrating the details with his eyes closed. He says, "When I passed out, they hit me on the head with an icy water bottle to wake me up. I was asking them to stop the bleeding, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. I kept asking, 'Why is all of this happening to me? What is the sin I have committed to deserve all of this?'"
Mohammed weeps intensely and curses the Houthis who tortured him. Then he continues, "They repeated the same demand to me.
"Confess you're a member of Daesh?" I don't even know the meaning of that word. They returned to torturing me, but this time they employed a new method. They tied each of my toes separately and pulled them forcefully. The pain was excruciating, and I would scream in agony until I passed out. Every time I passed out, the interrogator would wake me up by hitting me on the head with an icy water bottle. This torture continued from 4:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. I didn't regain consciousness until the second day, finding myself among 30 detainees in an apartment. I kept asking them, 'Where am I?'"
"They tortured me to the point where I became disabled, unable to stand on my own feet. I entered the detention center in good health, and I became disabled," he says, attempting to move his extended body. He weeps intensely, and tears stream down his face like rain.
"What kind of life am I living now, after becoming disabled and seeing my mother begging people on the streets? What kind of life is this?" Mohammed exclaims. He falls silent, stops speaking, and weeps. He then, through sign language, requests that the monitors leave.