Yemeni women 'kept in Houthi-run prisons long after the end of their sentences'

Women detained in rebel-controlled prisons subjected to abuse and violence, rights groups say

Yemeni women walk in the capital Sanaa. AFP

Yemeni women are forcefully being kept in Houthi-run jails after their sentences end, officials and rights groups have told The National.

The Yemeni government is calling for an end to the violence perpetrated against women held in prisons run by the Houthi rebels, who are also reportedly subjected to various forms of torture.

The Iran-backed group must release all detained and kidnapped women, Majed Fadhil, Yemen's deputy human rights minister, told The National.

“Women who are trapped inside Houthi-run prisons are subjected to all forms of torture and violence and those who finished their sentences and have no male guardian are not allowed to leave,” he said.

“These acts must stop immediately.”

The Houthis took over the capital Sanaa in 2014. Yemen has ranked at the bottom of the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index for 13 consecutive years.

“The Houthis have even imposed restrictions on women living in areas under their control. We have started a campaign to put pressure on them to release all women in captivity,” Mr Fadhil said.

The official said the Houthis have imposed a dress code on women and are forcing young girls to wear the headscarf.

He claims they are segregating schools and universities with concrete walls in their halls, as well as preventing women from moving or travelling without a male guardian.

“Prison authorities [in Houthi-run areas] keep women who have completed their sentences in jail if there is no male guardian to accompany them on release or they release them only to women's shelters if their families refuse to receive them,” Grazia Careccia, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, told The National.

Those kept in Houthi prisons “face an array of horrific human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment and the extraction of forced 'confessions' under duress”, said Ms Careccia.

Last week, the story of Yusra Al Nasheri, who was arbitrarily detained by the rebels, circulated on social media.

Ms Al Nasheri says she was tortured as well as sexually and verbally abused after being kidnapped by the Houthis in 2021.

“After my case made it to the media, they took me to an official prison and abused me. They asked me and the other women to seduce certain people in favour of serving our country,” she said in an interview with Al Hadath.

The National was not able to independently verify her claims.

Ms Al Nasheri was in the same prison as Yemeni model and actress Entisar Al Hammadi and both spent five years there.

“I was given a five-year sentence. In the beginning, they used to bring people in and torture them in front of us until they bled to the ground. They intentionally did this to terrorise us,” Ms Al Nasheri said.

“There were many cases of suicide and sexual assaults and other forms of torture that you can't imagine. They would offer us money in return for their abuse.”

She was released from prison last month and fled to Aden with her family.

The poor treatment of women by Houthi authorities in areas under their control “is unprecedented in Yemen's modern history”, Afrah Nasser, non-resident fellow at the Arab Centre Washington DC, told The National.

“Women's rights are routinely violated by all authorities across all of Yemen but Houthis' persecution of women is the most shocking one,” Ms Nasser says.

The horrific acts have “devastating consequences for women's lives and social reputations”, she added.

The Houthis have repeatedly denied such claims.