EXPERT COMMENT
The clampdown represents a new phase of authoritarian rule that will hinder the peace process and inhibit aid to ordinary Yemenis.
At the end of May 2024 the armed Houthi group in Yemen (also known as Ansar Allah) conducted a new round of raids across the capital Sana'a, forcibly disappearing dozens of Yemenis including activists, researchers, INGO workers and diplomatic staff. Following the arrests, the Houthis publicly denounced targets inside and outside the country on television. I was among those targeted, accused of being part of a ‘foreigner spying network and implementing foreign agendas in the country', a charge I reject entirely.
The Houthis have broadcast several statements by detainees who may well have been tortured in which they ‘confess' they are part of a larger Israeli-American spying network in Yemen.
But the arrests and public attacks were not about specific individuals or catching spies. They are intended primarily to intimidate Yemenis and silence dissent. This latest wave of arrests is not the first clampdown, but it does herald a new phase, as those detained include some of the Houthis' own members, illustrating a further narrowing of the scope for dissent. The crackdown is the strongest attempt yet to ‘clean' Yemeni civil society and crush oppositional voices both inside and outside the country.
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