Houthis take model they abducted at gunpoint to court
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels began prosecuting a model and actress yesterday for “wild” behaviour, sources in Sanaa told The National.
Entisar Al Hammadi and two friends were taken off the street at gunpoint by Houthi militants four weeks ago.
“The Houthi security authorities told her family that they have referred her case to the prosecutor and her first trial session is supposed to start today,” a source told The National yesterday.
Ms Al Hammadi’s lawyer confirmed the trial would take place despite the fact the Houthi rebels have no legal standing in Yemen or internationally.
The Houthis said that Ms Al Hammadi and her friends took part in a “wild party” at a house in Sanaa, the source said.
“All that has been published about my girl is false and baseless,” Ms Al Hammadi’s mother said in response to local media reports.
Ms Al Hammadi, 19, hoped to become a model and she sometimes posed for photos without a hijab, offending conservatives.
She appeared in a drama series produced by Shabab TV that was shown during Ramadan last year.
Yemen’s government condemned the abduction of Ms Al Hammadi and her friends and called on the international community to put pressure on the rebels to free them and a dozen other women in Houthi’s prisons.
Muammar Al Eryani, Yemen’s Minister of Information, said the “terrorist Houthi militia” must stop using women for extortion and release all women from the group’s secret prisons unconditionally.