The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, meets with local officials in Taizz, Yemen, February 12, 2024.
Houthi authorities transferred at least six detainees to the Specialized Criminal Prosecution in Sanaa on August 23. Among them is a United Nations employee, a UN consultant, and three people who worked with international and local nongovernmental organizations.
It’s the latest move in the Houthis’ campaign of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of dozens of UN staff and employees of Yemeni and international civil society organizations that began on May 31, 2024.
Dr. Ali Al-Mudhwahi is one of the six detainees whose case was transferred. At the time of his arrest, he was a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) consultant and was also an advisor to the Houthi’s Ministry of Public Health and Population, according to his wife, Safiah Mohammed. Authorities have subjected him to “solitary confinement, torture, and severe psychological pressure” throughout his detention, he told his wife via phone. The Houthis—who are against vaccinations—have tried to force him to confess that vaccines were “nothing but espionage tools” and that he was “a spy recruited by the World Health Organization,” his wife shared with Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch has documented the detention campaign since June 2024. Of the many dozens who’ve been arrested, authorities did not provide arrest warrants to most, and the Houthis forcibly disappeared many detainees for months. The Houthis, who have a long track record of torturing detainees, have denied them adequate access to lawyers, family members, and medical care, including some with serious medical conditions.
Yemen’s Criminal Procedures Law requires judicial officers to immediately hear a detainee’s statement and refer the detainee, along with the arrest report, to the public prosecution within 24 hour
