Houthi authorities have arbitrarily arrested over 20 Christians in Yemen over the last three months, Human Rights Watch reported Sunday calling for their release immediately, along with hundreds of others arbitrarily detained across the areas of Yemen under their control. Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch said ““Rather than addressing the alarming rates of hunger that Yemenis are facing, the Houthis seem to only know how to arrest and detain people,” adding that “The Houthis should stop detaining people, including members of the marginalized Christian community, and ensure that everyone in their territory have adequate access to food and water.” Human Rights Watch spoke to two members of the Christian minority in Yemen who were collating information about the arrests and reviewed information shared online, including statements and social media posts. Starting in late November and early December 2025, according to local sources, the Houthis began a campaign of arbitrary detention against Christians in Yemen. Seven of them were detained at the start of December, and later on December 24, Christmas Eve. Both people interviewed said that as of January 12, Houthi rebels had arbitrarily detained over 20 Christians from Sanaa, Ibb, and other governorates under Houthi control. One person interviewed knew of 24 people who were detained, while the other person knew of 21. The first person interviewed by HRW said that as far as he knew, none of those detained had any communication with their families, nor had the authorities provided their families with information about their whereabouts when asked. The other person said he knew of two people who had been able to contact their families with short phone calls, but the others had not had any contact. Enforced disappearances, in which the authorities detain a person and then refuse to acknowledge their whereabouts or situation when asked, are serious crimes under international law and are prohibited at all times under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, there were previously an estimated 41,000 Christians in Yemen, including Yemenis, refugees, and expatriates from abroad. However, the commission stated in 2025 that “the community has shrunk to only a few thousand” in recent years due to many fleeing as a result of the conflict. Exact figures are impossible to determine due to the lack of a census and the fear by many religious minorities of persecution. In 2016, Human Rights Watch reported on the then-beginning conflict’s impacts on the Christian community, including attacks on individuals and Christian institutions. The Houthis’ arrests of Christians also come on the heels of the Houthis’ arrests of hundreds of people across Houthi-controlled territory over the last year and a half, including UN workers, members of civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, and others exercising their right to free speech. “The Houthis have made many claims that they are the champions of justice against Western oppression, and yet their continuous violations against their own people demonstrate the hollowness of these claims,” Jafarnia said. “Those who oppose injustice abroad should not be carrying out injustice at home.” |
