The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Ansar Allah movement, or Houthi movement, on 17 December 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving them time to reply. Regrettably, they did not reply within this timeframe. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since the sending of the communication, Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra was moved on 25 January 2026 to a prison in the Shamlan suburb of Sanaa, and has been allowed weekly family visits. He has not been charged so far.
This is a shorter version of the communication.Read the full communication
BACKGROUND
Topic: the arbitrary arrest of lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra and his detention in an unknown location, which entails an act tantamount to an enforced disappearance, by the Ansar Allah movement, or the Houthi movement, the de facto authority in Sana’a and large parts of northern Yemen.
Mr. Abdulmajeed Sabra is a prominent lawyer who has defended victims of enforced disappearance and acts tantamount to and detainees charged in connection with their peaceful exercise of human rights in Yemen. He also uses his Facebook page to defend human rights, express his own views and publish updates on cases he defends.
ALLEGATIONS
Background information
Mr. Sabra has over the past few years been interrogated a number of times by security agents regarding his defence of victims of arbitrary arrest and of enforced disappearance and act tantamount to, and he also has been barred from defending his clients in court. He was reportedly threatened in 2024 by Houthi members after he posted on social media that he would defend persons arrested after they commemorated 26 September.[1] The date marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, which the Ansar Allah, or Houthi movement, the de facto rulers in Sana’a do not recognise. They instead consider that 21 September, the day they took power in northern Yemen should be celebrated.
On 24 September 2025, Mr. Sabra posted on his Facebook page criticism of restrictions imposed by the de facto rulers on the right of the public to commemorate on social media the 26 September Revolution. The Ansar Allah authorities had set up roadblocks in the lead up to 26 September, and had arrested dozens of people, including writers and activists, in relation to their support on social media for the anniversary.
Arrest and act tantamount to enforced disappearance:
On 25 September 2025, armed forces, some in uniform and some in civilian clothing belonging to the security and intelligence agency of the Ansar Allah authority stormed Mr. Sabra’s office in Sana’a and took him to an unknown location. The men presented him with an arrest warrant and reportedly told him his arrest was due to a post on social media about the 26 September Revolution. No details were available.
Mr. Sabra’s family did not have any information on his fate and whereabouts for ten days and were not able to communicate with him, which may entail an act tantamount to enforced disappearance.
On 5 October 2025, Mr. Sabra contacted his family by phone from an unidentified number and reassured them of his wellbeing.
On 16 October 2025, Mr. Sabra’s family contacted the public number of the security and intelligence agency and asked if they should bring clothing or any supplies for him. They were told he was well and in no need of more clothes. It was not clarified exactly where he was being held.
It was later learnt from unofficial sources that Mr. Sabra was to undergo a session of cultural training, often provided to political detainees by Houthi security and intelligence agency for weeks or months, ahead of their release.
Yemen: Arbitrary arrest and detention in an unknown location of lawyer and HRD Abdulmajeed Sabra
