AL-MUKALLA: Yemen's Houthi militia has rejected a plea by Abdul Wahab Qatran, an outspoken legal activist freed from prison, to fly abroad for medical treatment.
Mohammed, Qatran's son, told Arab News on Monday that the Houthis denied his father's plea to fly to Egypt to seek medical treatment for illnesses developed while in prison.
The Houthis freed Judge Qatran from prison in June after six months in a security and intelligence facility on charges of spreading false information about their militia and its commanders, inciting the people against them and accusing Houthi leaders of corruption.
Mohammed said his father is in urgent need of medical attention for blood pressure, skin and eye problems.
After his release, Qatran accused the Houthis of forcibly detaining him in the Sanaa Security and Intelligence Prison, looting his house, papers and belongings, and denying him medical care, clean water and enough food, conditions that caused him to suffer from skin diseases.
In a post on his new Facebook page this week, Qatran said a doctor in Sanaa informed him that he is most likely suffering from scabies after experiencing extreme itching and red spots on his skin after washing in dark and rusty water in the Houthi prison facility.
“After six months in their cells, my possessions were robbed and my rights were taken away, only this Facebook profile remained, and I had scabies!” Qatran said on Facebook.
Qatran's post drew hundreds of responses from Yemenis sympathizing with him, wishing him a speedy recovery and urging the Houthis to enable him to seek better treatment abroad.
Qatran also published on Sunday a 14-page report on Houthi investigators accusing him of more than 40 charges, including asking the public to revolt against the militia, accusing the Houthis of enrichment and corruption, expressing sympathy with Yemeni activists who were mistreated by the Houthis, sharing Facebook Houthi critics' posts, criticizing the Houthis for attacking ships in the Red Sea, praying for the late former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and expressing their support.
