In Yemen, free speech can be a reason for arrest or even death

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (Erada & Amal) commemorates World Press Freedom Day at a time when Yemeni journalism is experiencing one of its darkest, most repressive, and bloodiest phases. Free speech has been transformed into an accusation, and journalists and activists have become direct targets for abduction, torture, enforced disappearance, and killing.

Over the past years, the Houthi militia has committed grave violations against journalists and media professionals. These violations include storming media institutions, kidnapping and forcibly disappearing journalists, torturing them within detention centers, and issuing unjust sentences against them in an attempt to silence the truth and terrorize every free voice.

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture affirms that the reality of the press in Yemen clearly reveals that anyone who speaks the truth, documents a crime, or conveys the suffering of citizens becomes threatened with prosecution, imprisonment, or physical liquidation.

The camera has become a target, the pen a crime, and the truth a danger that Yemeni journalists face every day—especially in areas under the control of the Houthi militia, which practices organized repression against journalists, activists, and all advocates of free opinion.

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture considers the targeting of journalists a flagrant violation of all international conventions guaranteeing freedom of opinion and expression. It further reveals the magnitude of the human rights collapse in Yemen amidst the continued culture of impunity.

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture holds the Houthi militia fully responsible for the crimes and violations committed against journalists and media professionals. It calls upon the United Nations and international human rights organizations to take a serious stand to protect journalists in Yemen and to work toward holding those involved in these crimes and violations accountable.

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture also expresses its full solidarity with all Yemeni journalists who continue to fulfill their mission despite the risks and violations. It emphasizes that the truth will remain stronger than repression, and that the voice of freedom cannot be silenced, no matter how severe the tyranny.

Mercy to the martyred journalists, Freedom for the abducted and the forcibly disappeared, And justice for all victims.

Issued by: The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (will & hope) Wednesday, May 6, 2026