UN Rapporteur Demands Release of Detained Lawyer; 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 the group's detention facilities since last September.

In a statement published on the "X" platform on Friday, Lawlor noted that Lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra has remained detained for nearly six months without being charged, calling on the Houthi authorities in Sana'a to set him free, particularly with the advent of Eid al-Fitr, as a reminder of Islamic values of compassion.

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

In its statement, the Center endorsed the legal basis underpinning the UN document, which obligates the Houthi group to implement Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law. The Center pointed out 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, adding that Sabra's isolation and the cessation of contact constitute a violation of peremptory norms prohibiting enforced disappearance.

The Center highlighted the gravity of the facts documented by the Special Rapporteurs, explaining that elements from Houthi security and intelligence services raided Sabra's office on September 25, 2025, and arrested him following a Facebook post in which he criticized the authorities' tightening restrictions on citizens' right to commemorate the anniversary of the September 26 Revolution.

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

The American Center for Justice stressed the warning contained within the memorandum regarding the undermining of the legal protection framework, asserting that targeting a human rights lawyer who defended victims of enforced disappearance violates the fundamental UN principles on the role of lawyers and is intended 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 weaponization of security apparatuses to criminalize freedom of expression and monopolize public space.