Sana'a: Twenty-six Yemeni fishermen returned on Friday to the fishing port in Hodeidah Province after being detained in Eritrean prisons following their abduction while fishing in Yemeni territorial waters.
According to Yemen News Agency, during a reception attended by port director Ghalib Qasher and Wail Abdulwadoud, director of the Red Sea Fisheries Authority chairman's office, Al-Khokha District Director Amjad Al-Omaisi stated that 10 of the fishermen were from the district and had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Eritrean authorities also confiscated their belongings and fishing boat before deporting them.
Al-Omaisi held the mercenary government fully responsible for the violations and arbitrary practices suffered by fishermen at the hands of Eritrean authorities, as well as aggression forces and their mercenaries, stressing that such crimes and violations will not be subject to a statute of limitations.
He praised the support provided by the provincial governor and the Red Sea Fisheries Authority to the returning fishermen, including financial assistance to help them meet their needs and return to their families.
The fishermen said Eritrean naval patrols abducted them while they were fishing in Yemeni territorial waters aboard two jalba boats, taking them at gunpoint to Eritrean prisons.
They said they were detained for three days, during which they endured various forms of torture and mistreatment and were forced to perform hard labor while being deprived of food. Eritrean authorities later deported them after confiscating their fish catch, fishing equipment, and one of the boats.
The fishermen added that Eritrean authorities confiscated the engines of the second boat, replacing them with a single less-efficient engine, and forced them to sail back to the Hodeidah fishing port on a difficult journey.