On the morning of Tuesday, August 12, 2025, Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Hayqi was taking his final steps in a spiritual journey to Mecca, where he had performed Umrah alongside his elderly mother.
Those moments were filled with serenity and peace—never did he imagine that this blessed journey would turn into a painful humanitarian nightmare.
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“The Return That Never Happened”
At King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, amid crowds of returning pilgrims, Saudi security authorities stopped Mujahid.
There was no warning, no explanation.
He was escorted back to his residence, as his mother watched in confusion, unable to grasp what was happening.
Officers searched the place in the presence of female police personnel—then Mujahid disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a trembling mother and a family desperate for answers.
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“A Mother Alone in a Foreign Land”
His mother could not return to Yemen—her health would not allow it, and her emotional state deteriorated further after the disappearance of her only son.
She had depended on him for everything. Now she found herself in a strange country, with no support and no explanation for what had happened.
Each passing day weighed heavier on her heart, as she whispered a constant prayer:
“O God, relieve my son’s suffering and return him safely to me.”
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“A Silenced Voice”
The family, living in perpetual anxiety, knocked on every door—the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—but the response was total silence.
No one knew where Mujahid was, or why he had been detained.
No charges. No trial.
Only a deepening absence that tore at the hearts of those waiting for him.
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“The Cry of Journalism”
In Hadramout, Shabwa, Al-Mahra, and Socotra, voices began to rise.
The local branch of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate sent an urgent appeal to the governor of Hadramout, calling for immediate intervention.
Mujahid’s colleagues—his fellow journalists—did not forget his pen, the one that had always written for truth.
They now write about him—not so he could read, but so that his voice might be heard from behind prison walls.
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“A Human Story That Must Not Be Forgotten”
From the sacred circling of the Kaaba to an unknown cell,
from a mother’s prayer to a union’s plea,
the tragedy of Mujahid Al-Hayqi stands as a deeply human story that poses one painful question:
How can a man be arrested without charge, while his family is left drowning in the darkness of waiting?
This is not merely the story of a journalist—
It is the story of a grieving mother, a family searching for their son, and a nation asking about the fate of one of its own.
Will there be an answer?
