The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Ansar Allah movement, or Houthi movement, on 17 December 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving them time to reply. Regrettably, they did not reply within this timeframe. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since the sending of the communication, Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra was moved on 25 January 2026 to a prison in the Shamlan suburb of Sanaa, and has been allowed weekly family visits. He has not been charged so far.
This is a shorter version of the communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the arbitrary arrest of lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra and his detention in an unknown location, which entails an act tantamount to an enforced disappearance, by the Ansar Allah movement, or the Houthi movement, the de facto authority in Sana’a and large parts of northern Yemen.
Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra is a prominent lawyer who has defended victims of enforced disappearance and acts tantamount to and detainees charged in connection with their peaceful exercise of human rights in Yemen. He also uses his Facebook page to defend human rights, express his own views and publish updates on cases he defends.
ALLEGATIONS
Background information
Mr. Sabra has over the past few years been interrogated a number of times by security agents regarding his defence of victims of arbitrary arrest and of enforced disappearance and act tantamount to, and he also has been barred from defending his clients in court. He was reportedly threatened in 2024 by Houthi members after he posted on social media that he would defend persons arrested after they commemorated 26 September.[1] The date marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, which the Ansar Allah, or Houthi movement, the de facto rulers in Sana’a do not recognise. They instead consider that 21 September, the day they took power in northern Yemen should be celebrated.
On 24 September 2025, Mr. Sabra posted on his Facebook page criticism of restrictions imposed by the de facto rulers on the right of the public to commemorate on social media the 26 September Revolution. The Ansar Allah authorities had set up roadblocks in the lead up to 26 September, and had arrested dozens of people, including writers and activists, in relation to their support on social media for the anniversary.
Arrest and act tantamount to enforced disappearance:
On 25 September 2025, armed forces, some in uniform and some in civilian clothing belonging to the security and intelligence agency of the Ansar Allah authority stormed Mr. Sabra’s office in Sana’a and took him to an unknown location. The men presented him with an arrest warrant and reportedly told him his arrest was due to a post on social media about the 26 September Revolution. No details were available.
Mr. Sabra’s family did not have any information on his fate and whereabouts for ten days and were not able to communicate with him, which may entail an act tantamount to enforced disappearance.
On 5 October 2025, Mr. Sabra contacted his family by phone from an unidentified number and reassured them of his wellbeing.
On 16 October 2025, Mr. Sabra’s family contacted the public number of the security and intelligence agency and asked if they should bring clothing or any supplies for him. They were told he was well and in no need of more clothes. It was not clarified exactly where he was being held.
It was later learnt from unofficial sources that Mr. Sabra was to undergo a session of cultural training, often provided to political detainees by Houthi security and intelligence agency for weeks or months, ahead of their release.
On 20 October 2025, Mr. Sabra called his family by phone from an unidentified number and told them he was being held in isolation in a cell; he asked his family to alert lawyers and the Yemen Bar Association, which is headquartered in Sana’a, about his case. His request was made public on social media. On the same day, the Bar Association announced the formation of a team of eight lawyers to follow the case of Mr. Sabra’s detention and to represent the bar association at official and legal venues.
Mr. Sabra is believed to be held by the security and intelligence agency; although his whereabouts remain unknown.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our utmost concern that the arrest of Mr. Sabra, a human rights defender and lawyer, was in relation to his peaceful human rights defence work and the exercise of his right to freedom of expression, in what may amount to an act of arbitrary arrest.
We further express our grave concern at his detention in isolation in an undeclared place, in what entails an act tantamount to enforced disappearance. We would like to emphasize that the prohibition of enforced disappearance and the corresponding obligation to investigate them has attained the status of jus cogens under international law. Moreover, enforced disappearance is prohibited pursuant to customary international humanitarian law and each party to the conflict must take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing and must provide their family members with any information it has on their fate.
Further, we wish to underscore that any judicial proceeding shall comply with the due process and fair trial guarantees required by international law. These include the right to be promptly informed about the charges, access to family, the right to be represented by legal counsel and to be brought before a judicial officer promptly after detention.
In this context, we wish to recall that in accordance with articles 3 and 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. In accordance with the jurisprudence of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arrest or detention as punishment for the legitimate exercise of human rights is arbitrary. We also recall that under article 19 UDHR everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. These rights appear to have been violated in Mr. Sabra’s case, and we call on the de facto authorities to enforce them.
We would also like to recall the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which provides guarantees for the functioning of lawyers, and in article 16 calls on governments to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference. Article 20 states that lawyers shall enjoy civil and penal immunity for relevant statements made in good faith in written or oral pleadings or in their professional appearance before a court, tribunal or other legal or administrative authority.
In this regard, we also refer you to the fundamental principles set forth in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also known as the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In particular, we would like to refer to articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration which state that everyone has the right to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels and that each State has a prime responsibility and duty to protect, promote and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
We would like to draw attention to the fact that all parties to the conflict between the Houthi movement and the government in Aden are bound by common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which establishes minimum standards concerning the treatment and protection of civilians, those no longer actively participating in hostilities and civilian objects.
In addition, where the Houthi movement engages in actions that are unrelated to the conflict and are not direct consequences of it, the governing legal framework should be international human rights law. In practice, this means that the Houthi movement is legally bound to respect freedom of expression, freedom of association and other internationally recognised human rights, and these rights should be protected without discrimination on any of the grounds prohibited by international law.
[1] https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/06/yemen-houthis-arrest-dozens-commemorating-national-holiday
