US imposes fresh sanctions targeting five Houthi militia officials

In Yemen, the country’s various Houthi-controlled security and intelligence agencies have committed serious human rights abuse, engaging in the prevailing practice of the arbitrary detention and torture of its citizens. Students, women, human rights activists, journalists, humanitarian workers, perceived political opponents, and members of the Baha’i community have been targeted, illegally arrested, and mistreated in detention centers run by these various agencies, the National Security Bureau (NSB), the Political Security Organization (PSO), and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Under the direction of their leaders, the NSB and PSO have been actively committing these abuses since late 2014, while the Sana’a CID has been doing so at least since 2018.
 

Sultan Zabin and Abdul Hakim al-Khaiwani

As the current Director of the Sana’a CID, Sultan Zabin (Zabin) and his CID officers have arrested, detained, and tortured women under the pretense of a policy designed to curb prostitution and organized crime. In reality, this policy was used to target politically active women who opposed the Houthis, and resulted in numerous reported cases of illegal arrest, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, sexual violence, rape, torture, and other cruel treatment utilized by the Sana’a CID against these women. Zabin was responsible for the implementation of this policy that was used as a tool for repression and violence. Zabin has had direct involvement in acts of rape, physical abuse, and arbitrary arrest and detention of women as part of a policy to inhibit or otherwise prevent political activities by women who have opposed the policies of the Houthis.

As a Houthi member and Deputy Minister of the Interior, Abdul Hakim al-Khaiwani (Khaiwani) was responsible for many detention facilities and security forces, including the Sana’a CID. The illegal arrest, detention, and torture of women conducted by the CID was done so under the ultimate authority of the Ministry of Interior. Khaiwani currently serves as the Director of the Security and Intelligence Service, Yemen’s new security and intelligence agency that merged its predecessors, the PSO and NSB, in September 2019.

Zabin is designated pursuant to the Global Magnitsky E.O. for being a foreign person who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse. Zabin is concurrently designated pursuant to E.O. 13611 for engaging in activities, directly or indirectly, that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen.

Khaiwani is designated pursuant to the Global Magnitsky E.O. for being a foreign person who is a leader or official of an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to his tenure.
 

Abdul Rahab Jarfan and Motlaq Amer al-Marrani

Abdul Rahab Jarfan (Jarfan) is a Houthi member and the former Head of the NSB. Under Jarfan, the NSB systematically engaged in torture and abusive detention of Yemeni citizens.

During his tenure as a leader or official of the NSB, including his tenure as the Deputy Head of the NSB, Motlaq Amer al-Marrani (al-Marrani) oversaw detainees of the NSB, who were reportedly subjected to torture and other mistreatment by members of the NSB while detained. In addition, al-Marrani played a significant role in the arrest, detention, and ill treatment of humanitarian workers and other authorities working on humanitarian assistance and was also found to have abused his authority and influence over humanitarian access as leverage to generate personal profit.

Jarfan and al-Marrani are designated pursuant to the Global Magnitsky E.O. for being foreign persons who are leaders or officials of an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to their tenure.

Qader al-Shami

Qader al-Shami (al-Shami) is a Houthi member and the former director of the PSO. Since late 2014, the PSO has been responsible for the regular practice of illegal detention and torture of prisoners, including children. PSO officials were found to have been keeping detainees in undisclosed locations, subjecting them to torture, and not allowing them to communicate with their families, depriving them of their fundamental liberties. There have been at least 30 people reported to have been sentenced to death following their detention by the PSO. Al-Shami currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Security and Intelligence Bureau, a role he has occupied since the organization’s inception in September 2019.

Al-Shami is designated pursuant to the Global Magnitsky E.O. for being a foreign person who is a leader or official of an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to his tenure.