The Story of Nabil Ali Mohamed Abdo

The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association (FPA) and, due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous.

In recent weeks the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh has been accused of organizing mass kidnapping of protesters to destabilize the revolutionary movement and instill fear within the population. According to many reports, the young men and sometimes women, were snatched up from the streets and transported to unknown locations where they were then brutally tortured. This practice is actually quite common in oppressive regimes and often the victims are never to be heard of again.

However, in this case the young man in question, Nabil Ali Mohamed Abdo survived the terrible ordeal and decided to share his tale with the World. This is his story: The 28 year-old Nabil Abdo, a young man whose disillusions with regime led him to join the Youth Movement, became the latest victim of the state apparatus when he was kidnapped by Security Forces.

He was found on Thursday morning by passers-by who claimed he had been thrown out in a side street still blindfolded and unconscious. Just as they attempted to revive him, the young man asked to be transported to Change Square hospital where he knew he would be safe from the regime thugs.

Upon his arrival in the field hospital, he recalled having been abducted on Wednesday night (May 11^th, 2011) as he took part in an anti-regime march. He said that while he was feeling faint from the toxic gas used by Security Forces against demonstrators, men dressed as paramedics surrounded him and forced him into a car. Nabil clearly recalls other protesters being with him in the car as he was transported to an unknown location. “The trip took only 15 minutes” he said, unable to give more details.

Alone in a room with 6 other men, Nabil was brutalized to the point of losing consciousness. His torturers took turn to burn his body with cigarettes and pieces of hot coal. Nabil said that the men were accusing him of having killed one of their friends. They also wanted to know the type of weapons he had been using during the protests. Despite Nabil’s claim that he had no weapon and that he was a peaceful protester, his torturers went on torturing him for hours, adding some séances of beatings for good measure.

His body still bears the marks of this horrific ordeal; a testimony to the extent to which Saleh’s regime is willing to go to remain in power. Eventually just as the young man passed out again, his kidnappers got tired of him and decided to abandon him, almost lifeless in a back street of Sana’a.

But if, Nabil is lucky enough to have survived, no one knows what happens to others. We can only pray that they will be found alive.