We at INSAF Center for Defending Freedoms & Minorities welcome the Houthis’ announcement of the release of the prominent Baha’i Hamid bin Haydara along with all the other Baha’i detainees. We would also like to thank in this regard all of the politicians, diplomats and organizations around the world that were able to apply pressure to guarantee the release of the detainees.
The decision was issued today, Wednesday, 25th of March 2020, by the head of the Supreme Political Council Mahdi Al-Mashat, and represents an important step as long as it does not exclude any of the detainees and prisoners of conscience. However, this should also be followed by a moral obligation towards minorities, in a manner that will ensure a future for them where neither their freedoms nor their property are violated. This requires the Houthis to work on silencing all of the voices targeting and inciting against Baha’is, which in times have accused them of espionage and spying and in times insulting the religion of Islam. We also demand that Bin Haydara be compensated for the years of imprisonment and to immediately permit him to travel abroad for treatment, as he was subjected to torture and psychological abuse, and demand that he not be forced to sign or make any statements that serve their goals
We would also like to call for the immediate implementation of this decision and to a total commitment to the principles of equal citizenship, and to never again allow for violations like this to ever occur again, whether for the Bahais or for other minorities still suffering till this day. We hope this decision will be part of a comprehensive peace process for all Yemenis.
We also believe that it is also appropriate to stress the necessity of taking similar steps and initiating the release of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners who have been held for years in prisons without any trials.
