The Houthis detained scores of individuals in the last week of September 2024 for peacefully commemorating or sharing on social media about Yemen's "September 26 Revolution," Human Rights Watch and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS) reported today.
The Houthis have not filed official charges against many of the protestors, resulting in arbitrary detention. The Houthis must immediately release all people jailed solely for exercising their right to free assembly and speech, as well as all those still in arbitrary custody, including the scores of UN and civil society officials arrested and disappeared over the past four months.
Beginning around September 21, the Houthis arrested scores of individuals in Sanaa, Amran, Dhamar, Ibb, Hodeidah, Al-Mahwit, Taizz, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhalea, and Hajjah governorates in connection with the protests. Such arrests and the prohibition of any protests appear to be intended to prevent collective mobilization that may threaten their control.