Houthi militias refused to accommodate the request of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to hand over the body of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh whom they killed last Monday.

A source involved in the debacles in Sanaa confirmed that the ICRC along with a number of international organizations working in Yemen demanded that the Houthi militia hand over Saleh’s body and a number of other heads from his party whom they also killed. However, the Houthis would not oblige.

Yemeni news sites reported that the source who preferred not to be named said the reason the Houthis do not want to hand over Saleh’s body is because they want to open an investigation file themselves with the Attorney General.

A senior leader in the General People’s Congress Party had stated that after several failed attempts of tribal mediations and interventions, they requested the ICRC to get involved and convince the Houthis to hand over the body which is being kept in an unknown place until now.

According to previous reports, Houthi militias had certain conditions if they were to return Saleh’s body. They demanded that no public funeral be held for him and that he be buried in his hometown of Sanhan, not in the garden of al-Saleh Mosque in Sanaa.

Moreover, the militia attacked a women’s protest on Wednesday in Sanaa. The protest was calling for the return of the former president’s body. They arrested tens of protesters and are keeping them in unknown locations.

source: Alarabiya