Exclusive: The UAE suspends Hani Bin Brik’s activities in Yemen after a series of scandals

Reliable Yemeni sources revealed that the UAE had halted the activity of one of its mercenaries, Hani Bin Brik, a leader in the so-called Abu Dhabi-backed separatist transitional council in Yemen.

The sources told Emirates Leaks that stopping Bin Brik’s activity included preventing him from appearing in the media and taking strict measures against him after the escalation of a series of scandals in recent months.

The sources pointed out that Ben Brik’s scandals include financial and sexual embezzlement and revealed his involvement in assassinations targeting several Yemeni personalities, including Islamic leaders, which Abu Dhabi fears repercussions.

According to the sources, the UAE’s actions against Bin Brik included stopping his activities completely, including his responsibilities within the Southern Transitional Council, freezing his funds inside Emirati banks, and preventing him from travelling and moving within UAE lands.

The sources added that the procedures also included the suspension of Hani bin Brik’s son from military service in the UAE army, given that he holds Abu Dhabi citizenship.

Human rights organizations have long called for an investigation into the evidence revealed by the Public Prosecution Office investigation records in Aden about Hani bin Brik.

The minutes talked about Bin Brik’s involvement in planning assassination crimes that led to the killing of more than 120 citizens for political reasons from 2015 to 2018, including social figures, preachers and officers loyal to the legitimate authority in Aden and other cities, according to the Geneva-based Sam Organization for Rights and Freedoms.

Bin Brik had begun his studies in Dammaj Center in Saada Governorate Northern Yemen, affiliated with the well-known Salafi sheikh Muqbil Al-Wadai’i, before he joined the schools of Rabee Al-Madkhali, one of the Salafi sheikhs in Saudi Arabia.

Bin Brik was subsequently associated with Saudi intelligence and was one of the members of the counselling committees (the idea of ​​which was adopted by Prince Muhammad Bin Nayef Bin Abdulaziz in an attempt to persuade the extremists to retreat from their ideas). He attended with those committees in the Sharurah border area with Yemen. He often held meetings And meetings with jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

With the outbreak of the Yemen war in 2015, Bin Brik began communicating with the Saudi-Emirati coalition, and he had direct lines of communication with the Emirati intelligence. He was entrusted with eliminating people it classified as affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Aden and Yemen and the anti-Abu Dhabi figures.

Bin Brik is also closely related to Abu Abdullah Al Tunaiji and other Emirati officers. He had good relations with Abu Khalifa Saeed Al Neyadi, who is considered the first man of the Emirates in Aden.

A few months after the battle to liberate Aden from the grip of the Houthis, President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi issued a republican decision on January 9, 2016, appointing Bin Brik as Minister of State and a member of the Council of Ministers.

But it did not last long, as his anti-government actions prompted Hadi, on April 28, 2017, to dismiss him and refer him for investigation, along with the then governor of Aden, Aidarous al-Zubaidi.

Bin Brik and Al-Zubaidi did not take long, as they then announced what is known as the Southern Transitional Council, headed by the latter and the deputy of the former and adopted the idea of ​​separation. Their photos with bin Zayed and their movement between Aden and Abu Dhabi became a natural matter, as the latter provided full support for them. It was announced that Opening the door for recruitment and the formation of the Shabwani Elite Forces and the Hadrami Elite Forces, in addition to the Security Belt Forces.

Bin Brik continued to supervise the Security Belt Forces and the formations that follow with Emirati support, in addition to his supervision of media activities against the role of the government and his management of a long list of media professionals and activists on communication sites supporting the UAE in what later became known as electronic flies cells, and paid exorbitant salaries to them.

According to one of the southern leaders who had previous contact with Bin Brik and spoke to Al Jazeera Net, the latter had been directly involved throughout the past years in planning and supervising the assassinations of dozens of preachers in Aden, and he admitted this in several meetings and councils.

He also described some sheikhs affiliated with the Salafist movement and the Islah party who disagreed with him as Kharijites and called for their liquidation.