Saturday, September 19, 2015

Pro-Houthi Rebels Detain Prominent Writer, Al-Madhaji & Other Dissidents

Before holding the executive directory of the
newly-founded, SCSS, Al-Madhaji has
been a prolific writer on democracy, politics
 and human rights issues in Yemen.  

 "The Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (SCSS) strongly condemns the detention of its Executive Director, Maged Al-Madhaji, by armed forces loyal to the Houthi rebel movement. On Saturday morning, September 19th, Madhaji was arrested at a protest demanding freedom for Yemenis held extrajudicially by the Houthis and their allies, along with journalist Mahmoud Yassin , Bassim Al-Warafi and the founders of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, Radhya Al-Mutawakel and Abdulrasheed Al-Faqih. Mutawakel has been released. Regretfully, the rest remain in detention.
Today's arrests of civil society activists constitute the latest in a series of blatant civil liberty violations that have seen armed groups in Yemen attempt to silence dissident voices in the country." –SCSS 

Dozens of journalists and anti-Houthi activists have been abducted and detained by pro-Houthi rebels for over the past year.