The Abductees’ Mothers Association, a local female NGO that advocates for rights of illegal detainees, said on Monday that the Houthis rebels abducted and tortured 157 women throughout the last two years.
In a news release, the organization said that the women were abducted by the Houthis for taking part in demonstrations demanding better living standards, for their political views, or while on inter-governorate travel.
It explained that it documented abuses exercised by the Houthis militants against 18 women who were being held captive in Houthi detention-centers.
Reported abuses included verbal abuse, threats of sexual violence, physical attacks, and ban of communication with their male relatives.
It indicated that the detained women were only released when their families paid huge amounts of money and wrote letters pledging never participating in any event again.
It said that some female relatives were arrested when the wanted women were hard to be caught.
It indicated that the Houthis fabricated charges of prostitution against some female detainees to isolate them from society and extend their detention.
Scores of female detainees remain in custody and expose to various forms of torture.
Several women have been in detention for around two years, a human rights report say.
