Thread by @michaelh992

One of the less-covered issues with regards to the #Yemen conflict, is how the #Iran-backed Houthis have carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and intimidation to muzzle any semblance of “opposition”

https://twitter.com/SAM4rights/status/1587810924924370944

Journalists not following the Houthi-controlled government line have systematically been arrested, some of them detained for years without a trial

https://twitter.com/CIHRS_Alerts/status/1545047337398980609

Those who have been tried received severe sentences, including death sentences. They face the prospect of torture in detention camps, and their families are often unaware of their fate.

Sheikh Jamal al-Maamari, who was arrested in 2015 and one of the few who made it out, shed light on what he called “death under the whip”

https://twitter.com/NajeebAlbader/status/1534431886432411650

The extent of this practice is even wider than we know, since several activists and journalists are “forcibly disappeared”, recalling practice seen in #Syria

This year for instance, Bassem Abdul Karim al-Hobari, was "forcibly disappeared", with his fate unknown for several weeks.

Reports later emerged that he died after being tortured in #Houthi prisons.

Even those who expressed critical positions on the group on social media have been targeted as the #Houthi "political security department" effectively monitors social media.

Activist Majid Yassin was arrested last year for a post on his Facebook page.

https://twitter.com/SAM4rights/status/1468881894947180544

The group has a track record of cracking down on women and limiting their freedom of movement. One of the most well-known cases was that of Intisar Al-Hammadi, who was often photographed without her Hijab.bbc.com/news/world-mid…

Intisar faced bogus accusations, and the #Houthi "prosecutor" threatened to carry out a "virginity test". She was sentenced to five years in prison, with some reports suggesting she tried to hang herself.

#Houthi decrees have also effectively limited the freedom of movement of Yemeni women, a practice denounce here for instance:

https://twitter.com/AmnestyAR/status/1565328606926176256

That's not to mention a growing crackdown on singers and musicians to enforce the group's narrow religious vision. In this video the group's fighters are seen raiding and stopping a wedding last year because music was being played.

This has become a trend with the group using a "law" banning loudspeakers after 10 pm to effectively crackdown on artists
al-monitor.com/originals/2021…

Very little attention is paid to what the group does in the territory it controls, despite the fact that it still rules over the most populated areas of Yemen.

It's time to pay attention