The 66-year-old prominent human rights activist had been arrested on 5 August 2015 by armed men in civilian clothes who had broken into his home and taken him away barefoot.

According to his relatives, Dr Al Guneid was detained in the capital Sana'a for the past five months in a small cell that was unfit for living and received no sunlight; he was severely malnourished at the time of his release.

In October 2015, Alkarama seized the United Nations Working Groups on Enforced Disappearances and Arbitrary Detention – the WGEID and WGAD – asking the two Special Procedures to request that the Houthi-Saleh Coalition release Dr Al Guneid.

Alkarama deplores the deteriorating situation in Yemen and the widespread practice of enforced disappearances. The organisation further reminds all those involved in the Yemeni conflict that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) apply to all parties to the conflict, state as well as non-state actors.

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