A Yemeni journalist attacked by Iran-backed Houthis in Sanaa last week has flown to Jordan for medical treatment. It comes as local and international campaigners condemned the militant group for persecuting dissenting voices in Yemen.
Majili Al-Samadi, the head of Voice of Yemen Radio, posted a photo taken on a Yemenia flight from Houthi-controlled Sanaa to Amman and a message in which he said goodbye to his followers, followed by another about his hospital care in Jordan.
“Tomorrow, I’ll have my third therapy session for suctioning clotted blood beneath my skin, which was caused by an assault on me by an armed group linked with the Houthis,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
On Jan. 1, less than a day after Al-Samadi criticized a judge at a Houthi-run court for denying his appeal against a ban on his radio broadcasts, an armed group with suspected connections to the Houthis assaulted him, for the second time in six months, and broke the windows of his car outside his home in Sanaa.
He said the attack caused his hands to swell and become red as a result of blood clots and that he was having difficulty moving his hands and legs.
