Human rights organisation: 10,000 detainees in Houthi prisons at risk of coronavirus infection

The Yemeni Network for Human Rights and Freedoms announced in a press statement on Wednesday that it had received a report confirming that two abductees in the central prison of Sanaa are infected with coronavirus.

The organisation also warned that 10,000 detainees in Houthis-controlled areas are at risk of coronavirus infection.

The Yemeni organisation called for the immediate release of all the abductees, before the spread of the pandemic in the public and secret detention centres and prisons that the Houthi group uses to hide the oppositionists, exceeding 10,000 abductees.

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The organisation also called on the international community to urgently intervene and make all efforts to release all abductees in Houthi prisons, without any restrictions or conditions.

The organisation held UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths responsible for the detainees and the continuing slowdown in compelling the Houthis to implement the agreements that support the release of all detainees, especially the Stockholm Agreement.

As of Wednesday, the Houthi group announced only four cases of coronavirus infection in the areas under its control, while it is facing accusations by the internationally-recognised government of concealing the true number of infected people, exceeding hundreds of cases according to human rights reports.