Bahai face ‘high risk’ in Houthi-run prisons
Bahais held in Houthi prisons in Yemen are at risk of contracting the coronavirus, rights groups said on Thursday.
The Iran-backed rebels announced in March that they were to release Bahai leader Hamed bin Haydara and another five Bahai detainees, but they remain behind bars.
The Bahai community says Mr bin Haydara was beaten and given electric shocks in prison and forced to sign documents while blindfolded.
“The Houthi authorities must honour their agreement to release the Bahai prisoners,” Anthony Vance, director of the US Bahai Office of Public Affairs, told The National. “Keeping prisoners of conscience is egregious on its own terms. Refusing to release them during a pandemic to which prisoners are particularly vulnerable is a whole new level of immorality.”
The Bahai community said two detainees in Sanaa’s Central Prison had the virus diagnosed.
“The Bahais should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and now it is urgent that the Houthis follow through on their promise to set them free,” Mr Vance said.
Prisons in Sanaa are “hotbeds” for coronavirus outbreaks because of their abysmal conditions, said Diane Alai, a Bahai representative to the UN.
“The six Bahais, who have been tortured and denied medical care for years, are like all the other prisoners in similar conditions, very vulnerable to the disease,” Ms Alai said. “Holding these individuals in prison carries grave health risks and even death. It is inexplicable and irresponsible.”
Yemen has a devastated healthcare system because of years of war and humanitarian catastrophes. Reports indicate that the Houthis have denied the outbreak’s existence in areas under their control.
The country has recorded 419 cases of the disease and 95 deaths, but many say that the true numbers are much higher.
The rebels “should act on their orders and avoid health risks to people who should never have been jailed by releasing the Bahai detainees immediately”, said a report by Human Rights Watch.
There has been concern about the treatment of Bahai prisoners by the rebels, who have controlled much of northern Yemen and Sanaa, the capital, since 2014.