Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
Armed Houthi group arrested an employee working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sana’a.
Press sources stated that the Houthis arrested Mamdouh Al-Katheeri, an Information Technology (IT) official at the UNHCR, and took him to an unknown location.
Last Sunday, the Houthis stormed the UNHCR office in Sana’a, looting important assets and seizing the beneficiaries’ database.
This comes a day after a Houthi spokesperson announced discussing the issue of detained UN staff with the UN Envoy and Mu’een Shreim, the UN-appointed official for the file, affirming the accusation of their involvement in espionage.
The United Nations had previously announced that the number of its detained employees held by the Houthis had risen to 59 staffers, while the Houthis announced today their intention to try 47 UN employees on charges of espionage.
Yemen Monitor published a special analysis titled “Detained UN Staff as Strategic Cards,” which reveals how the Houthis forced the UN to legitimize the path of blackmail.
