HRW: Houthis Recently Launched Largest Political Arrest Campaign in Yemen

Yemen Monitor/Newsroom:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed a significant escalation in the arrest campaigns carried out by the Houthi group against political opponents and civilian figures since July 2025. HRW noted that some of these arrests occurred without legal justification and may amount to enforced disappearances.

In a new report published today (Thursday), the organization stated that the group carried out one of the largest arrest campaigns in the Dhamar governorate, detaining at least 70 people in a single day on October 28. All those detained were linked to the Al-Islah Party, raising the total number of detainees from the party to more than 200 people, according to the party’s data.

The report pointed out that the recent arrest campaign is an extension of broader operations over the past year and a half that targeted civil society activists, UN staff, humanitarian organizations, businessmen, and even some employees in Houthi-affiliated institutions themselves.

According to the organization, 59 UN employees remain detained without being allowed access to lawyers or adequate communication with their families.

HRW confirmed that the Houthis have recently intensified the use of “unsubstantiated” espionage charges against detainees, including 21 individuals who underwent a trial described by the organization as “unfair,” with 17 of them sentenced to death.

The organization also documented the arrest of several leaders of political parties, including:

• Rami Abdulwahab of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party on August 3.
• Ghazi Al-Ahwal, Secretary-General of the General People’s Congress, on August 20.
• Ayed Al-Sayadi of the Yemeni Socialist Party on September 25.

The report cited testimonies from the families of detainees who said their relatives were kidnapped by masked gunmen without presenting arrest warrants or disclosing the places of detention, leaving the families with no information about their fate or the charges against them.

Based on previous reports by human rights and UN bodies, the organization confirmed the Houthis’ use of torture and the extraction of confessions by force, despite Yemeni law invalidating any statements obtained under duress.

Nico Jafarinya, HRW’s Yemen and Bahrain Researcher, stated that the group “treats anyone perceived as a potential opponent as a target for arbitrary arrest,” calling for the immediate release of all those detained on the grounds of political affiliation or peaceful activities.

The organization demanded that the Houthis release all arbitrarily detained individuals, including journalists, lawyers, UN staff, and those detained merely for commemorating the September 26 Revolution.