Ring for wife Jithina, Jambia for Akhil, Houthis’ farewell to Malayali captives

Akhil Reghu of Kayamkulam and Sreejith Sajeevan of Kottayam have never been radicals who support the Houthi rebels in the civil war-hit Yemen.
The Yemeni Jambia gifted by rebels to the detainees. Yemeni men carry this weapon while travelling just like Sikhs wear ‘kirpan’  | Express
The Yemeni Jambia gifted by rebels to the detainees. Yemeni men carry this weapon while travelling just like Sikhs wear ‘kirpan’ | Express

ALAPPUZHA: Akhil Reghu of Kayamkulam and Sreejith Sajeevan of Kottayam have never been radicals who support the Houthi rebels in the civil war-hit Yemen. They are the breadwinners of their families in Kerala. They landed in the custody of Houthis after the latter hijacked the UAE-flagged ship Rawabee around midnight on January 2.

After being in detention for 112 days, the rebels freed them following the diplomatic intervention by the Oman and India governments. The rebels did not let them go with nothing in hand. They gave them a handful of gifts. This may be the first time a hijacking group gifted something to detainees when releasing them.

“The rebels who had kept us in captivity all these days handed back all our documents, mobile phones, ornaments and other things. Not only these, they gifted a silver ring fixed with a precious stone and a chain studded with precious stones for my wife, a Jambia — a weapon worn by Yemeni men just like the Sikhs’ ‘kirpan’ — and a picture of Dar Al Hajar palace, a stone palace located in capital Sana’a,” said Akhil.

“The only problem in captivity was that all 14 of us crew members were crammed in two small rooms and it was suffocating. They did not allow us to use a phone. However, after every 10-15 days, they allowed us to contact our family members,” Akhil said.

‘Houthi rebels never used any angry words, gave us Omani food’

“When I was desperate to know about the plight of my wife Jithina after the Ukraine war began, they tried to pacify me. They regularly gave Omani food and never pressured or attacked us. However, seeing the armed rebels carrying machine guns pacing up and down in the room frightened me. I never thought I would be able to meet my family members again,” Akhil said.

“I also received a gift from the rebels,” said Sreejith. “I was sleeping in my cabin after duty when the rebels barged into the ship. On hearing loud shouting, I woke up and found people pointing AK 47 rifles at me. They asked me to move to the deck. Some of my colleagues also slept in the room but when I woke up, I didn’t see any of them. I saw bloodstain on the floor and fear engulfed me as I suspected my friends were attacked.

After assembling all crew members, they shifted us to a small boat from the ship and moved to the land. They shifted us to a small room somewhere in Sana’a and locked us up. After reaching the room, I understood that nobody was attacked and that the bloodstain was from a rebel after he got injured while climbing onto the ship from their boat,” Sreejith said.

“The rebels never used any angry words. On some days, they took us to our ship and took us back to the room. They tried to learn from us how to operate the ship and the equipment. We think that their plan was to own the ship. That may be why they released us but retained the ship,” Sreejith said. Akhil said the rebels understood that most of the crew members were from India when they the latter were lined up on the ship deck on the first day of captivity. “After that, they showed sympathy to all of us, especially Indians. That might have also been one reason that they freed us,” Akhil said.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com