The secret Houthi lobby involved in international organizations and funds

A recent report revealed the secret Houthi lobby, which is involved in international organizations and funds that support the Iran-backed Houthis, calling on the responsible authorities to review and correct the work of these bodies and ensure the integrity and impartiality of international institutions.

The report, prepared by Dr. Abdul Qader Al-Kharaz, former head of the General Authority for Environmental Protection, mentioned the most prominent six figures from (the Hashemite Dynasty) who work in high positions in international organizations and provide their services to the Houthis.

One of the six, Fouad Ali Al-Kahlani, is currently a senior advisor to the IMF, advising the fund's director, the report said.

Al-Kahlani previously served as the commercial attaché at the Yemeni embassy in Washington, D.C., from 2007-2011.

During a 2021 IMF meeting with Yemen's Finance Minister Bin Bureek, Fouad was present in his role to advise the IMF director, raising legitimate concerns about conflicts of interest and potential bias. The report added.

The report stressed the need for the IMF to address how a senior advisor is directly overseeing matters related to the Yemeni legitimate government while it is in conflict with Fouad's father's militant organization, as Fouad's father Ali al-Kahlani is an assistant defense minister for the Houthi group.

A second individual, Safaa Ali Qasim Al-Moa'yad, works as a poverty and equity advisor at the World Bank, a position that again brings with it potential conflicts of interest. The report said.

Her London-based cousin Ahmed Al-Moa'yad actively speaks as a media representative for the Houthis, the report said, while her sister Nada is married to the owner of Prodigy, a company known to have provided support to the Houthis.

The third figure is Angham Hassan al-Shami, who holds a high-level media position in the IMF's communications department. Her relatives include individuals who hold prominent positions within the Houthi security apparatus.

Prior to joining the IMF, Angham served as deputy commercial attaché at the Yemeni Embassy in the United States from 2009 to 2011, reporting directly to Fouad al-Kahlani, who was also a commercial attaché and later became the IMF's senior advisor in Washington.

Analyzing her (Angham) digital footprint suggests that she may have tacitly supported Houthi propaganda efforts on social media during the height of the conflict in Yemen. The report further said.

The fourth figure, Ahmed Al-Shami, serves as a spokesperson and economic advisor to the Houthi group, while simultaneously serving as the executive director of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, an ostensibly neutral advocacy body registered in the United States. Evidence shows that this organization served as a front that facilitated the Houthis' engagement with international bodies such as the United Nations.

Al-Shami facilitates meetings and provides data that helps the Houthis' cause through his dubious human rights group and cooperative business, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, or ARWA, which was registered in the US in 2016 in Washington D.C. He also maintains close ties with other entities in the West that support Iran-backed propaganda.

The report notes that Al-Shami attends meetings of the Human Rights Council in Geneva through this front, holds multiple meetings with members of parliaments in US, UK and the European Union, and works closely with the UN envoy to Yemen by representing this organization despite being an official spokesperson for the Houthis, which shows an interesting contradiction and an international and UN cover-up.

The report calls on UN agencies and participating organizations to respond to allegations of engaging parties with clear allegiance to one side of Yemen's ongoing internal conflict, stressing that these partnerships threaten the principles of neutrality and transparency and besiege humanitarian access.

The fifth figure, Mohammed Al-Wazeer, is a Houthi leader for international coordination and co-founder with Ahmed Al-Shami of the Arab Organization for Human Rights (ARWA).

Mohammed Al-Wazeer participated in several meetings of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on behalf of the organization and in partnership with the Iraqi Development Organization (IDO) and with the support of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB). The report noted.

The sixth and final figure mentioned in the report is Yusra Al-Harazi, who works as a spokesperson and activities coordinator in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Arab Organization for Human Rights (ARWA), which is affiliated with Mohammed Al-Wazeer and Ahmed Al-Shami, two Houthi leaders.

Al-Harazi also gives speeches at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on behalf of the organization and other entities that follow, support or partner with them, but under a different name, such as the Iraqi Development Organization (IDO) and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB).

The report calls on the Yemeni Presidential Council to intervene to correct the work of these bodies, hold them accountable, and work on an urgent intervention by the concerned authorities, to ensure the integrity and impartiality of international institutions and address the Houthi influence within them.