News - Yemen: Eight Yemeni fishermen have arrived in Hodeidah Governorate after months of detention in Eritrean prisons. The released fishermen reported that the Eritrean navy, as usual, kidnapped them while they were fishing in the Yemeni territorial waters, and took them to prisons.

The fishermen reported that they were subjected to torture  and hard labor under starvation during their kidnapping, pointing out that they were released along with 65 fishermen who returned to Al-Khawkha District.

The officials in Fisheries of the Red Sea condemned the repeated crimes of violations against fishermen, in light of the continued international silence and the failure to take a position on the Eritrean officials’ persistence against Yemeni fishermen.

The Director General of Ports and Centers of the official, Aziz Attini, stated that the fishermen who are released from Eritrean prisons do not exceed 10%, while dozens are still under torture.

He stressed that the Eritrean practices against Yemeni fishermen are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a clear violation of all international conventions and norms.

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 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.