Geneva - SAM organization for Rights and Liberties welcomed the decision to release activist Sahar Al-Kholani, after more than four months of detention, in a positive step that enhances hopes for the release of all female detainees in the prisons of the conflicting parties in Yemen, stressing the need for the release of Sahar Al-Kholani to be the beginning of ending the file of political detentions, and not just an exceptional step.

The organization affirmed that the tragedy of illegal detentions is still ongoing, especially against women, referring to the cases of Intisar Al-Hammadi, detained since February 2021, by the Houthi group, and Yusra Al-Shater, detained in the prisons of the Marib authorities since September 2022, who are suffering from serious violations of their human rights.

Female detainees are subjected to harsh conditions in prisons, where they are deprived of medical care and communication with their families, and there are reports of them being subjected to psychological and physical torture. The arrests are carried out illegally, without judicial warrants or fair trials, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and the Yemeni constitutional framework. Detentions are used as a repressive tool against activist or dissident women, in an escalating context of violations that increase discrimination and gender-based violence.

SAM Organization calls on the conflicting parties to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained, especially Intisar Al-Hammadi and Yusra Al-Shater, to guarantee fair trials for the detainees, to respect judicial guarantees in accordance with international conventions, and to open prisons to the monitoring of human rights organizations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

It also calls on the international community to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for arbitrary arrests and torture, and to support transitional justice mechanisms to prosecute perpetrators of violations. It urges human rights organizations to document violations and provide legal and psychological support to survivors.

The organization stresses the importance of considering the upcoming month of Ramadan as an opportunity to release female detainees and reunite them with their families, calling for turning this holy occasion into a platform to restore hope by releasing every female and male detainee, and stopping the humanitarian drain that exacerbates the suffering of Yemenis.