Name: Issa Abdo Qasim Al-Halif

Arrestee: Houthi group

Date of arrest: 6 September 2016

The armed person proceeded to search the phone of the young man, Issa Al-Halif. There was nothing suspicious found in the studio or the message box. There was no explicit content that would give the armed person a reason to confiscate the phone and take the young man to an unknown location. There was also no message or cartoon that hinted that the young man was against the Houthi group or mocking its revered leader, according to the armed person. The search then moved to inspecting social media applications. There was no post or share indicating that the ally, Al-Halif, opposed the former president Saleh, an ally of the Houthis, at that time.

And as if he had found something important, the armed person exclaimed to his fellow colleagues when he discovered a conversation on WhatsApp between Al-Halif and his university colleague. The conversation revolved around lectures in the Chemistry department.

Issa Al-Halif's dream was to complete his university studies, start a family, and live in peace. However, they took him to the detention center in the city of Al-Saleh, where he was subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture. He endured electric shocks during the torture, which lasted for nearly four hours. Despite his innocence, they continued to interrogate and torture him on a weekly basis, rather than daily.

They transferred him from the Al-Saleh detention center in Taiz to a prison in the city of Dhamar. There, they tied his hands and feet and then crucify him. It was the most difficult days of his life, and he wished he had never been born or entered this world. The months in the unnamed prison were harsh before they transferred him to a prison known as the Eastern Prison in the same province of Dhamar.

When the chemist would feel hungry and thirsty and ask them for a "roti bread" and a little water, he would receive beatings, slaps, and be confined to the bathroom.

After more than two and a half years of detention, the Houthis returned Issa Al-Halif to the Al-Saleh detention center in the city of Taiz. He had reached a difficult psychological state, saying, "I was considering suicide to find relief from all of this."

On December 19, 2019, Issa was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal between the National Army in Taiz and the Houthis.