Families of those held captive by people loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have received their third Eid without happy news about the destiny of their husbands, brothers and sons who were arrested during the past year because of their participation in the revolution.

“It’s not Eid,” Nadia Al-Noweira, the wife of Jamal Al-Dhafeeri who was abducted in the last year by armed men, said. “It’s a sad event that makes me and my children cry all the time. No more plays, no more new clothes and no happiness. There are just pain and soreness.”

Al-Noweira said she pleaded with President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa to release her husband, who “was kidnapped without reason.”

“There is a big difference between past Eids and recent Eids,” she said. “My husband used to take his children to gardens and buy them the best clothes.”

However, she is optimistic that his husband will be released during Eid.

 “If they release him, it will be the happiest eid in my life,”

Taking Al-Dhafeeri didn’t only sadden his wife and children. His mother, who has diabetes, keeps crying over her beloved son.

Abdul-Kareem Thu’ail, head of the General Council of the Revolutionary Abducted Youth, said families of those detained receive every Eid with extreme sadness.

He called for human rights organizations and activists to organize special celebratory event for detainees’ families to alleviate their suffering and deep depression.

“Unfortunately, Eid turns into a depressing event for those families who used to receive Eid with great happiness,” he said. “They celebrate this Eid by staying at home and crying about their beloved kidnapped.”

Throughout the past months, the prime minister, minister of human rights and the minister of interior have repeatedly promised to release the detainees, but their promises have not yet been fulfilled.

Abdullah Abdul-Elah was kidnapped by people loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh while he was helping injured revolutionaries by taking them to hospitals on his motorcycle during a protest.

“He was the only breadwinner of his family,” Mujeeb Abdul-Elah, his younger brother, said. “He was working hard to provide his children, brothers and mother with their needs.”

Mujeeb said that the financial and psychological situations of Abdullah’s family were deeply affected after his disappearance.

“Instead of making us happier, Eid becomes an event that makes us more down in the dumps.”

“We have no salaries, no properties. We were totally depending on him.”

“His mother cannot even hear his voice. When she hears a tone of any telephone, she gets a bit optimistic because she thinks that her son on the telephone,” he said.