Rights Organization Accuses the Houthis of Using Text Messages to Intimidate Taiz Residents

Yemen Monitor / Newsroom: SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties stated on Saturday that the Houthi group used text messages to exert psychological pressure on and intimidate the residents of Taiz Governorate, coinciding with a military escalation, shelling, and an intensified siege on the city during last September and October. In a report titled “Messages Under Bombardment,” the organization stated that it documented 11 text messages kept by a single family, while the head of the household reported receiving more than 30 messages on his phone and his wife’s phone up until mid-October. It added that the messages reached subscribers across three Yemeni telecommunications networks—Yemen Mobile, YOU (Yemeni Omani United), and Sabafon—and appeared under the sender ID “GOV.” The organization stated that the content of the messages included calls for those the group describes as the “deceived” to take advantage of an “amnesty” and return to their regions, as well as urges for Taiz residents to cooperate with the Houthis, alongside warnings of destruction should confrontations continue. The report cited the case of the family of citizen Saleem Muhammad, who was displaced from Sana’a to Taiz, stating that his wife received a message on October 16 at the same time as the sound of bombardment was heard around the city. It quoted Muhammad as saying that the message sparked fear in his wife and prompted her to call him out of fear that the city would face destruction, renewing her dread of displacement and anxiety over their three children. He added that he was forced to take an extended leave from work to stay with his family. SAM stated that the timing of the messages alongside military operations and their contents—which contained calls for compliance and warnings of destruction—indicates their use as a tool for psychological pressure on civilians. The organization based its assessment on copies of the messages, testimonies of those affected, and the timing of transmission, in addition to the similarity of their contents to Houthi statements and posts regarding the battles in Taiz. The organization warned of the potential psychological impacts of these practices on civilians, especially children and displaced families. It called for an independent investigation, the preservation of digital evidence, the protection of witnesses and affected individuals, and an immediate end to using telecommunications networks to pressure the population. It considered that the use of threats with the aim of spreading terror among civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law. The report comes amid a military escalation that Taiz Governorate has been witnessing since early September, which intensified during October with the expansion of confrontations in the governorate’s countryside, the Houthis’ tightening of the siege on the city, and the closure of main and secondary roads, limiting the movement of residents and obstructing the arrival of food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian assistance. The post Rights Organization Accuses the Houthis of Using Text Messages to Intimidate Taiz Residents appeared first on Yemen Monitor.