SAM for Rights and Liberties stated that the enforced disappearance of Dr. Ashwaq Suleiman Al-Shamiri, following her arrest from her home in the Madhbah neighborhood of Sana'a at dawn on 25 November 2025, raises serious concerns regarding her life and health and reflects a recurring pattern of targeting civilians for the peaceful expression of their opinions.

The organization explained that an armed security force surrounded the house after the Fajr prayer and stormed it at approximately 6:00 a.m., with the participation of two female officers. Dr. Al-Shamiri was arrested inside her home without the presentation of a legal warrant or any clarification of the reasons for her detention, and without being allowed to contact her family or a lawyer. Since that time, her place of detention has not been disclosed, rendering her forcibly disappeared under international law.

SAM further noted that Dr. Al-Shamiri, a former academic in her late forties, suffers from chronic illnesses, including hypertension and diabetes, which heighten the risks associated with her incommunicado detention and the denial of necessary medical care.

According to the organization, Dr. Al-Shamiri’s family has submitted formal complaints to the Public Prosecutor, the Inspector General, the Ministry of Interior, and the Presidential Office, yet has received no official response to date. The family has also refrained from publicly disclosing further details out of concern that doing so may expose her to additional risks.

SAM stated that it reviewed Dr. Al-Shamiri’s social media accounts and found that, one day prior to her arrest, she had posted a comment critical of the situation in Yemen. In earlier posts, she had expressed her position as a citizen unaffiliated with any political party, affirming her right to move freely within the country and to criticize the authorities. The organization considers the timing of her arrest to raise legitimate questions as to whether it is linked to her exercise of her right to freedom of opinion and expression.

SAM emphasized that detaining Dr. Al-Shamiri without disclosing her whereabouts or allowing her to communicate with the outside world constitutes a grave violation of the right to liberty and personal security and contravenes peremptory norms of international law prohibiting enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention.

The organization called on the de facto authorities in Sana’a to immediately disclose Dr. Ashwaq Al-Shamiri’s place of detention, ensure her safety, allow her to contact her family and legal counsel, and release her unless she is formally charged with a recognizable criminal offense and brought before an independent judiciary that guarantees full fair trial rights. It further urged that she be provided with the necessary medical care without delay.

SAM also called upon the United Nations and its mechanisms concerned with cases of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention to urgently follow up on this case, stressing that the continuation of such violations deepens the climate of fear and further erodes the remaining civic space in Yemen.