UN Rapporteur Demands Release of Detained Lawyer Sabra; US Center Calls for Houthi Accountability

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, has urgently demanded that the Houthi militia immediately release the Yemeni human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, who has been held in their detention centers since September of last year.

In a statement published on the "X" platform on Friday, Lawlor noted that Lawyer Sabra remains detained without any formal charges for nearly six months. She called upon the Houthi authorities in Sana'a to secure his release, particularly in light of the approaching Eid al-Fitr holiday, appealing to Islamic values of compassion.

In a parallel development, the American Center for Justice (ACJ) welcomed the memorandum issued by five UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups affiliated with the UN Human Rights Council. The ACJ affirmed its support for directing direct legal accountability against the Houthi group, in its capacity as the de facto authority in Sana'a, concerning the arbitrary detention and practices amounting to enforced disappearance against Lawyer Sabra.

The Center, in a statement, endorsed the legal foundation underpinning the UN document, which obligates the Houthi group to adhere to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law. The ACJ emphasized that the lack of international recognition for the effective authority does not absolve it of the responsibility to guarantee the rights of individuals under its control, asserting that Sabra's isolation and the cutoff of communication regarding his whereabouts constitute a violation of peremptory norms prohibiting enforced disappearance.

The Center highlighted the gravity of the documented facts, explaining that elements from Houthi security and intelligence services raided Sabra's office on September 25, 2023, and arrested him following a Facebook post criticizing the authorities' restrictions on citizens' right to celebrate the anniversary of the September 26 Revolution.

The ACJ also noted the significance of the UN memorandum including the "Cultural Sessions" mechanism, viewing it as a repressive tool employed to reshape the ideological convictions of political detainees, often accompanied by solitary confinement aimed at breaking their will.

The American Center for Justice underscored the warning contained in the memorandum regarding the undermining of the legal protection system. It stressed that targeting a human rights lawyer who defended victims of enforced disappearance violates fundamental UN principles regarding the role of lawyers and serves to intimidate rights defenders and strip the community of its legal defense line.

The Center confirmed its alignment with the demands of the UN experts for the immediate disclosure of Lawyer Sabra's place of detention, clarification of the legal basis for his arrest, and guarantees of his physical safety and right to a fair trial. It further demanded an end to the use of security agencies to criminalize freedom of expression and monopolize the public sphere.