Yemen: Arbitrarily Held by the Houthis

Houthi authorities in Yemen have arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared dozens of people in the capital, Sanaa. The Houthi authorities should safeguard the rights of everyone in detention, immediately release all those held arbitrarily, and grant family members, lawyers, and independent monitors immediate access to detention sites to reduce the risk of abuse.

Human Rights Watch documented the Houthis' arbitrary or abusive detention of at least 35 people from August 2014 through October 2015, 27 of whom remain in custody. Families have not been able to find out the whereabouts of seven believed to have been forcibly disappeared. Many appear to have been arrested because of their links to Islah, a Sunni political party that is opposed to the Zaidi Shia Houthis. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Sanaa and other areas of Yemen since September 2014.

"Houthi arrests and forced disappearances of alleged Islah supporters have generated palpable fear in the capital," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. "Politicians, activists, lawyers, and journalists tell us they've never been more frightened of ending up 'disappeared.'"

Human Rights Watch has obtained copies of four letters, dated September and October 2015, from two of Sanaa's public prosecutors, directed to the director-general of the police, the solicitor general, the security director of the capital, and the acting director of the eastern district. These letters raise the cases of specific detainees being held without charge, as well as the general issue of arrests, and call on the relevant authorities to abide by prosecution release orders.

Abdul Basit Ghazi, a Yemeni lawyer who heads the Defense Authority of the Abductees and Prisoners, which provides legal representation to detainees, told Human Rights Watch his organization is working on behalf of more than 800 detainees and disappeared individuals, most of whom belong to the Islah party. He said that based on information he has gathered from sources knowledgeable about detentions, the Houthis were holding at least 250 at al-Thawra pretrial detention facility, 180 at Habra pretrial detention facility, 167 at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), 165 opposition figures at Sanaa Central Prison, 73 at the Political Security Organization's headquarters, 20 at al-Judairi police station, 10 at one of the homes of the former First Armored Division commander, Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, and an unknown number at Zain al-Abdeen mosque in Hiziyaz.

Human Rights Watch documented cases of apparent arbitrary detention at all of those locations except Habra pretrial detention facility, the home of al-Ahmar, and Sanaa Central Prison. Authorities denied a Human Rights Watch request to visit Sanaa Central Prison. Houthi authorities monitored the movements of Human Rights Watch staff in Sanaa during their research into this issue in late October.

In addition to political opponents, the Houthis have targeted journalists reporting for opposition outlets. At 4 a.m. on June 9, about 20 armed police and military forces arrested nine journalists working for different opposition media outlets who were using a room in the Qasr al-Ahlam Hotel in Sanaa as an office, because the hotel generator provided a source of power. The authorities held them for two days at two different police stations before transferring them to the CID, and then to al-Thawra pretrial detention facility where they remain at the time of this writing. The authorities also arrested four independent journalists between April and October. Family members were unaware of the location of two of them, while authorities were holding one at the CID and another at Habra pretrial detention facility. Houthi authorities have not brought charges against any of the 13 journalists in custody.

A source from Sanaa Central Prison confirmed to Human Rights Watch that until a big prisoner swap on December 16, it held at least 450 detainees brought there by the Houthis. The source said these prisoners are being kept apart from the other prisoners, are overseen only by Houthi guards, and have no contact with regular prison staff. The source said that the prison is not receiving any additional food rations for these prisoners, nor have Houthi prison staff provided them with blankets, mattresses, or pillows, as far as he is aware.

Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm the numbers of people detained at the other locations.

Abdullah Qaid, 32, a human rights activist in Sanaa and relative of one person forcibly disappeared, obtained and gave Human Rights Watch a copy of a pledge that guarantors have had to sign on behalf of some prisoners in Sanaa detention facilities for them to be released. It requires them to promise that the detainee will not affiliate with any "suspicious groups." If they do, the guarantor must produce the person to the authorities "as a prisoner or corpse," and allow the state to "confiscate all of [the guarantor's] assets, and commercial property without need for a trial."

While Houthi authorities may take appropriate measures to address security concerns during the armed conflict in Yemen, international human rights law protects basic rights, including the right not to be arbitrarily detained, mistreated, or "disappeared." At a minimum, those detained should be informed of the specific grounds for their arrest, be able to fairly contest their detention before an independent and impartial judge, have access to a lawyer and family members, and have their case periodically reviewed.

Under international human rights law, an enforced disappearance occurs when the authorities take someone into custody and deny holding them or fail to disclose their fate or whereabouts. "Disappeared" people are at greater risk of torture and other ill-treatment, especially when they are detained outside formal detention facilities, such as police jails and prisons.

"At a time when the Houthis are fighting to remain key power brokers in Yemen, they should recognize that instilling fear in the population is no way to govern," Stork said. "The Houthis should take the necessary steps to ensure that no one is held unlawfully and families have access to their loved ones."

Cases of Arbitrary Detention

Ahmad al-Qatta
On September 25, 2015, at 6 a.m., 14 or 15 military vehicles surrounded the home of Ahmadal-Qatta, 41, a manager of a computer company and a high-ranking member of the Islah party. Several dozen armed men in Political Security Organization uniforms broke down the gate and banged on the door. Al-Qatta answered. The men rushed in, searched the house, and took CDs, laptops, phones, and large amounts of cash, family members told Human Rights Watch.

The armed men accused al-Qatta of being a senior member of the extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS. They arrested him; two cousins living at the house, ages 27 and 17; and the house guard, 27. Al-Qatta called his family three days later and told them to give the authorities his laptop, which was at his brother's home at the time of the search. Houthi officials came to pick up the laptop, returned the money to the family, and told family members that al-Qatta was being held because he was in charge of the anti-Houthi opposition in Sanaa, and because of his role paying salaries to the families of Islah members who had died in politically motivated fighting. On October 10, the authorities released the house guard and cousins but they continued to hold al-Qatta at Political Security headquarters without charge.

Al-Qassim al-Dallale
On August 20, 2015, a man who did not identify himself phoned the mother of Al-Qassim al-Dallale, 19, a journalism student in Sanaa, and said that her son had been detained. The mother, Hayat Qassim Ali, 42, said that she had last spoken to her son by phone at 11 a.m. on August 10. He was about to pass a checkpoint on Sanaa's outskirts, returning to the capital after visiting her in the city of Ibb, and he told her that all was fine. Then his phone switched off. Two weeks later, her son called to say he was being detained at the CID and that he would get in trouble if she tried to call him back.

In late September, Ali received a letter from her son that had been smuggled out of the detention center. He wrote that after his travel companion told the Houthi guards at the checkpoint on August 10 that they were both studying journalism, the guards took them to the CID. He said they were first held for three days without food or being allowed to use the bathroom. The Houthis accused them of being paid by the opposition and the Al Jazeera news agency to report on recent Al-Qaeda advances in the Marib governorate east of Sanaa. He wrote that interrogators tried to force them to sign a document while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, but that he had no idea what the document said.

Ali said she was able to visit her son at the end of September and found him weak and pale. She provided the head of the CID with a letter from her neighborhood supervisor in Ibb stating that her son was not involved in the opposition, but the Houthis have not released him. "He's not even a journalist yet, he's just in his first year of studying," she said. "The idea that he is writing for Al Jazeera is absurd."