Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Houthi rebels of arbitrarily detaining their opponents in the capital, Sanaa, which they have held for more than a year.

The Houthi authorities should safeguard the rights of everyone in detention, immediately release all those held arbitrarily, and grant family members, lawyers, and independent monitors immediate access to detention sites to reduce the risk of abuse, the organization said in a statement on Sunday.

HRW documented the Houthis’ arbitrary or abusive detention of at least 35 people from August 2014 through October 2015, 27 of whom remain in custody.

Families have not been able to find out the whereabouts of seven believed to have been forcibly disappeared. Many appear to have been arrested because of their links to Islah, a Sunni political party that is opposed to the Zaidi Shia Houthis. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Sanaa and other areas of Yemen since September 2014.

“Houthi arrests and forced disappearances of alleged Islah supporters have generated palpable fear in the capital,” said Joe Stork, HRW deputy Middle East director. “Politicians, activists, lawyers, and journalists tell us they’ve never been more frightened of ending up ‘disappeared.’”

The organization has obtained copies of four letters, dated September and October 2015, from two of Sanaa’s public prosecutors, directed to the director-general of the police, the solicitor general, the security director of the capital, and the acting director of the eastern district. These letters raise the cases of specific detainees being held without charge, as well as the general issue of arrests, and call on the relevant authorities to abide by prosecution release orders.

Source: MENA