A statement condemning the issuance of a politicized death sentence for a civil activist in Sana’a

Mayyun Organization for Human Rights condemns the issuance, on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, of the Specialized Criminal Court run by the Houthi group in Sana’a, a death sentence for human rights defender Fatma Saleh Mohammed al-Arwali on charges of espionage, following her arrest in August 2022 by the Security and Intelligence Service, and she was subjected during a period of Detention for forced disappearance and the most horrific methods of torture in solitary confinement prisons that lack the most basic principles of humanity and international standards of justice.

The Houthi group’s holding of trials that lack the lowest levels of justice in litigation and the issuance of politicized rulings on fabricated charges and forced confessions without giving the human rights defender the right to defend herself before a competent court are clear violations of international human rights law and the Convention against Torture, which is considered during the period of conflicts. Armed violence involves sexual violence based on gender, and violates the Security Council resolutions concerned with the women and peace agenda, especially Resolution (1325 (.

Mayyun Organization confirms that these practices clearly target activists, human rights defenders, and those opposed to the policies of the Houthi group, making the areas under the control of the armed group an unsafe environment for civil and human rights activity and threatening the lives of all human rights activists and workers in the humanitarian field.

In this regard, the organization warns against this unjust ruling issued by an incompetent and politicized court, and other oppressive practices against women working in humanitarian organizations, which will cast a negative shadow on women’s participation in civil and human rights activity in general.

Mayyun Organization calls on the High Commissioner, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, all international organizations, and the Office of the International Envoy in Yemen to put pressure on the Houthi group to quickly release the activist Al-Arouli and all activists and workers in the organizations, as their continued detention undermines the existing international efforts to bring peace to Yemen.

Issued by Mayyun Organization for Human Rights
December 7, 2023