The two men were part of the 29 activists arrested on 12 October 2015 by members of the Houthi-Saleh Coalition while they were preparing for a 65km march to Taiz. They planned to march accompanied by trucks carrying drinking water for the population of Taiz which is experiencing serious shortages since it has been under siege for months . Shortly after the arrest, the Houthi-Saleh Coalition released 23 of the detained men, but kept in detention those they believed to be the main organisers of the march – including Mahmoud Yassin and Ali Aboud Al Maliki.

After his release from the Political Security Prison, Mahmoud Yassin reported that he was tortured by members of forces affiliated with the Houthi-Saleh Coalition. More precisely, he reported having been blindfolded during an extensive interrogation about the activists' motive to march to Taiz. Even more worryingly, Yassin's described how he was subjected to severe beatings and electric shocks.

"Alkarama welcomes these releases although we remain strongly concerned over the fate of the activists who remain detained incommunicado by the Houthi-Saleh Coalition," says Radidja Nemar, Legal Officer for the Gulf at Alkarama. "We are particularly worried at accounts of former detainees describing dreadful conditions of detention in the Political Security Prison and reporting acts of torture committed against them allegedly by members of forces affiliated with Houthi-Saleh Coalition. Incommunicado detention and torture are absolutely prohibited and war or any other exceptional circumstances cannot justify this unlawful practice."

In view of these facts, Alkarama continues to call upon the Houthi-Saleh Coalition to release the detained activists and to treat all detainees under their control humanly, respecting international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

As such the Houthi-Saleh Coalition should ensure that:

• Their forces do not carry arbitrary arrests and detentions, including by abstaining from arresting journalists and other peaceful activists for the sole reason of their legitimate activities;
• All individual arrested are provided with their fundamental rights, including the right to effectively challenge their detention, to contact their families and receive visits;
• All individuals detained under their control are treated humanely, and no act of torture and/or cruel inhumane and degrading treatment is committed against them.

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