Amnesty report critical of Houthis spawns online hate campaign

Some Houthi supporters have not taken kindly to Amnesty International's criticism of the Yemeni movement's use of anti-aircraft weapons in civilian areas, which have caused 90 percent of civilian injuries in Sanaa, according to doctors in Yemen's capital.

Despite not having shot down a single plane from the Saudi-led coalition over Sanaa, the Houthis continue to use anti-aircraft munitions, and have rejected the assertion in an Amnesty report released on May 28 that these munitions are causing more harm to locals than the coalition airstrikes.

Yet things have gone beyond mere criticism, with a concerted campaign starting against two Yemeni human rights activists, Radhya Almutawakel and her husband, Abdulrasheed Alfaqih.

The two are accused of being behind the report, and have received abuse since its release, with critics accusing them of being in the pay of the Saudis.

Almutawakel has denied being behind the report, noting that the report's non-Yemeni author, Lama Fakih, is named in the report itself, and that she and her husband were in a different province, Taiz, at the time of its compilation.

It appears that the link with the report may have been a result of an account of life in Yemen she wrote for the organisation published days before the anti-aircraft report, which does also highlight the casualties caused by airstrikes.

However, she has not hidden her agreement with the report's findings, something that has enraged her detractors.

“There is no crime that excuses another crime, whatever its size, and talking about the injuries caused by falling anti-aircraft munitions does not mean that the Saudi aggression is excused or that civilian casualties caused by the coalition attack are somehow less important,” Almutawakel said on her Facebook page.

“It is a person's right to not be killed by Saudi weapons, nor by Houthi weapons, or any weapons for that matter,” she added.

The campaign against Almutawakel has spawned a mocking hash-tag, and even comments on the legality of her marriage to Alfaqih, a deeply offensive accusation in Yemeni society.

Others have accused her of being a traitor.

"She wanted to go to Riyadh [conference] and no one paid attention to her," one commenter said.

"What a shame about her family name," the commenter added.

Almutawakel's father is the late Muhammad Almutawakel, a prominent and well-respected politician assassinated in Sanaa by unknown assailants in November.

Yemen's Houthi-controlled ministries of health and human rights even organised a press conference on Monday attacking the report, and accusing it of ignoring the victims of the airstrikes.

“It is clear that it [the Amnesty report] is not honest or neutral, and does not adhere to international human rights standards,” a consultant at the Ministry of Human Rights, Shayif Bin Ali, said.