The United Nations World Food Program said on Tuesday that one of its staff members, Ahmed Ba'alawi, had died in detention in northern Yemen, where the U.N. has repeatedly called for the Houthi movement to free detained U.N. employees.
WFP did not specify who or how its employee, who it said had been detained on January 23 with six others, but it is believed that Ba'alawi, and another fellow staff were detained by the Houthis in Saada Governorate.
A UN source and another Yemeni security source in Sanaa told Xinhua News Agency that Baalawi is a Yemeni citizen and was working as an information technology operations officer in the UN programme.
Cindy McCain the Executive Director of WFP expressed her sadness in a twitt on X saying: “Heartbroken and outraged by the tragic loss of @WFP team member, Ahmed, who lost his life while arbitrarily detained in Yemen. A devoted humanitarian and father of 2, he played a crucial role in our mission to deliver lifesaving food assistance.”