Name: Shawqi Al Khulaidi

Arrestee: Houthi group

Date of arrest: August 22, 2016

The summer vacation came to an end, and educational institutions started preparing for the new season. Shawqi Al-Khulaidi packed his belongings and left his village in Taiz, heading towards the capital city, Sana'a, to resume his university studies at one of the colleges. Armed individuals intercepted the car carrying Shawqi in the Al-Barh area, west of Taiz, and hindered his journey between him and the university in Sana'a. He found himself in a different province from where the university was located and in a college other than the one he was studying at. Eventually, they forcibly took Shawqi to the college, but it turned out to be the community college in the Dhamar province, which they had turned into a prison.

Initially, when they took him from the Al-Barh checkpoint west of Taiz, they blindfolded his eyes and placed handcuffs on his hands. Then, at midnight, they transferred him to the tightly guarded prison for interrogation. They would fire bullets nearby, instilling fear in him. Death seemed imminent before him. At that moment, the Houthis heard the sound of the Arab Coalition's aircraft, and they thought they would be targeted by airstrikes. They stopped interrogating Al-Khulaidi, closed the prison room in the court, and left. It wouldn't matter if the airstrikes hit the court and the detainees inside, including Al-Khulaidi and others. This would open the door for them to exploit the humanitarian tragedy.

The next day, they took Al-Khulaidi to the Salih City prison, where the prison authorities greeted him with slaps, kicks, and punches. His body turned red from the beatings. Then, Darham Abu Mujahid, a Houthi leader, arrived. He took several pictures of the university student and told him, "We will humiliate your family with these photos." Abu Mujahid began torturing Al-Khalidi, grabbing his hair and slamming his head against the wall on an iron sheet. Afterwards, they returned him to the prison, only to summon him again for further interrogation after midnight.

The interrogation with Shawqi Al-Khulaidi continued until dawn. They suspended him upside down by his feet, with his head hanging down. They beat him with rifle butts on his back, leaving traces of blood on the room's wall. "Either you confess, or we will kill you just like we killed your loved ones," they threatened. The sight of that blood and their psychological torture surpassed the physical torture, causing him to lose consciousness.

Al-Khulaidi regained consciousness after sunrise, inside a building designated for mentally ill detainees. He found himself surrounded by mentally disturbed individuals who were unclothed. He tried to comprehend the situation but couldn't. The scene was terrifying and inhumane, reflecting the extent of the Houthis' cruelty, even extending to the imprisonment of the mentally ill.

Later on, they transferred Al-Khulaidi to another building known as the "General Prison." He was taken to a spacious hall where prisoners from different categories were housed. The administrators of the detention facility distributed the detainees among various buildings based on their categories. Al-Khulaidi was led to a building referred to as the "ISIS Prison." He became frightened by this name and the transfer. When he was thrown into this prison, he discovered that most of the detainees held university degrees in fields such as medicine, education, and engineering.

In the university campus, students mingle together. Al-Khulaidi wants to reach Sana'a to enter the college where he specializes. Indeed, the Houthis transferred him to a college, but it was in Dhamar, and they threw him into the community college prison.

The Houthis released him in an exchange deal.