Demeter’s quest
impressions of Huda Al Sarari
The Goddess Demeter searched endlessly for her daughter, Persephone, abducted and taken into the underworld by Hades.
Joining a group of mothers searching for their missing children, Yemeni Human Rights Lawyer, Huda Al Sarari investigated and exposed a clandestine network of secret prisons in Yemen supported by foreign governments where thousands of men and boys are illegally detained, tortured and abused.
For me, Huda Al Sarari’s story echoes Demeter’s search for her daughter, Persephone, following her abduction and rape by Hades.
the rape of persephone
Huda Al Sarari
Huda Al Sarari is a Yemeni lawyer and activist, born 1978. Huda Al Sarari raised international awareness of human rights violations in Yemen when she investigated and exposed a clandestine network of secret prisons supported by foreign governments, where thousands of men and boys are illegally detained, tortured and abused.
In 2016 she was contacted by a group of mothers seeking the whereabouts of their sons who had gone missing. Having no success with the Yemeni courts, she resorted to social media and managed to unearth the truth about prisons previously unknown to the Yemeni judicial system.
Huda Al Sarari founded the Union of Mothers of Abductees which resulted in the release of 260 prisoners. 2000 people are still missing. After her own son was wounded and died in hospital, she left the country.
Huda Al Sarari was awarded the Aurora Humanitarian Prize, 2019; and the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, 2020. She has worked with the Yemeni Women’s Union, the Adala Foundation for Rights and Freedoms; and the National Committee to Investigate Allegations of Human Rights Violations.
Persephone & Demeter
mothers
References
- https://www.huridocs.org/2020/03/2020-martin-ennals-award-laureate-huda-al-sarari/
- https://www.martinennalsaward.org/hrd/huda-al-sarari/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huda_Al-Sarari_(lawyer)
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