Skip to main content

Will Baha'is be released from Yemeni prisons as ordered?

At the end of March, Houthi leaders ordered the release of all Baha'is currently detained in Yemeni prisons, including their leader, but there have been no signs of progress in that direction in the ensuing weeks.
Members of the Baha'i faith hold flowers as they demonstrate outside a state security court during a hearing in the case of a fellow Baha'i man charged with seeking to establish a base for the community in Yemen, in the country's capital Sanaa April 3, 2016. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - GF10000369865

SANAA, Yemen — In a surprise move, the leadership of the Houthi movement ordered the release of all detained members of the Baha'i religious minority in Yemen on March 25 and pardoned their leader, Hamed bin Haydara, who had been sentenced to death.

“We order the release of all Baha'i prisoners and announce the pardon and release of Hamed bin Haydara,” Mehdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council (SPC), said in a televised speech marking the fifth anniversary of the Yemeni war that broke out March 26, 2015. “The concerned authorities should put all that into effect.”

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.