Anti-Bahais speeches by Houthi leader condemned

sanaa —The Bahai community has condemned the inflammatory rhetoric of the Houthi leader who, it alleged, had been spreading hatred against the minority faith in Yemen.

In a statement, Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Bahai International Community to the United Nations, referred to the recent speeches of Abdel-Malek Al Houthi in which he vilified and denounced the Bahai faith, contributing to the atmosphere of the ongoing persecution of the community in Yemen.

“Not only is the content of Houthi’s speechs deeply disturbing, but also its context and some of its immediate consequences,” explained Bani Dugal. “Houthi’s influence over a large number of armed followers as well as the echoing of his sentiments by the highest religious authority in Yemen, by other government officials, and by others on traditional and social media all imply that Houthi’s latest speech is a call for mass atrocity crimes against a religious minority which is genocidal in intent.”

Dugal further stated, “In order to avoid disastrous consequences for thousands of Yemeni Bahais, the international community must condemn these latest actions by Houthi in the strongest terms, demand an end to the spread of vitriolic, false rhetoric, and incitement to hatred against the Bahais, and to call for the immediate release of all Bahais imprisoned in Yemen.”

Several independent sources have repeatedly confirmed that the Iranian authorities are directing efforts to persecute the Bahais in Yemen, the Bahai leader alleged.

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