Houthi Authorities in Yemen arrested the human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra on September 25, 2025, for a social media post marking an independence holiday opposed by the Houthis, 17 nongovernmental groups including Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately release him. The following is their statement:
The undersigned nongovernmental organizations call on the Houthi de facto authorities in Yemen, Ansar Allah, to immediately and unconditionally release the prominent human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra from arbitrary detention.
A family member reported that on September 25, 2025, a group of Houthi armed forces and armed men in civilian clothing arrested Sabra after they stormed his office in the Shamila area of the capital, Sana'a, and took him to an unknown location.
According to a relative, the men presented him with an arrest warrant and said that his arrest was due to his social media posts marking the anniversary of Yemen's 26 September Revolution, a date the Houthis oppose celebrating. They believe that September 21, the day in which they took over the capital, should be celebrated instead.
Sabra's family do not have information on his whereabouts and have since been unable to communicate with him, which may amount to the crime of enforced disappearance.
Sabra's arrest comes as part of a broader pattern of arrests of people publicly commemorating the 26 September anniversary. Credible sources have reported that the Houthis have carried out a wave of arrests and rounded up scores of people in northern governorates for peacefully celebrating or posting on social media content related to the 26 September anniversary.
Sabra is one of the most prominent lawyers who has worked tirelessly to defend those detained based on their peaceful exercise of their human rights in Yemen. He uses his Facebook page to express his personal views, defend the human rights of people in Yemen, and publish updates on the cases he defends.
The undersigned nongovernmental organizations urge the Houthis in Yemen to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release the human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra and all others who are detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights including their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association;
- Immediately and unconditionally release all those who remain in arbitrary detention, including the dozens of UN and civil society staff arrested and forcibly disappeared in 2024 and 2025;
- Respect and uphold the human rights of everyone including the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and media freedom; and
- Ensure that human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, academics, and internet activists, are able to carry out their work and express themselves freely without any fear of reprisal or judicial harassment.
Signatories:
- Amnesty International
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- CIVICUS
- Democracy for the Arabi World Now (DAWN)
- Front Line Defenders
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
- Human Rights First (HRF)
- Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
- IFEX
- International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- MENA Rights Group
- Mwatana for Human Rights
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- Yemeni Archive
