News - Yemen: 67 of Yemeni fishermen have arrived in Al Hodeidah Governorate after months of detention in Eritrean prisons.

Fishermen explained that they were arrested by the Eritrean navy while they were fishing, and they were transferred to torture camps  after their boats and fishing equipment were confiscated.

The deputy head of the General official for Fisheries in the Red Sea, Abdulmalik Sabra, stated that the number of fishermen released is 67, including eight from Al-Hodeidah and 59 from Al-Khawkhah district. He confirmed that hundreds of Yemeni fishermen are still under torture in Eritrean prisons.

Since late 2014, the Eritrean Navy has escalated piracy, detention and arrest operations against many Yemeni fishermen while they are engaged in their activities off the Hanish Archipelago. The archipelago includes the Greater and Lesser Hanish Islands and Jabal Zuqar, and is administratively affiliated to the Al-Hodeidah Governorate in western Yemen.

Fishing activity in the Red Sea has become a threat to the lives and safety of Yemeni fishermen. While a war is taking place throughout the Yemeni geography, another is taking place in the islands, coasts and international waters, the aggressors of which are the Eritrean maritime authorities and whose victims are thousands of Yemeni fishermen.

On the shores of Hodeidah, located on the Red Sea, extending from the port of Hodeidah to Bab al-Mandab, thousands of fishermen are being chased by the maritime authorities of the coastal African country. Fishermen accused the navy of imprisoning them for long periods, in addition to the harsh treatment they receive in prisons and the confiscation of their fishing boats. As of August 2019, at least 334 fishermen had been reported killed or injured since 2015, according to statistics from Yemen's fisheries authority. Others had been arrested and had their boats seized, while some were now detained in Saudi-run prisons in Yemen.

Local reports estimate that of Yemen's approximate 100,000 fishermen, since 2015 over a third (37,000) have quit and thus lost their income. fishermen and the fish sector in Yemen.