Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

Yemeni female prisoner attempts suicide to escape Houthi mistreatment

Yemeni female prisoner attempts suicide to escape Houthi mistreatment

A Yemeni woman has attempted suicide inside a Houthi-held jail in Sanaa after being exposed to “severe” physical and psychological maltreatment by her captors, a Yemeni human rights activist told Arab News on Sunday, an incident that has once again brought attention to the inhumane conditions in Houthi detention facilities.
Amat Al-Salam Al-Hajj, chairperson of the Abductees’ Mothers Association, an umbrella group representing thousands of female family members of civilian war captives, said that a female prisoner tried to kill herself last week by cutting the arteries of her hands in order to escape abusive and torturous treatment from Houthi captors inside the Central Prison in Sanaa.

Other female prisoners saved their bleeding roommate by transporting her to a medical facility.

Al-Hajj said that after families of the detainees visited the Central Prison in Sanaa, the news of the woman’s suicide attempt became widely known.

“There is much violence inside Houthi prisons, which has prompted some prisoners to attempt suicide more than once,” she said, adding that her organization has documented similar suicide attempts by inmates due to harsh treatment by Houthi policewomen known as Zaynabiat, primarily from a notorious female Houthi captor known as Um Al-Karar.

Al-Hajj said that Entesar Al-Hammadi, a Yemeni model and actress whom the Houthis abducted from a Sanaa street early last year, also tried to commit suicide as a result of the mistreatment she endured at the hands of Um Al-Karar and other female Houthi kidnappers.

Since the Houthis took over areas of Yemen with force in late 2014, hundreds of civilians have been kidnapped, forcibly disappeared and mercilessly tortured by the militia.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders have urged the Houthis to promptly free a young Yemeni journalist named Younis Abdel Salam, who was kidnapped by the militia in Sanaa in 2021, stressing that his health has worsened and that he is in need of emergency medical attention.

“His arbitrary detention for more than a year has impacted his mental health and well-being. He needs urgent medical attention and, most importantly, he needs to be freed. We urgently call on the Houthis to release him,” Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East desk.

The journalist’s family told the international media watchdog that the 28-year-old has dropped nearly half of his body weight, his mental state has gotten worse, and the Houthis have denied him access to his medicine and even forbidden visitors from bringing him books.

“The last time I saw Younis, he was mentally devastated,” his brother, Sultan, told RSF.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×