“Rights Radar”: Houthis Committed 956 Violations Against Preachers and Religious Minorities in Yemen
Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
Rights Radar for Human Rights, based in The Hague, documented around 1,175 violation cases targeting preachers and religious minorities in Yemen during the period from September 2014 to December 2025.
In a new human rights report released today titled “Yemen: Suppression of Thought and Belief,” the organization confirmed that various parties to the conflict committed these violations, emphasizing that the armed Houthi group bears the largest share and primary responsibility for them.
The report clarified that arbitrary arrests topped the list of violations with 816 cases, alongside 190 cases of killing and physical liquidation, and 169 injury cases. It noted that the Houthi group alone is responsible for 956 violation cases.
The remaining cases were distributed among armed formations outside state authority, Al-Qaeda, agencies affiliated with the legitimate government, Arab Coalition forces, in addition to unknown entities.
According to the report, the violations extended across 20 Yemeni governorates, led by the capital Sana’a with 241 cases, followed by Dhamar governorate with 147 cases, then Al-Hudaidah with 119 cases, along with other cases documented by the report in Aden, Lahj, Taiz, Marib, and other governorates.
In terms of targeted groups, the report showed that Quran memorizers were the most affected with 407 cases, followed by preachers (khateebs) with 270 cases, then mosque imams with 177 cases.
The report tracked the affiliation of 464 cases to the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party, followed by Salafis with 229 cases, and independents with 223 cases, in addition to recording 85 violations against Baha’is and at least two cases against Yemeni Jews.
Rights Radar concluded that the Houthi control over Sana’a and the accompanying security deterioration made preachers and minorities direct targets of systematic violations, including kidnapping, torture, and killing, which constitutes a grave breach of international law.
The organization called on the Houthi group and armed formations to immediately release detainees and forcibly disappeared persons and to cease restricting freedoms. It also called on the legitimate government to release arbitrarily detained individuals in its areas and hold those involved accountable.
Furthermore, it demanded that the United Nations establish an independent international investigation team to classify the assassination crimes of preachers as crimes against humanity and include the perpetrators in international sanctions lists.
