The National Committee for Prisoners and Detainees has called on the United Nations and the international community to launch an independent investigation into the Houthis’ systematic campaigns of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances targeting civilians and humanitarian workers, and to hold security and executive leaders accountable.
In a statement, the Committee said these escalating repressive practices reflect a state of “security hysteria and internal turmoil” within the group. It reported that in recent months, hundreds of civilians, activists, and staff of humanitarian and international organizations have been detained in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
According to the Committee, since May, the Houthis’ security apparatus has detained at least 97 civilians in Ibb, 63 in Saada, 40 in Hodeidah, 37 in Taiz, 10 in Raymah, six in Sanaa, and one in Amran. Among those arrested are senior figures of the General People’s Congress (Sanaa wing), including the party’s Secretary-General Ghazi Ahmed Ali Mohsen, as well as staff of humanitarian and international organizations, including UN personnel.
The Committee warned that the continuation of such violations undermines humanitarian operations in Yemen and increases risks to millions of civilians. It demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, disclosure of their whereabouts, and access for their families and legal representatives. It further pledged to continue documenting abuses and gathering evidence to secure justice and redress for victims, renewing calls on the international community to take urgent action to protect civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities.
Meanwhile, Journalists Without Chains reported an unprecedented surge in Houthi abuses against civilians, documenting 312 serious violations in July and August 2025 alone across nine provinces under Houthi control.
According to the report, violations included abductions, enforced disappearances, systematic torture, extrajudicial killings, home raids, property seizures, arson targeting farms and vehicles, forced displacement, deliberate starvation of civilian areas, and destruction of homes and infrastructure in several districts.
The organization noted that the abuses were recorded in Sanaa, Ibb, Taiz, Al-Bayda, Hodeidah, Raymah, Dhamar, Amran, and Al-Jawf, stressing that the figures represent only part of a grimmer reality given the restricted access and absence of independent human rights monitoring in those regions.
