DHAKA, 11 January 2022, (TON): Bangladesh strongly condemned the hijacking of a cargo ship Rawabi allegedly by Houthi militias off the coast of Al Hudayah governorate of Yemen.

The UAE flagged ship was carrying medical equipment for a Saudi field hospital in the island.

According to a press release “describing the attack as obstructions to humanitarian and relief work in the war-affected area of Yemen, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said that the incident was morally unjustifiable and ‘shows utter lack of respect for international norms and values.”  

Bangladesh also expressed concern about the incident and said “such insensible and illegal acts are being deliberately repeated and directed against the humanitarian and relief activities being conducted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners.”

Bangladesh said “the hijacking of the ship was ill-motivated and ‘constitutes a terrorist act and piracy against the ship and its crew which was a gross violation of international humanitarian law.”

Bangladesh called upon the people responsible for incident to urgently evacuate from the ship and release the vessel.