عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Rights Report Documents Houthi Violations against Women in Yemen

A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Rights Report Documents Houthi Violations against Women in Yemen

A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)
A rights report shed light on Houthi abuses against women in Sanaa. (Reuters)

A human rights report shed light on the Houthi militias’ violations against women in Yemen in the past three years.

It accused the group of the arrest and enforced disappearance of 1,181 women during the mentioned period and their exposure to killing, torture and rape.

The report was released on Friday during a seminar organized by the Women for Peace in Yemen Coalition, the March 8 Bloc for Yemeni Women and the Yemeni Organization for Combating Human Trafficking.

It documented 274 cases of enforced disappearance, and 292 arrests of human rights activists from the education sector.

It also documented 246 arrests of relief and humanitarian workers, 71 cases of rape and four suicides, in addition to dozens of detention cases of male and female children with their mothers.

According to the report, 321 female detainees have been released while 293 female minors are still in Houthi prisons.

The violations included killing, disfigurement, detention, arrest, kidnap, torture and sexual violence, the report noted, adding that female detainees were raped by supervisors in the militias’ prisons.

It recorded several suicide attempts by the detained girls in the central prison in Sanaa, stressing that Houthis did not allow medical examinations and the launch of probes into causes of deaths inside the detention centers.

“The detained women were subjected to all kinds of physical torture, including beatings with sticks and electric wires, slapping, suffocating and waterboarding, in addition to verbal insults and demeaning and psychological torture to confess to things they did not do, as well as fabricating malicious and immoral accusations (concerning prostitution networks).”

During these three years, hundreds of cases of arrests and detentions against Yemeni women and even foreign women working in the humanitarian, media, and human rights fields and political activists were recorded, especially in the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-run governorates.

The human rights report reviewed the testimonies and stories of a number of cases, calling on the militias to release all the women detained in official and secret prisons and those held in police, criminal investigation and political security departments in Sanaa and Dhamar, and to stop arresting more women.

It also urged the militias to disclose the whereabouts of detained and forcibly disappeared women and release them immediately, allow human rights organizations, feminists and human rights activists to visit detainees and provide them with legal aid and to halt all practices of gender-based violence against women.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Intense Negotiations Underway to Form New Iraqi Govt

President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani and PM-designate Ali al-Zaidi meet in Erbil last week. (Barzani on X)
President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani and PM-designate Ali al-Zaidi meet in Erbil last week. (Barzani on X)
TT
TT

Intense Negotiations Underway to Form New Iraqi Govt

President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani and PM-designate Ali al-Zaidi meet in Erbil last week. (Barzani on X)
President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani and PM-designate Ali al-Zaidi meet in Erbil last week. (Barzani on X)

Iraqi parties are holding intense negotiations with Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi over the formation of a new government to ensure that they reap their share in the cabinet, reportedly based on their representation in parliament.

Appointments are based on points, meaning the president, parliament speaker and prime minister boast around 15 points, which translates into 30 parliamentary seats. Obtaining a sovereign portfolio in government, such as the oil or foreign ministry, requires five points, translated into ten seats in parliament. Non-sovereign ministries demand four points, or around eight seats.

The PM-designate has some three weeks to form a government before the end of a constitutional deadline. He will submit a lineup to the parliament for a vote.

The lineup is expected to win a vote a confidence given the support he already enjoys with the majority of the political parties in parliament, US President Donald Trump and the majority of regional and western countries.

Parliamentary sources predicted that al-Zaidi will submit a preliminary lineup next week.

The government is expected to be formed of 22 portfolios, 12 that will go to the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, six to Sunni blocs and four to Kurdish parties.

The government formation process will be a test to al-Zaidi given his lack of political experience. Observers have questioned whether he will be able to run a country suffering from so many security problems tied to armed factions, as well as a crumbling economy tied to the closure of the Hormuz Strait.

They have also questioned his ability to stand up to political parties and groups that have held sway in Iraq for years. He will be tested in whether he will hold his ground against figures that want to obtain influential government posts even though they are not qualified for the post as is often the case in the country.

An informed source predicted that al-Zaidi will rely on a trusted “formula”, meaning he will ask parties to submit their candidates for various positions, and he will then choose who he deems fit. He will undoubtedly come under pressure from various parties to name their favored candidates.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat that an unprecedented number of parties are clamoring for government positions, unconcerned with the cabinet’s actual ministerial program or the proposals al-Zaidi will offer to tackle Iraq’s pressing problems.

President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani was in Baghdad on Monday for talks with Framework leaders over political developments and government formation efforts.

He is expected to meet with al-Zaidi and other parties during his two-day visit to settle the issue of Erbil’s share in the government.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party is expected to obtain two or three portfolios in the cabinet, including the sovereign ministry, such as the foreign ministry. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan will not receive any ministry because one of its members is president of Iraq.

Arab World

Lebanese President Says Security Deal with Israel Must Come Before Netanyahu Meeting

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 04 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 04 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
TT
TT

Lebanese President Says Security Deal with Israel Must Come Before Netanyahu Meeting

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 04 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 04 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. (EPA)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday said a security deal and an end to Israeli attacks were needed before any meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sought by Washington. 

Aoun's office said in a statement that the president "reiterated his view that the timing is not appropriate now for a meeting" with Netanyahu. 

The statement quoted Aoun as saying: "We must first reach a security agreement and stop the Israeli attacks on us before we raise the issue of a meeting between us." 

Israeli and Lebanese representatives last month met twice in Washington -- the first such meetings in decades, which came after Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, sparking heavy Israeli strikes and a ground invasion. 

After the first talks, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon that began on April 17, and a three-week extension after the second round. 

The two countries are preparing for direct negotiations. 

The statement from Aoun's office said a third round of "preparatory talks" were expected "in the coming days". 

At the second meeting later in April, Trump said he expected Aoun and Netanyahu to meet jointly with him at the White House "over the next couple of weeks". 

Last week, the US embassy in Beirut urged such a meeting, saying that "Lebanon stands at a crossroads. Its people have a historic opportunity to reclaim their country and shape their future," adding that "the time for hesitation is over". 

A direct meeting between Aoun and Netanyahu, "facilitated by President Trump, would give Lebanon the chance to secure concrete guarantees" including on sovereignty, the embassy added, at a time when Israeli troops are still operating in south Lebanon. 

The planned negotiations have caused a rift in Lebanon, with Hezbollah rejecting direct negotiations as well as Beirut's previous commitment to disarm it. 

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem earlier Monday criticized direct talks, saying they put Lebanon "under tutelage", and instead called for diplomacy that leads to an end to the war. 

"Direct negotiations are a gratuitous concession, without results," Qassem said. 

Aoun said "there is no turning back from the path of negotiations, because we have no other option", according to the statement from his office, reiterating that the process sought to achieve an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. 

Israeli strikes have killed almost 2,700 people in Lebanon, including dozens since the ceasefire. 

On the ground, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon near the border where its troops are still operating, despite the ceasefire. 

Hezbollah in a statement said that after Israeli troops attempted to advance near the town of Deir Seryan -- which is inside the Israeli-declared "yellow line" where Lebanese residents have been told not to return -- its fighters "opened fire on the enemy force and engaged in heavy clashes with them". 

The Israeli military confirmed there were clashes with Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon. 

"Earlier today, two soldiers were moderately injured as a result of a close-quarters encounter with Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement. 

"The soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital." 

Arab World

Drone Attacks Target Khartoum Airport

Smoke rises from inside Khartoum Airport during previous clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army (file photo – Reuters)
Smoke rises from inside Khartoum Airport during previous clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army (file photo – Reuters)
TT
TT

Drone Attacks Target Khartoum Airport

Smoke rises from inside Khartoum Airport during previous clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army (file photo – Reuters)
Smoke rises from inside Khartoum Airport during previous clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army (file photo – Reuters)

Khartoum Airport came under drone attack on Monday, with Sudanese army air defenses intercepting the aircraft, a military source told AFP

The incident follows attacks by the Rapid Support Forces on the Sudanese capital two days earlier that left five people dead.

Smoke rises from inside Khartoum Airport during previous clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army (file photo – Reuters)

The military source said: “Our air defenses successfully shot down drones targeting the eastern perimeter of Khartoum Airport.”

Witnesses reported hearing explosions and seeing plumes of smoke rising from the Safa neighborhood, located east of the airport.