In the minds of children, the home is their safe place, and the family is their stronghold. However, this was not the case of the ten-year-old girl, Ola Abdo Mohammed Thabit, descended from the Utoma district, Dhamar governorate (south of the capital, Sana'a), whose story filled all of Yemen after she appeared in a video, begging the world to save her.
She was harmed by the place that was supposed to be her fortress and safe for her after she was subjected to what can be described as the oppression and brutality of her father and his wife—her stepmother—and the abuse of her husband. Where she suffered with her three brothers, Alaa (five years) and Adel (a year and a half), in addition to a newborn girl who died a month and a half after her birth, after the death of her mother in 2016, as a result of a difficult childbirth. However, the definition of family, according to this story, is: The house is the big prison, and the father and his wife are the executioners.
The children's aunt, whose name is referred to in this report as K.G., and who is an eyewitness to the details of the children's abuse after their mother's death, tells "Khuyut" that the children were constantly tortured by their father and his wife. Despite her many attempts to prevent this, she was also being beaten because of her oppositional stance.
Moreover, she emphasizes that the father and his wife used different types of pain to torture the little girl and her brothers, such as cauterization with fire (burning), beating with electric wires, wooden and iron sticks, pulling down their feet to the roof of the house, and pouring boiling water on them.
In addition to confinement in the bathroom of the house, which is dark, the criminality—as she said—has even reached the point of forcing the children to sleep in the hall of the house during the coldest days without a cover or a blanket to protect them from the cold after removing their clothes from their skinny bodies. The father even stuck an iron nail in the foot of the little girl, Ola.
On the other hand, "Khuyut" obtained a copy of the medical report on the child girl, Ola, issued by Al-Thulaya General Hospital in Al-Jubayn, the center of Raymah Governorate, which reveals that the child suffered blindness in the left eye, fractures in the left elbow, and knife scars in the left palm. In addition to 131 scars in different places of her body, with adhesion in the genital tract, and the anus opening dilated from the normal opening, with cracks in the opening, explaining that the cause of all the scars is due to burns.
The child, Ola, appeared for the first time through a video clip posted by activists on social media, in which she speaks with a bowed head, filled with oppression, resisting her pain, exposed by her words, saying: "My aunt used to heat a knife on the fire and burn my hands and separate areas of my body, as well as hit me on my head and bite my ear."
The video showed traces of bruises and blows on the child girl's head, accusing her father of hitting her head against the wall for reasons due to her inability to do hard work at the order of her stepmother.
Unknown Fate
The "safe hands" in Ola's family not only practiced violence against their children but also thought about hiding part of their little birds—the children—from the eyes of society. The two children, Alaa, who is 13 years old today, and Adel, who is ten years old, are facing an unknown fate.
The children's aunt—whom "Khuyut" was able to reach through the investigative reporter as she is a direct witness to the crimes of torturing children and who hides from sight for fear of her brother and husband, whom she was forced to marry—says that Alaa and Adel were facing a fate similar to Ola's in torture that amounted to attempted murder by the father and his wife.
The little girl, Ola, returned to the village of Bani Al-Ameri, but became the wife of the so-called “Mohammed Abduljaleel Al-Amiri”. However, while the girls of the world were heading to school every morning, Ola was leaving her nest, like a bird that had been abandoned by its family, to suffer later seasons of misery in the house of her early marriage, which her weak body could not bear.
The aunt, whose name is referred to in this report as K.G., confirms to "Khuyut" that she saw "Adel" for the last time tied up to an iron chain in the basement of the house, after he filed a complaint against his father and his wife at a police station in Sho'ub in the capital, Sana'a, where the family lives. Therefore, based on the complaint, the father and his wife were summoned to the police station. But they denied the content of the complaint, and for lack of sufficient evidence, they were released.
In this investigation, we have tried to communicate with the Sho’ub police station in Sana'a about the case of the child, Adel; however, we have not received any answers to our questions until the date of publication of this investigation.
As for the child Alaa, the aunt explains that she does not know where he is, as she says: "When I asked about him, it was said that he had been killed in the war, which was confirmed by the girl, Ola, in her interview with "Khuyut", that she saw her two brothers for the last time two years ago, before her father handed her over to her elder aunt's husband, Abdulghani Al-Ameri, and their fate is not known yet.
Furthermore, the father refuses to disclose the whereabouts of his two children, while the opinions of those whom we were able to reach differ when talking about the fate of the two children; some of them accuse the father of killing them, and others say that he hides them in an unknown location. Meanwhile, the North Sana'a Prosecution Office is still gathering the first priorities and documents in order to proceed with the trial of the accused in the case of the child girl Ola.
Therefore, after the children's father refused to disclose their fate, Sheikh Mithaq Al-Haidari—the person who is concerned with the child girl after receiving her with an official authorization from the Al-Jubayn Court and who, later, transferred her to his house in Sana'a to complete the trial—launched an appeal through social media to search for the missing children, promising a financial reward for anyone who gives him details that might lead him to them.
The Legal Position
Human rights activist Safaa Murad explains to "Khuyut" that the legal position is extremely negative towards violence against children. As it allowed parents to practice physical and psychological abuse under the pretext of discipline. Further, what is stipulated in Article 146 of the Child Law in one of its paragraphs is a contradiction between protection and harm.
According to the law, reviewed by "Khuyut", the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the Supreme Council for Childhood must protect children from ill-treatment and physical and psychological torture and bring those who expose children to such acts to justice, taking into account the legitimate and legal right of parents to discipline their children.
While Article 144 of the law stipulates that the state must take scientific and practical procedures and measures to investigate the suffering of children who live in difficult conditions, such as street children, homeless people, victims of natural and man-made disasters, children at risk of abuse, the disadvantaged, and the socially exploited.
In addition, Murad asserts that "the weakness of Yemeni law "did not stop at violence and physical and psychological harm but rather reached the point of leniency with the perpetrators of the crime of murder. Article 233 and Article 59 of the Yemeni Criminal and Penal Law consider children as branches. Therefore, in the event that they were killed by their parents, it is not appropriate to take revenge on the parents; for being the origin, and the law, herein, made the blood money and the imprisonment for three years as punishment for it. She continues by warning against bequeathing violence to children, which will be their means when they establish their own lives in the future.
A Stolen Childhood
In June 2022, Ola was on a date with another journey of torture; when she left her father's house, located in the Sho'ub area of the capital, Sana'a, accompanied by Abdulghani Hussein Al-Ameri, who housed her in his house located in the Bani Amer area of Muzher District, in the Raymah Governorate (western Yemen), as one of her relatives, since he is married to her father's sister.
Ola, ten years old, says, after she came to her aunt’s husband’s house, to "Khuyut": "I was in the house of my parents, the " impure" child, and in the house of my aunt's husband, the "slave" child, fetching water from the village well and sleeping on the roof of the house, suffering from the scourge of bitter cold and mosquito bites, listening to profanity and obscene words, and enduring hard work despite my young age."
The little girl continues with withered features, eyes shedding tears, and intermittent tones of voice full of fear: "In the house of my aunt’s husband, I was beaten with all kinds of wooden and iron tools, cauterized with fire "burning", and they deliberately treated me in a terrifying manner. Even my uncle was so brutal in torturing me that he tried to drown me in the village pond to get rid of me.” She emphasizes that these types of torture are no different from what she was subjected to in her father's house.
"I cannot complete the interview.", With an intermittent breath, Ola says, more than a month after her escape from her husband's house. Then, she resumed the conversation after moments of silence: "Maybe we will continue the interview tomorrow because I feel tired; I feel that all the pains have returned to me."
From Torment to Marriage
When Abdulghani Al-Ameri felt that his crime had been exposed and that he was being subjected to legal accountability, with the increasing blame of society for his treatment of the child girl, he left his home in Raymah on September 2, 2022, accompanied by his uncle's son, Mohammed Abduljaleel Al-Ameri, and with them the girl "Ola", towards Sanaa. However, it was only a few days until Abdulghani Al-Ameri returned from Sana'a, with the banner of victory, as he thought, as the child girl became the wife of his fifty-year-old cousin, Mohammed Al-Ameri, according to a man, who is referred to in this report as S.K., who told "Khuyut", "one of the people of Bani Al-Ameri area."
In this regard, Mohammed Ismail Al-Abara tells "Khuyut", who is one of the volunteers in the follow-up of Ola's case in court, that the marriage of the ten-year-old girl took place in Sana'a with a man who is about 37 years older than her, with an amount of money not exceeding 200 thousand Yemeni riyals (equivalent to 385 US dollars), on the condition that the amount is shared equally between the girl’s father and her uncle (her aunt’s husband), Abdulghani Al-Ameri.
He continues by saying that, "in the presence of two false witnesses, in the office of an illegal secretary named Akram Hammoud Ali Al-Dharwan, who sought to circumvent and forge the age of the girl to 19 years in the contract document, and then evaded the baptism of the document in the competent court for fear of revealing the secret of his crime".
Using Religion To Justify their Evil Deeds
It is noteworthy that in the year 2010, the phenomenon of child marriage in Yemen sparked controversy in the popular circles and in the Yemeni parliament at the time, between supporters and opponents, as some members of the parliament rushed to demand the adoption of a law that sets the age of marriage at eighteen years, in contrast to another opinion of some members, which considers this law, if approved, a "violation of Islamic law" and an infringement of people's freedoms.
Actually, the amended Personal Status Law of the Unity State in 1999 did not specify the age of marriage, although the Personal Status Law in southern Yemen prior to the unification of the two parts in May 1990 set the age of marriage at sixteen years, and in the north of the country at fifteen years.
Escape is A Way to Survive
The child girl, Ola, returned to the village of Bani Al-Ameri but became the wife of the so-called Mohammed Abduljaleel Al-Ameri. As the girls of the world headed to school every morning, Ola was leaving her nest, like a bird that had been abandoned by her family, and for seasons of suffering in the house of her early marriage, which her weak body could not bear, escaping from the misery of torment to the fire of premature responsibility and a hell of suffering with her husband, struggling with the scourge of injustice, and constantly resisting her husband's threats to kill her, as she said.
For nine whole months, the child girl Ola was locked up during the period of her suffering with her husband, until the first wife of her husband (Mohammed Abduljaleel Al-Ameri) instructed her to escape from the house and survive with what remained of her almost non-existent strength. Then, with the help of a man from the village and his wife—whom we were able to reach in this investigation, but they refuse to mention their names—they took the girl to the house of Hajj Ahmed Saad Hussein Al-Aqili, one of the people of the village adjacent to the husband's village of Bani Al-Ameri.
In the context, Ahmed Saeed Al-Aqili tells "Khuyut": "The little girl knocked on my door late at night, crying for help and asking for protection. Many burns and bruises appear on her body. She says that her father and husband, in addition to her aunt’s husband, have tortured her extensively."
Al-Aqili continues: "I informed the competent authorities at the time to provide protection for a child girl who escaped from her husband's house and from the torment of her family, of which—the authorities—immediately proceeded to reserve the girl and refer the case to the Al-Jubayn Public Prosecution Office, the center of the governorate."
Bringing the Perpetrators to Justice
The lawyer, Waddah Qutaish, who volunteered to follow up on the case of the little girl Ola, tells "Khuyut" that the father and husband, along with one of the witnesses to the marriage contract, were arrested and placed in the Criminal Investigation Prison in Al-Jubayn. Subsequently, after a week of investigation, they were sent to the Al-Jubayn Public Prosecution Office for interrogation as a prelude to their trial, confirming that coercive orders were issued against the stepmother, the girl's aunt's husband, the legal secretary, and the other witness.
“The isolation of rural villages from the media, the absence of societal awareness of the law, and the dispersion of religious discourse in rural areas have made them a fertile environment for child marriage and the multiplicity of cases of domestic violence against children.”
Qutaish continues, "I demanded that the case be transferred to the capital, Sana'a, to complete the trial of the perpetrators," confirming that a decision had been issued later by the President of the Court of Appeal in Raymah Governorate to transfer the case to the North Prosecution Office in the capital, Sana'a. For the reason that the biggest abuse that happened to the girl was in the capital, Sana'a, by her father, his wife, and others, and "here the spatial jurisdiction is."
UNICEF estimates that more than 4 million children from all segments of society were forcibly married in the country in 2021. Further, UNICEF describes any marriage before the age of 18 as a violation of human rights.
Another Victim in the House
In this family, there are also other stories of pain surrounding all family members. The children's aunt, whose name is referred to in this report as K.G.—the father's sister—is the other victim in the family who met a similar fate to the children's because of her position in defense of the children. This prompted her brother to marry her to a man, whose name is mentioned here as B.M., descended from Al-Hodeidah Governorate (western Yemen), who came through her older sister’s husband, Abdulghani Al-Ameri.
The aunt, mentioned above as K.G., continues her interview with Khuyut: “My married life was not different from my life in my brother's house, as my husband became an accomplice in torturing and beating me under the supervision and participation of my older sister's husband, Abdulghani Al-Ameri.”
The children's aunt K.G. was severely beaten and tortured by "the triple aggression"—as she described it—by using various means of hard machines, which caused her a fracture in the spine, an incision in the left side of the head, and some other complications. Consequently, this prompted her to escape and disappear from sight in the capital, Sana’a. Adding to that, she is afraid that the "safe hands"—her family—would reach her and kill her or inflict severe punishment on her, as she said.
According to a report issued by the Yemeni Women's Union, based in Sanaa, and reviewed by "Khuyut", it states that it receives about 60 calls per month regarding abusive husbands. While the United Nations affirms that women in Yemen are subjected to severe discrimination in law and practice, as they cannot marry without the permission of a male guardian and do not have equal rights to divorce, inheritance, or child custody, and it also stresses that the lack of legal protection exposes women to domestic and sexual violence.
A Fertile Environment for Child Marriage
The human rights activist Kamal Al-Shawish confirms to "Khuyut" that the isolation of rural villages from the media, the lack of societal awareness of the law, and the dispersion of religious discourse in rural areas have made them a fertile environment for child marriage and the multiplicity of cases of domestic violence against children.
Further, Al-Shawish believes that activating case management activities for girls, children, and women in rural areas and also activating a community partnership with journalists and media professionals to communicate with organizations and community protection institutions—as journalists can access these issues more quickly—contribute significantly to protecting children and women from the phenomena of violence and early marriage.
Likewise, according to reports by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, poverty and insecurity are among the root causes of child, early, and forced marriage, especially in rural areas and among the poorest communities.
Circumvention of the Law
Although there are many loopholes in the Yemeni Personal Status Law, which sometimes allows the marriage of those under the age of eighteen, there are legal articles, specifically in paragraph 5 of Article 9 of the Personal Status Law, that stipulate the prohibition of coercion into marriage by the family and punish those who practice this with imprisonment for a period of three years.
In addition, the legal advisor, Marwan Qahtan, tells "Khuyut" that "underage marriages usually take place outside the courts and are not registered in court. Because the families evade the legal consequences of marriage under the age of 18 and resort to registering the marriage contract outside the court,
"When the girl reaches the age of marriage at the age of 18, the contract is registered in court, and this in itself is a circumvention of the law. So, parents who force their daughters into marriage evade punishment, and those who are under the legal age also evade penalties for violating the Personal Status Law," according to Qahtan.
