By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-05-04

ADEN -- Angered by the Houthis' exploitation of religion to recruit new members, activists are deriding the signature Houthi phrase, "he went to eat apples in heaven", as a deceptive propaganda tactic that leads Yemen's young men to violent and needless deaths.

The Iran-backed group uses the signature phrase alongside photos of their slain fighters to portray battlefield death as a fast track to paradise.

It presents a promise of divinely-rewarded sacrifice to inspire new recruits to put their lives on the line to achieve the group’s goals.

In response, activists are flooding social media with the hashtag "went to eat apples" to expose casualties in the Houthis' ranks -- deaths the group has stopped publicly acknowledging -- as part of a wider social media campaign.

"The Houthis portray dying on the frontlines as a quick route to heaven, with apples serving as a symbol of heavenly bliss," Fahmi al-Zubairi, director general of the human rights office in Sanaa, told Al-Fassel.

He described the "apples in heaven" phrase as a "deceptive propaganda tactic that exploits religion" to recruit fighters and mislead their families.

Drawing a direct parallel to the Iran-Iraq War, he noted that Tehran distributed "keys to heaven" to young recruits as part of psychological tactics to inspire self-sacrifice in battle, including high-risk missions that were effectively suicidal.

From a human rights perspective, such manipulation constitutes "forced recruitment based on ideological deception" and violates international law, particularly regarding child soldiers, al-Zubairi said.

By weaponizing the phrase against its creators, activists "are dismantling this illusion and highlighting the contradiction between the painful reality and the false promise, which is built on myth and deception," he said.

Overflowing cemeteries

The Houthis have opened 16 new cemeteries in Sanaa over the past three years, with the highest concentration, four burial grounds, located in their al-Jarraf stronghold, Joumhouriya TV reported.

The group's deliberate concealment of casualty names suggests its seeks to downplay losses or avoid confronting families of the dead, political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher told Al-Fassel.

The viral spread of anti-Houthi hashtags shows "people are no longer able to tolerate" the group's practices, said Abdul Qader al-Kharraz, research director at the Berlin-based Arab Democratic Center.

"The Houthis were using the phrase 'went to eat apples in heaven' to promote their false narrative and deceive many Yemenis, but over time their lies began to be exposed," he told Al-Fassel.

"The public began to realize they are linked to the Iranian narrative and many of the myths associated with Iranian Khomeinist mythology."

The hashtag campaign reflects growing public awareness that "will break the barrier of fear, and with it, break these Iran-affiliated Houthis," he said.