A Yemeni aid worker who was abducted by Houthis five years ago died while being detained by the Iran-backed militia, a local rights group said on Wednesday.

Ishraq Al-Maqtari, a spokesperson for the National Committee for Allegations of Human Rights Violations in Yemen, told Arab News that the Houthis called the wife of 45-year-old Yasser Mohammed Al-Junaid, who went missing in 2017 in the Red Sea town of Khokha, to tell her to go to Sanaa to collect her husband’s body.

Al-Junaid, who taught English and worked with local relief organizations, was abducted from the streets of Khokha when it was under Houthi control and taken to a detention center in the town of Zabid in Hodeidah, Ishraq said.

When the Houthis denied abducting Al-Junaid or knowing his whereabouts, his wife reported the incident to local rights groups, including the national committee.

“I listened to his wife a year ago,” Ishraq said. “She was crying and demanding her husband’s location be revealed and the perpetrators be brought to justice.”

Yemeni activists demanded Al-Junaid’s body be taken to a forensic doctor to determine the cause of his death. They believe he was subjected to the same torture suffered by dozens of other detainees who died inside Houthi prisons.

Since the militia seized power in 2014, thousands of Yemenis, including journalists, politicians, security and military officers and members of the public have been imprisoned.

The national committee believes that at least 300 Yemenis have been the victims of forced disappearance by the Houthis and their families have no idea what happened to them.

“The demand of the families of those kidnapped is to know the fate of their relatives, whether they are alive or dead. Even if the truth is bitter, it is better than living in false hope,” Ishraq said.

Her organization is currently searching for two Yemenis who went missing after being snatched by the Houthis in 2015 during the early days of the group’s military expansion across Yemen.

Shukaib Alam, a father of four, was abducted in Aden in May 2015 while driving home to his family after a shopping trip. The Houthis accused him of carrying supplies to fighters in the city.

Alam’s family was told he was being held at Al-Anad military base in Lahj when it was under the control of the militia, but there has been no further information about him since the Houthis were driven out of the base in August 2015.

Abdu Saeed Al-Oudaini, also a father of four, went missing in April 2015 after the Houthis abducted him in Taiz. His family were told he was being held at a detention center inside Al-Saleh Housing Complex in Taiz, but the Houthis denied any knowledge of whereabouts.