Yemeni concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus are mounting. And like everyone else, thousands of detainees in Houthi prisons will be in a possible confrontation with the pandemic in light of the deterioration of the health sector and the absence of necessary care for prisoners.
Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties called on Yemen's conflicting authorities to release all detainees held across prisons in Yemen as a precautionary measure against the virus.
“SAM stresses that the situation in Yemen is serious and foreshadows a real catastrophe if the epidemic spreads, especially since there are hundreds of detainees suffering from chronic and serious diseases due to the detention circumstances and lack of appropriate health and medical conditions in the detention facilities,” the organization said in a statement.
“The current situation of detainees should not be politicized or manipulated," it added, urging all partied to move immediately to take alternative legal measures stipulated in the law of criminal procedures, such as release with due judicial measures or release on bail or placing the names of those released on the travel ban lists.
The call to release the detainees comes at a time government sources estimate the presence of more than 18,000 prisoners in Houthi detention camps. Most of those arrested are political prisoners Houthis detained over the years.
While the families of the prisoners fear that their relatives will become vulnerable to the coronavirus, Houthis - according to government accusations – have failed to settle a prisoner swap deal on more than one occasion.
In other news, Oxfam has warned of a new outbreak of cholera in Yemen with the rainy season approaching next month. The threat especially faces areas controlled by Houthi militias, whose corruption has wreaked havoc on the health sector.
The five governorates of Sanaa, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Taiz, and Dhamar have consistently reported high rates of cholera since 2017.
