At a time when hundreds of families and homes are filled with joy in Yemen, thousands of others are still waiting for their relatives who are still languishing in the basements of prisons and detention centers, or were hidden with their families knowing nothing about their whereabouts. We share in the joy of all those who were released and returned to their families and loved ones, which is a late but important step towards achieving peace.
We at INSAF Center closely followed the release process of the first and second batch of prisoners that were exchanged between the Houthis, the legitimate government and the southern resistance, due to the agreement sponsored by the United Nations and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Yemen last month in Geneva, which provided for the release of 1081 prisoners. We were pleased to learn that among those released were a group of journalists and prisoners of conscience who had spent more than four years in prison.
However, despite this important development, there is still a group of unjust detainees still imprisoned until this moment. Among them is the Yemeni Jewish detainee, Libby Marhabi, who was arrested by the Houthis in Sana’a in 2016, with the court ordering his release in September 2019. However, he is still imprisoned until this moment with no clear reason for this detention, except that he is a Jew. Despite his poor health and his life-threatening illnesses, he is still detained, and has not been considered in any of the negotiations between the conflicting parties who do not care about his case. Bearing in mind that he is not a captive, and has not been detained for any reason related to the ongoing conflict.
We at INSAF Center, have contacted a number of local and international bodies, at the level of governments and international organizations, to ensure his safety and his release. His family has greatly suffered from fearing for their unjustly imprisoned son of four years now. Despite our communications, we still hope that the case of this Yemeni citizen and other nonguilty detainees be taken into consideration, especially that they were only imprisoned because they differ in opinion or belief with their detainees.
We continue to appeal to local and international organizations, and to everyone who has authority and has the ability to apply pressure on the Houthis to release Libby and those detainees who are prisoners of speech, opinion and belief.
