I knew Houthis in Yemen. Here's what Americans need to know ...

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When I met Houthi rebel leaders in Yemen in 2014, at a graduation ceremony for honor students, they had us repeatedly chant: "Allah is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse on Jews; and victory to Islam."

That slogan captures the psychology and ideology of the Houthis, who are a Shia Islamist movement whose ideology is rooted in jihadism, a violent interpretation of our religion. Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis collaborate with the regime in Iran, from whom they receive strong support.

The Shia Houthis, now in the news for their attacks on international shipping and a recent exchange of strikes with the U.S., are starkly symptomatic of a larger problem. They are engaged both in a religious war and in a war of ideas. They enforce their ideology on the people of Yemen, who are condemned to live under their theocratic and tyrannical regime. Although Yemen, like many Muslim countries, is too tribal for democracy to be viable, many hereditary or dictatorial Muslim regimes could permit freedom of religion and of speech, if they were awakened.

In 1962, Sunni Yemenis overthrew the Shia Houthis' thousand-year-old kingdom, installed a Sunni government and suppressed the Shia religion. In a reversal 52 years later, in 2014, the Houthis overthrew the Sunni government and are similarly suppressing Sunni Yemenis. Thus the Shia Houthis and Sunni Yemenis are alike — both victims and perpetrators of religious tyranny. Houthis were victims then, but are perpetrators now; Sunni Yemenis were perpetrators then, but are victims now. All this religious tyranny, loss of life and suffering could have been avoided if both Shia and Sunni had embraced freedom of religion.

Having lived and studied in the United States for almost eight years now (I am now a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota), I have acquired an insider-outsider vantage point that has helped me clarify an understanding of the Houthis and the threat they represent, not just to Yemen but to American interests in the region. The United Nations calls the Yemeni situation one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. The country is entrenched in a seemingly endless civil war, analogous to the Reformation era of religious war in Europe, when Christians slaughtered each other over sectarian differences.

Houthis believe that they are descendants of the prophetic family and, on that basis, are entitled by Allah to rule all of Yemen. This Houthi ideology is traced through their lineage to Islamism. Islam is a spiritual religion; Islamism is a political regime that enshrines Islam through political and violent means. The Houthis are an Islamist group that enforces its parochial ideology by law, allowing neither freedom of religion nor freedom of speech. They are both religious zealots and a large tribe, giving them the vision and the manpower to seize Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, and to run the northern provinces through brute force and indoctrination campaigns.

The Houthis are unrelenting toward their opposition, most of whom have either been tortured or killed. And like most religious fanatics they are truly unafraid of death. They claim their martyrs go to heaven, while the opposition's martyrs go to hell. This martyrdom ideology has made the Houthis seemingly unstoppable, despite the efforts of the Yemeni government, supported by the Saudi government, to oust them.

Christian communities over time embraced freedom of religion and freedom of speech as a way to ensure that members of minority groups and the majority could coexist peacefully with equal dignity. After all, religion is a sacred matter, and the politics of government should maintain separation from religion. When religions inject themselves into government, religion corrupts government.

Freedom of religion and freedom of speech — which would become bedrock American values — were the solution to the era of religious war in Europe and the foundation for the Enlightenment to emerge. I believe these freedoms are the solution to the predicaments of Yemen and Islamism.

Unless Yemenis recognize that sacred religion and profane politics should not influence each other, we may witness the deterioration of Yemen into a singular battlefield made unlivable by missiles and drones. As a Yemeni living in America, I am convinced the best response to tyranny is to counter it with freedom, equality and a strong education system.

Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned of the perils of indifference. Americans would be wise to beware the seduction of indifference — to not only bear witness and hold innocent Yemenis with compassion for their suffering at the hands of the Houthis, but to help Yemen enter the modern world.

Abdulrahman M. Bindamnan is a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota and a contributing author for Psychology Today.