​Houthi prisons steal the joy of Eid… amid official and international abandonment.

The blessed Eid Al-Adha is upon us. While Muslims across the globe welcome these glorious days with joy, happiness, and family reunions, hundreds of Yemeni families receive this occasion with tears of sorrow and the agony of loss, due to the continued absence of their sons who languish behind the dark bars of Houthi militia prisons.
​We at the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (Will & Hope), during these blessed days, extend our warmest congratulations and blessings to the steadfast Yemeni people. We extend a special greeting to the families and mothers of the detainees and the forcibly disappeared, who are writing the most magnificent epics of patience and resilience.
​We cannot let this occasion pass without raising our voices loudly in condemnation of the tragic and catastrophic situation experienced by detainees in Houthi militia prisons. They have been deprived of their most basic human rights, and their holidays have turned into continuous chapters of suffering and pain.
​Field reports and facts confirm that the Houthi militia continues to practice the most heinous forms of systematic violations against abductees, which include:
​Subjecting detainees to severe physical and psychological torture, leading in many cases to death or permanent disability.
​Depriving hundreds of citizens of their freedom without any legal justification, completely isolating them from the outside world, and denying their families knowledge of their whereabouts.
​The spread of diseases within detention centers and the denial of access to necessary medicines and medical care, turning these prisons into environments for slow death.
​What exacerbates the bitterness of this tragedy is the state of severe neglect and clear complacency regarding this purely humanitarian file. Here, we register our reproach and condemnation of:
​The Legitimate Leadership: For failing to place the file of detainees and the forcibly disappeared at the top of its political and humanitarian priorities. It has not fully fulfilled its duty in exerting genuine pressure for their release, nor has it provided the necessary support and care to their families, who suffer the ravages of poverty and need in the absence of their breadwinners.
​The International Community and the UN Envoy: Who treat the detainees’ file as a tool for political bargaining in negotiations, rather than as an urgent humanitarian issue that cannot be postponed, amidst a suspicious international silence regarding the ongoing Houthi crimes and violations.
​The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture, while condemning these criminal practices against detainees, demands the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and forcibly disappeared persons in Houthi militia prisons, and the disclosure of the fate of the disappeared.
​The Center calls upon the Presidential Leadership Council and the Legitimate Government to assume their legal and moral responsibilities towards the detainees and their families, to provide a decent livelihood for their families, and to make this file a fundamental condition for any political track.
​Furthermore, the Center calls on the United Nations, the UN Envoy, and all international human rights organizations to break their silence and complacency, and to exert actual pressure on the Houthi militia to stop the torture and allow international organizations to visit the prisons.
​The issue of detainees will remain our top priority. These crimes will not be subject to a statute of limitations, and the perpetrators will face just punishment, no matter how long it takes.
​Freedom for the abductees, and justice for Yemen.
​Issued by: The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (Will & Hope)
Date: 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah 1447 AH, corresponding to May 27, 2026
Location: Republic of Yemen