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Yemen: Rights Radar Monitors Over 1,781 Cases of Torture Against Detainees and Abductees, Including 324 Deaths The Hague, 26 June 2025 Rights Radar for Human Rights, based in The Hague, Netherlands, has called on all the conflicting parties in Yemen to immediately stop all violations and to respect all the international treaties and conventions on human rights. On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed annually on June 26, Rights Radar has issued an urgent appeal to highlight the suffering of hundreds of Yemenis who continue to suffer the horrors of violation and torture of all kinds in dozens of prisons and detention centers. In its historic Resolution 52/149, adopted on December 12, 1997, the UN General Assembly declared June 26 of each year as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, aiming to contribute to the eradication of torture and to promote the effective implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which entered into force on June 26, 1987. Despite the international and UN efforts to create a world free of persecution, violation, and torture, many countries, including Yemen, continue to show little interest in, or disregard for, the relevant agreements and treaties. According to cases monitored by Rights Radar, the conflicting parties in Yemen committed approximately 1,781 acts of torture and cruel treatment against victims of abduction and enforced disappearance from the beginning of the war in 2014 until the end of last year. According to monitoring and documentation by Rights Radar across various Yemeni governorates from September 2014 to December 2024, approximately 25,688 individuals were subjected to arrest, abduction, and enforced disappearance. They were detained in around 727 public, private, and secret prisons across 18 governorates in Yemen. The statistics indicate a total of 1,781 cases of torture and cruel treatment, including 61 children and 31 women, with the majority of victims being men—1,689 cases. In terms of geographical distribution, the capital, Sana’a, recorded the highest number of torture cases with approximately 500 incidents. Dhamar Governorate ranked second with 232 cases, followed by Ibb Governorate in third place with 181 cases. Al Hodeidah came fourth with 162 cases, and Taiz ranked fifth with 127 cases. Sana’a Governorate was sixth with 107 cases, followed by Al Bayda with 101 cases, Hajjah with 89 cases, Al Mahwit with 57 cases, Saada with 56 cases, and Amran with 50 cases. Meanwhile, Al Dhale had 45 cases, Al Jawf 19, Aden 18, Shabwa 14, Lahj 8, and Raymah 7 cases. While many victims endured torture and abuse, 324 abductees and detainees died, including 12 children and two women. Victims of torture-related deaths were reported across 17 governorates, and Sana’a leading the list with 81 cases, including one woman. Al Hodeidah followed with 54 cases, then Ibb with 44 cases, including three children. Taiz reported 33 cases, including one child, followed by Al Bayda with 22 cases, including two children. Dhamar recorded 18 cases, including two children; Amran had 15 cases, including one child; Hajjah reported 13 cases, including one woman; and Saada had 12 cases, including one child. Sana’a Governorate came tenth with nine cases. Regarding the type and manner of death caused by torture, 267 victims, including 11 children and two women, were killed directly as a result of torture. Another 30 died after their release from detention centers and prisons due to health complications caused by torture. Additionally, 25 victims, including one child, died from medical negligence while in detention. Reports also indicated that two deaths resulted from deteriorating health conditions linked to direct psychological torture. Based on the data monitored and documented during the period covered by this statement, the Houthi militia tops the list of perpetrators, being responsible for more than 1,600 cases of torture and ill-treatment. It also bears full responsibility for approximately 97% of deaths resulting from torture and its associated psychological and health complications. It should be noted that the statistics on victims of torture do not include the hundreds of abducted and forcibly disappeared individuals whose fate remains unknown, and about whom their families have no information. Among the most prominent of these cases is that of politician Mohammed Qahtan. UN Resolution 2216, issued in April 2015, stipulated his release along with other political and military leaders. While the others were eventually released for reasons that remain unclear, Qahtan remains in detention. The Houthi militia has refused to disclose his location or condition and continues to use his case as a tool for political bargaining. The human rights and humanitarian situation in Yemen confirms the failure of the international community to protect victims of abduction and enforced disappearance, and reveals the UN’s inability to safeguard detainees from torture and abuse that endanger their lives. This makes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statement—“Perpetrators of torture must never be allowed to escape their crimes, and systems that enable torture must be dismantled or changed”—seem like wishful thinking for the victims in Yemen. In its recommendations, Rights Radar has called on all Yemeni parties, particularly the Houthi militia, to immediately release all abductees and detainees and to guarantee the safety and well-being of those who have been forcibly disappeared. Rights Radar has also called on the international community, the United Nations—through its agencies—and the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to conduct field visits to prisons operated by the conflicting parties in Yemen, particularly those under the control of the Houthi militia. These visits aim to directly assess detention conditions and to provide moral, medical, and psychological support to victims of arbitrary detention. Finally, Rights Radar has called for the activation of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, administered by the UN Office in Geneva, to ensure that victims of torture in Yemen and their families receive the Fund’s legal, social, humanitarian, psychological, and medical support.