Now that the Houthis (a former Shiite dissident group now organized as a political faction called Ansar Allah) have properly established that the remains of their late leader, Hussain Bedralddeen al-Houthi were indeed his, the group is planning to organize his official funeral this Wednesday in its stronghold of Sa'ada (northern province of Yemen), nine years after his death.
Killed in 2004 in an ambush, the founder of the Houthis movement, Hussain Bedralddeen al-Houthi's physical remains were held by the regime of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It was only in December 2012 that President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi agreed in the spirit of reconciliation to grant Abdel Maleh al-Houthis' request to properly bury this father.
Earlier this week Ansar Allah issued a statement in which it officially announced Hussain Bedralddeen al-Houthi's death. Rather accusatory, Ansar Allah laid the blame on the former government, stating that their leader had been ambushed by the military while in the company of several of his family members. “They were besieged with aircraft and artillery bombing, leading to a lack of food and medicine. They also cut off the water pipes and poured gasoline into a shelf, and then they bombed and set fire to it,” read the statement.
Ansar Allah then alleged that despite an agreed truce al-Houthi was mercilessly gunned down when he stepped out of his hiding place.
While the issue of blame will in all likelihood remain a source of debate between the Houthis and the central government, officials have said a funeral will help all parties to move on and move past old grievances, bringing some degree of political closure.
With only a few hours to go before Houthis supporters in the capital and across several northern province have put up billboards and posters of late Hussain Bedralddeen al-Houthi, determined to give the man they're already calling a martyr a proper send off.