Four Yemeni Baha’is Freed By Houthis As Baha’i International Community Calls For Release Of All Innocent Detainees

GENEVA—20 August 2024—The last four jailed Yemeni Baha’is were released recently in a development that concludes a shameful episode, beginning in May 2023, when armed and masked men from Yemen’s de facto Houthi authorities detained 17 innocent Baha’is in a violent raid on a private home.

The raid attracted international media coverage when footage of the armed agents bursting into the peaceful Baha’i gathering appeared online.

Abdul Elah Al Boni, Muhammad Bashir, Ibrahim Juail, and Hassan Thabet were released after facing significant, but ultimately unsuccessful, pressure to renounce their faith through forced participation in “cultural courses” conducted by Houthi agents, which essentially amount to attempts at forced indoctrination.

“The Baha’i International Community welcomes the release of these four Yemeni Baha’is,” said Saba Haddad, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva. “We are relieved that this grim, unjust, and absurd episode is finally over. But these 17 Baha’is should never have been arrested in the first place. The group had gathered in a private home for a peaceful community activity: a fundamental human right protected by international law and the freedom of religion or belief.”

The raid last year prompted repeated calls by the international community for the release of the detained Baha’is. In August 2023 six members of the United Nations Security Council “deplored” the detentions and more recently, in May, a powerful coalition of United Nations Special Rapporteurs, European parliamentarians, ambassadors, international human rights organizations, and a Nobel laureate addressed the matter alongside the #FreeYemeniBahais campaign online.

Thirteen of the 17 detained individuals were released over the past 15 months, with the latest, Abdullah Al-Olofi, freed in June 2024.

Several Yemeni tribal leaders and religious figures also played a major role in the release of the Baha’i detainees. Despite all the ongoing efforts, the Baha’i community in the Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen continues to be persecuted and its members are deprived of the freedom to hold gatherings or otherwise practice their faith.

“The Houthis in Yemen must respect the rights of all minorities, including religious groups, to gather, worship and serve society as they wish,” Dr. Haddad said. “And they should never again detain anyone due to religious prejudice or for other baseless reasons. The Houthi authorities should also release all other innocent prisoners it has arbitrarily detained. If the Houthi authorities want to receive international respect, then they themselves must respect and recognize the basic human rights of all Yemeni citizens.”

© Scoop Media