Concern as Houthis target Yemen’s Bahai minority

Houthi rebels are fabricating criminal charges against six prominent members of Yemen’s Bahai religious minority as the government presses for their release, the deputy human rights minister told The National.

Majid Fadhil said the government has repeatedly requested the release of all Bahai detainees held by the rebels under a prisoner exchange deal agreed at UN-led peace talks in Sweden last month.

Each side submitted 8,000 names of Yemeni people they believe to be detained, dead or missing for the other side to find and release as a confidence-building measure.

But the Iran-backed rebels have not responded to the government’s requests.

“The Houthis, through national security and Sanaa’s criminal prosecution, are falsely accusing members of the Bahai faith over espionage cases,” Mr Fadhil said.

The charges against them include “communication with Israel because the Bahai House of Justice is located in Haifa, Israel”, he said. The House of Justice, the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Bahai faith, provides direction to followers.

“Bahai religious institutions in Haifa preceded the existence of Israel ... and was established before the First World War,” Mr Fadhil said.

The Bahai faith was founded in Iran, but is opposed by the regime in Tehran. Iran grants freedom of religion to several minorities but targets the Bahais, who believe in unity among religions.

Bahai leader Hamed bin Haydara, 55, who has been sentenced to death, appeared in court in Sanaa on Tuesday for an unexpected hearing.

Mr Haydara has been in Houthi detention in central Sanaa since December 2013.

The leader was initially arrested after the Houthis seized control of the capital, and prosecutors in January last year accused Mr Haydara of communicating with Israel and spreading the Bahai faith.

UN human rights representatives have called for the rebels to overturn his death sentence.

Five other Bahais are held in Sanaa, two of whom have been forcibly hidden since last April, said Bahai spokesman Abdullah Al Alafi.

“Waleed Ayyash, 51, and Wael Al Ariki, 41, a human-rights activist, have both been hidden,” he said.

Sheikh Akram Ayyas, 37, has been in Houthi detention since October 2017, and Badea Senai, 66, who was an urban planning adviser for the government, has been in prison since May 2017.

Qwan Mohammad Qadri, 45, was arrested by the Houthis in August 2016.

Mr Qadri, who is of Iranian descent, is a former employee of the British Council in Yemen.

The Bahai movement dates back to 1844 and considers itself a universal religion that embraces kindness and peace and promotes religious tolerance and women’s empowerment.