– Yes, I saw a Norwegian called Anders. He was in a cell next to mine, together with 21 others, Akrem Saleh Al Walidi tells news. Al Walidi has been in various prisons in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a for eight years. The journalist was accused of espionage and sentenced to death by the religious militia in 2020. The freedom of expression organization Norsk PEN is among 150 organizations that have demanded that Al Walidi be released. A few weeks ago, the journalist was part of a major prisoner exchange between the Houthi movement and the country’s government. JOY OF REUNION: Akrem Saleh Al Walidi after he was released in the major prisoner exchange that took place in April this year. The government and the Houthi movement exchanged nearly 900 prisoners, the largest exchange in years, according to the BBC. Photo: Privat Al Walidi now tells news that he met Norwegian Anders Cameroon Østensvig Dale three times during his sentence. news has not succeeded in getting in touch with other prisoners who were in the same cell, and who can confirm this. – Met in a notorious prison Dale grew up on Nesodden outside Oslo. He converted to Islam and traveled to Yemen in 2011. Dale reportedly told friends he wanted to go to study Arabic and Islamic law. But the authorities believe Dale joined Al Qaeda’s branch in the country. At the time, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was considered one of the most lethal terrorist networks in the world, with a stated goal of targeting the United States and American interests. DEADLY: – This is one of the most established, deadly terrorist networks in the world. They are very active and have an international dimension in their terrorist activities, said researcher Anders Romarheim about Al Qaeda in Yemen in connection with the charge against Dale. Photo: – / AFP PHOTO/HO/AL-MALAHEM MEDIA The USA labeled Dale a global terrorist in 2014. The Americans believe the Norwegian is terrorist-trained, and that he can make bomb belts and larger explosives. PST has charged Dale with participation in AQAP and wanted him internationally. In 2014, PST said they wanted to bring the Norwegian home. For periods, both the family and the authorities believed that Dale had been killed, but in December 2021, Dale made a surprise phone call to a family member in Norway. Dale said he was imprisoned by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen. The movement is at war with the government of the country and in conflict with Al Qaeda. The crisis in Yemen Republic on the Arabian Peninsula with around 30 million inhabitants. A regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia went to war in March 2015 against the local Houthi movement, which had taken control of Yemen’s capital Sana in the north of the country a few months earlier. The United Arab Emirates has participated in the coalition and, like Sudan, has had soldiers on the ground in southern Yemen. In Aden in the south, armed separatists backed by the Emirates have declared self-rule from Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia states that it has carried out over 22,000 airstrikes in Yemen. All parties to the conflict are accused of war crimes. Iran supports the Houthi rebellion, but UN investigators have previously concluded that there is no evidence of large arms deliveries from Iran. The UN estimated that 377,000 people had lost their lives at the start of 2022 as a result of the conflict. Over half due to lack of food, unclean water and lack of health care. Over 4.5 million people have been displaced since the conflict broke out. The war has triggered what the UN describes as the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. 20 million go to bed every night not knowing when they will have their next meal, 14 million of them need immediate humanitarian aid. In April 2022, the UN negotiated a ceasefire between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis. The truce was not renewed after six months. In April 2023, there was a large prisoner exchange, which it is hoped could lead to a permanent ceasefire. (Source: NTB and BBC) The recently released journalist Al Walidi says he met the Norwegian for the first time in August 2020. Then Al Walidi was in the notorious “political” prison in the capital Sana. – Anders did not tell his fellow prisoners how he was arrested, but we knew from other prisoners and from the prison guards that he was taken from the Bayda area, says Al Walidi to news. Sources with contacts in Al Qaeda have previously told news that Dale was taken by the Houthis in this very area. The map shows the city of Sana and the province of Al Bayda, where several sources believe Anders Cameroon Østensvig Dale stayed before he was arrested. These sources believed the arrest took place in 2021, but Walidi is certain that he met the Norwegian in prison as early as 2020. Should have walked with a cane On his own initiative, the recently released journalist says that the Norwegian had an injury to his leg. The police’s security service has previously told news that Dale was at one point in hospital, which was assumed to be due to an injury. – I saw him leaning on a stick, which he walked with. I don’t remember which leg it was, whether it was right or left, because it’s been a while since I saw him, says Al Walidi to news. Dale’s sister has told news that Dale is partially paralyzed in one leg. Al Walidi also says that he met the Briton Luke Symons in captivity. The Briton was released last year, after being imprisoned by the Houthi movement for five years. Symons has told The National newspaper about brutal prison conditions, where both rival gangs fight, and prison guards threaten and torture. Says Norwegian was kicked and beaten Journalist Akrem Saleh Al Walidi tells news that he himself has been subjected to “enormous torture” in captivity. He claims that the inmates were beaten with clubs and received electric shocks. At times, they were not allowed to go to the toilet or have access to hygiene items. The food also contained insects, such as cockroaches, according to the journalist. Al Walidi says that he was hung by his arms for several hours. – Both our arms and legs were tied behind our backs, and we were hung up like chickens, says the journalist, who is strongly affected by the years in captivity. Akrem Saleh Al Walid says he also witnessed the Norwegian accused of terrorism being subjected to physical attack. – I saw one day that the militia entered the cell where Anders and his friends were sitting, and pressured them to cut their hair. The militia kicked and beat Anders and the others with clubs because they would not cut their hair. He and his friends were beaten with clubs and kicked in the face, says the journalist. According to Dale’s sister, Cathrine Østensvig Dale, his brother has not told about torture or ill-treatment in captivity. – They overhear everything that is said by both me and him, so he does not speak freely, says the sister, who has been called by her brother four times since the arrest. All the conversations have taken place in English. Several human rights organizations have reported that the parties to the war, including the Houthis, are guilty of torture. In connection with the large prisoner exchange, there have been new testimonies about the prison conditions in Houthi-controlled Sana. A released man recently told Al Jazeera that, among other things, prisoners were given electric shocks by the prison guards. The authorities in Sana reject the torture allegations. Read more later in the case. GIVING HOPE: Last month, around 900 prisoners were released in a prisoner exchange between the Houthis and government forces. The exchange offers hope for a permanent ceasefire between government forces and the Houthis. Photo: Saleh Al-Obeidi / AFP Defendant: – Sensational lawyer Patrick Lundevall-Unger is the defender of the Norwegian accused of terrorism. He reacts to the information that Dale must have been kicked and beaten. Lawyer Patrick Lundevall-Unger is Dale’s defender. Photo: Mohammed Alayoubi / news – The information is very startling and what my client has been exposed to is cause for concern, says Lundevall-Unger to news. – What does it mean for the Norwegian authorities? – It further contributes to the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to step in and actively help to get Dale home. They must enter into a dialogue with the Houthis, the lawyer replies. Dale wants to return to Norway, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously said that they have very limited opportunities to provide consular assistance. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt tells news that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a dialogue with Dale’s lawyer, but that due to confidentiality she cannot go into more detail about what they are talking about. – In general, we work to ensure that legal certainty is safeguarded without taking a position on the question of guilt. But there is a limit to what we can get done in a country to which we strongly discourage Norwegian citizens from traveling, says Huitfeldt. She elaborates that they can give advice to the lawyer and the family and contribute with practical help. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt. Photo: Kambiz Zakaria What responsibility do the Norwegian authorities have for Norwegians who are tortured in this case? – It is legal certainty that we are working to strengthen. But you can’t expect that kind of help in a country that has a completely different system to ours and to which we strongly advise against traveling. Storting representative for the FRP, Erlend Wiborg, believes the Norwegian authorities should not try to get Dale back. Erlend Wiborg is a parliamentary representative in the Frp. Photo: Kristoffer Steffensen Lenes / news – We do not think it is the job of Norwegian taxpayers to finance the retrieval of people who have voluntarily left Norway to join a terrorist organisation, says Wiborg to news. – If a Norwegian citizen is subjected to torture, what responsibility do the Norwegian authorities have? – No people should be subjected to torture, but when you travel to a war zone voluntarily, it is a natural consequence that you are not as well protected as in Norway. It is something that must be taken into account when traveling down to such areas, replies the parliamentary representative. Supposed to have been moved to “horror prison” Journalist Al Walidi tells news that he last saw Dale in October 2020. Al Walidi was then in the dreaded political prison in Sana. According to the journalist, the Norwegian was then moved to Shamlan prison in the same city. Dale has until recently told his family in Norway that he lives in Shamlan, but on 17 May this year Dale called his sister and said he had moved. – I was called by Anders again. He said that he had been moved to another prison where the conditions are worse than in the prison he was in before, says Cathrine Østensvig Dale to news. CALL: Cathrine Østensvig Dale has recently been called by her brother, who has been arrested in Yemen. Photo: Mohammed Alayoubi / news Cathrine Østensvig Dale says that her brother confirmed that he still wanted to go to Norway, and that he was in a “political prison” in the capital Sana. According to several sources news has spoken to in Yemen, there is only one political prison in the city: “Political Security Prison”. It was in this place that the released journalist Al Walidi says the Norwegian was kept when he was allegedly beaten and kicked. The prison will be located in the Haddah area, south-west of the capital. – Denied sleep, sunlight and medication – It’s a prison of horrors. Torture is a daily occurrence and happens all the time, says lawyer Tawfik Al Hamidi about this prison. Al Hamidi heads the human rights organization Sam. Lawyer Tawfik Al Hamidi in the human rights organization Sam. Photo: Private The organization is located in Austria, and has reported on human rights violations by several parties in the war in Yemen. The organization is cited, among other things, in the US State Department’s assessment of the human rights situation in Yemen. Al Hamidi tells news that inmates are denied sleep, access to sunlight and medication, that they are kicked and beaten, and put in stressful positions that cause pain. news has tried to get in touch with the management of the prison, but has not been successful. Deputy Governor Hameed Assem of Sana’a rejects all allegations of torture. He tells news that everyone is most welcome to visit the prisons in the capital Sana. About the prisoners who were recently released, Hameed Assem says: – They got new clothes and were even perfumed before they were released. REJECTS TORTURE: – I visit the prisons, and the conditions there are very good. Never before have the prisoners had as much food and sun as today, says Assem to news. Photo: Private
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Fellow prisoner says terrorist-charged Norwegian was beaten up in prison in Yemen – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
