Yemeni activist who detailed Houthi sexual abuses 'detained by Saudi Arabia'

A Yemeni human rights activist who revealed alleged sexual abuses by Houthi rebels in the group's jails has allegedly been detained for more than a year by Saudi intelligence with her whereabouts unknown, The Guardian reported Monday.

Prominent Yemeni politician and writer Ali Albukhaiti went public about the disappearance of Samira al-Houri in April 2022 after private and diplomatic channels to secure her release were exhausted.

Albukhaiti said he feared for her safety and likened her case to the murder of Saudi dissident and writer Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of the kingdom's intelligence services. 

Al-Houri was released from Houthi captivity in Yemen in 2019, after which she gave numerous interviews, claiming female prisoners were routinely raped, mistreated, and held for ransom.

Her testimony contributed to the UN Security Council's decision to impose sanctions on several Houthi security officials in February 2021.

However, it was later alleged that al-Houri admitted to embellishing some of her claims on the orders of Saudi authorities. She was arrested at her home in Riyadh on 17 April 2022, along with her son.

Albukhaiti, who was once a spokesperson for the Houthis before defecting and becoming an influential commentator on Yemen, claimed that Al-Houri had told him she was forced to embellish some of her claims.

Saudi Arabia gave no comment to her friends or family about her whereabouts or the reasons for detention, but some have suggested it could be related to her claims about Riyadh's interference in her reports on Houthi jails.

With efforts to secure Al-Houri's release exhausted, her friends and family are now going public to demand that Saudi authorities reveal her whereabouts.

"No law in the world allows any kind of enforced disappearance for more than a year without allowing families and lawyers to know anything about their case," Albukhaiti told The Guardian.

A Saudi-led coalition has been locked in a devastating war against the Houthis since 2015, but the rebel group continue to hold a large area of the country, including part of the northern border region with Saudi Arabia.

The New Arab has approached Saudi authorities about the claims but received no response by the time of publication.