Yemen: "After 8 months of mysterious absence... prominent female officer who supported the Houthis disappears inside the group's prisons"

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

The Deputy Director of the Human Rights Office in Al Hudaydah Governorate, Ghaleb Al-Qudaimi, revealed the disappearance of female police officer Hanan Jaafar inside the Houthi group's prisons for about eight months, without revealing her fate so far, despite her clear loyalty to the group. Al-Qudaimi mentioned, in a post on his Facebook page, that Jaafar is one of the first graduates of the female police in Al Hudaydah, where she obtained the rank of lieutenant, and later took over the management of the women's police in the governorate's security, before being transferred to the Ministry of Interior in Sana'a. He added that the missing officer was one of the female figures supporting the Houthis after they took control of the state's joints, and even went so far as to change her name on "Facebook" to become "Colonel Hanan Jaafar Badr al-Din al-Houthi," in reference to her ideological affiliation with them. Despite this, Al-Qudaimi confirmed that her loyalty did not intercede for her, as she was arrested in mysterious circumstances and remains subjected to enforced disappearance without any official clarification from the Houthi authorities regarding the charges or legal measures taken against her. He pointed out that this incident reveals systematic practices within the Houthi group, even towards those who supported them and stood by them, considering that Jaafar's disappearance represents a case within a series of violations committed by the group against those they consider "untrustworthy," regardless of the degree of their loyalty.