Intel: Houthis continue to detain Baha’i prisoners despite promise to release them
The political head of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Mehdi al-Mashat, vowed to release six Baha’i prisoners during a lengthy televised address in March. Two months later, multiple sources have confirmed to Al-Monitor that the Yemeni rebels have failed to follow through and that all six prisoners remain behind bars.
The political head of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Mehdi al-Mashat, vowed to release six Baha’i prisoners during a lengthy televised address in March. Two months later, multiple sources have confirmed to Al-Monitor that the Yemeni rebels have failed to follow through and that all six prisoners remain behind bars.
In a statement to Al-Monitor, Ambassador Sam Brownback, President Donald Trump’s envoy for international religious freedom, said, "We urge the Houthis in Yemen to do the right and merciful thing and follow through on their March announcement to release Hamed bin Haydara and the other arbitrarily detained Bahais in their custody."
Haydara had received a death sentence that Mashat overturned in March.
“We’ve been concerned generally about the well-being of all prisoners, but in particular religious prisoners of conscience who aren’t violent, don’t pose a threat to security and are in crowded prison conditions where they are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Scott Weiner, a policy analyst at the congressionally mandated United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
