Eritrea releases 31 Yemeni fishermen after 3 days of detention

By Aziz Ahmadi

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - Eritrean authorities released 31 Yemeni fishermen on Thursday after holding them for three days, according to Houthi-affiliated media.

The Saba News Agency reported that the fishermen returned to the fishing port in Al Hudaydah province, which is under Houthi control.

The fishermen revealed that Eritrean forces arrested them in Yemeni territorial waters while they were fishing in three boats and took them to Eritrean prisons at gunpoint.

During their detention, the fishermen said “they were subjected to torture and starvation before being forced to return on a single boat, with the Eritrean forces confiscating the other two boats along with their fishing equipment,” the agency reported.

There has been no official response from Eritrean authorities regarding the incident.

For years, Yemen and Eritrea have been locked in a dispute over the Hanish Islands, located between the two countries' coasts near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In 1998, an international arbitration court ruled in favor of Yemen, but Eritrea has not fully acknowledged the ruling and frequently detains Yemeni fishermen near the islands.

Many Yemenis in coastal cities rely on fishing for their livelihood amid deteriorating living conditions caused by the ongoing war in the country.

Yemen has been embroiled in nearly a decade of conflict between government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who have controlled several provinces, including the capital Sanaa, since September 2014.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio