Yemen's shoe-throwing journalist won't sell 'for treasure nor gold'

It's not clear whether anyone has actually offered to buy it, but, just in case, a Yemeni journalist who caused a ruckus by throwing her shoe at a Houthi politician in a Geneva press conference has said that she will not be selling the shoe in question - even if she were to be offered "all the treasures in the world".

Dhikra al-Arasi - who made her anti-Houthi position clear when she took aim at Hamza al-Houthi on the sidelines of UN-brokered talks - told the Saudi broadcaster al-Arabiya that the shoe, which found its target, was a "crown" on her head, and that she had regained some honour and dignity in revenge for the Houthis' role in the conflict in Yemen.

Arasi, from Aden, a southern Yemeni city that has been bombarded by the Houthis and allied Yemeni army forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, has proven to be a divisive figure since her moment of fame, with some regarding her as a stooge of Yemen's government-in-exile and their Saudi ally.

Others, meanwhile, have called her brave and say that she was merely reflecting the anger of the sizeable anti-Houthi demographic in Yemen.

It is as if we are people with no value - Dhikra al-Arasi

"There was no coordination between me and any other group, not the Yemeni government or a political party," Arasi said.

"I found myself in front of the killer of my brothers and he was sitting there being hosted at the finest hotel in Geneva and had a press conference.

"I asked myself: Who is Hamza al-Houthi so that he can speak in the name of Yemen? What does this person represent to Yemenis? No one had heard of him in Aden before."

International attention has largely been focused on the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes in Yemen, which, although officially targeting Houthi and Saleh positions, have left civilians dead and widespread destruction in their wake.

However, the war in Yemen had begun before the airstrikes started on March 26, and the Houthi-Saleh forces have been accused of indiscriminately shelling cities such as Aden and Taiz, where resistance to their advance is strong.

"The Houthis talk about [foreign] aggression and crimes committed against them, and it is as if we are people with no value, as if we are not even considered to be human beings," Arasi said.

"The Houthis are people with no conscience or morals or humanity, they are a group of killers... at the end of the day, I am Yemeni, and I am striving for security and peace for my country, Yemen."

Arasi's shoe-throwing revived memories of the Iraqi journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, and his infamous shoe lob at US President George W Bush in 2008.

Bush demonstrated greater footwear-dodging abilities than al-Houthi, and Zaidi was subsequently imprisoned for nine months. He later received a man of the year award and a pair of golden shoes from a Canadian television channel.