Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleThe United Nations is calling for a prompt and independent investigation into the death of a staff member held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Al Jazeera reports. Mohammad el-Shami, who worked for the UN Human Rights Office, died in detention more than a month ago, but his family was notified only recently.
El-Shami had been arbitrarily detained since June 2024 by the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen.
UN leaders demand answers
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged the Houthi authorities in Sanaa to ensure a transparent inquiry. He said the family has received no explanation of the cause or circumstances of the death. In his words, they “deserve to know the truth”.
Turk said the process requires disclosure of all relevant medical and detention records, preservation of evidence and independent scrutiny of any stated cause of death. He added that anyone responsible for wrongdoing must be held to account.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was appalled and deeply saddened. He voiced grave concern for other UN personnel, former UN staff and workers from humanitarian and civil society groups who remain detained, and repeated his call for their immediate and unconditional release.
A wider pattern of detentions
The death has drawn fresh attention to the number of UN and non-governmental organization workers targeted by the Houthis since they took the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014.
The group has repeatedly accused detained workers of spying. When more than 60 UN and NGO workers were detained in 2024, the year el-Shami was arrested, the Houthis described them as part of an “American-Israeli spy network”. The group has also routinely arrested rights activists, NGO workers and other civilians on espionage allegations.
According to Amnesty International, 73 UN staff and dozens of other humanitarian workers were in detention as of February this year. El-Shami is the second UN staff member to die in Houthi custody. A World Food Programme employee died in February 2025.
Government and rights groups respond
Meshdal Mohammed, the human rights minister in Yemen’s internationally recognised government, held the Houthis fully responsible for el-Shami’s abduction, forced disappearance and death. He said the detention of rights workers for more than two years, capped by an announcement of a death without family visits or information on the detainee’s condition, demands a serious review of how the file is handled.
Rights advocates say accountability is extremely hard to achieve. Tawfik Alhamidi, president of the SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, told Al Jazeera that the Houthis control prisons, medical records and witnesses, and that no judicial or human rights body oversees detention sites.
He said the delay and the withholding of information may reflect a systematic pattern, possibly meant to hide details or make an examination harder. Alhamidi said the deaths of many Yemenis in Houthi custody have been attributed to disease, sudden death or suicide.
He argued the Houthi authorities remain accountable for any death in custody, whatever the cause. Even if illness were proven, he said, the question would remain whether the detainee received medical care or suffered negligence or deprivation.
Al Jazeera’s report notes that fighting in Yemen has also displaced 290,000 people, according to the UN, and that government forces have seized strategic positions in al-Jawf.
Source: Al Jazeera
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