Urgent Action Outcome: Four Journalists On Death Row Released

On 16 April, the Huthi de facto authorities released four Yemeni journalists who had been sentenced to death, as part of a prisoner exchange between the Huthi de facto authorities and the internationally recognized government of Yemen. Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid and Tawfiq al-Mansouri were arrested in June 2015 in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, and sentenced to death in April 2020 by the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a following a grossly unfair trial. They have also suffered a plethora of human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, intermittent incommunicado detention, arbitrary detention, denial of medical care, solitary confinement and torture and other ill-treatment. 

NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS.

Yemeni journalists Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri were released as part of a prisoner exchange on 16 April after being detained by the Huthi de facto authorities for more than seven years. 

On 9 June 2015, the four journalists were arrested after de facto Huthi forces raided Qasr al-Ahlam hotel in Sana’a. They were detained without charge until December 2018 when they were charged with a series of offences, including “spying for Saudi Arabia”; which carries the death penalty, as well as “broadcasting rumours, fake news and statements in support of the enemy Saudi Arabia and its allies against the Republic of Yemen.” 

They were sentenced to death on 11 April 2020 by the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a following a grossly unfair trial in which their lawyer was barred from attending nearly all court sessions, and without informing their lawyers and families of the death sentence. Their lawyer had appealed the verdict, and the Specialized Criminal Appeals Division in Sana’a had postponed the appeal hearing at least 10 times. In July and September 2022, Tawfiq al-Mansouri was denied urgent medical treatment despite being critically ill. 

During their nearly eight-year detention, the journalists faced horrific human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, intermittent incommunicado detention, four years of arbitrary detention, denial of medical care, solitary confinement and torture and other ill-treatment.