UAE-backed STC kidnaps official in Lahj

LAHJ, Aug. 09 (YPA) – Militants of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s factions kidnapped on Thursday a local official in Radfan district of Lahj province, southern Yemen.

Local sources familiar with the matter said arrested ,Sheikh Haitham Hussein Al-Bashiri, the member of the local council in the Habil Jabr area, was arrested because of his criticism of the excessive repression by firing live bullets at participants in the million-man march demanding the disclosure of the fate of the kidnapped commander Ali Ashal, who has been kidnapped since mid-June by leaders close to the head of the STC in Aden.

The sources explained that the STC has adopted a policy of gagging anyone criticizing its violations against the people of the south, especially the systematic security chaos and the kidnapped and forcibly disappeared in Aden’s secret prisons since the coalition took control of Aden in 2016.

The kidnapping of Al-Bashiri left a state of tension among Radfan sons, amid demands for local action by the tribesmen to pressure the STC’s factions to release Al-Bashiri unconditionally.

AA