The Gulf Centre for Human rights has documented numerous violations over the past six months, including the continued arbitrary detention of a prominent human rights lawyer and a health expert, and journalists killed and threatened.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 8 September 2026.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has documented numerous human rights violations in Yemen over the past six months, perpetrated by all parties involved in the ongoing conflict. These violations include the continued arbitrary detention of a prominent human rights lawyer and health expert, the enforced disappearance of a researcher, the targeting of journalists, media professionals, and other activists, and the imposition of severe restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Year-long arbitrary detention of human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra
The first anniversary of the arbitrary arrest and detention of prominent human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, who is currently being held in a prison run by the Security and Intelligence Service in the Saraf sub-district, located at the eastern entrance to the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, is approaching this month.
On 15 September 2025, an armed group affiliated with the Houthi group arrested Sabra after storming his office in the Shamila district of Sana’a and taking him to one of the secret prisons run by the Security and Intelligence Service in the same city.
On 7 December 2025, he began a hunger strike that lasted several days in protest against his arbitrary arrest and detention incommunicado. His family visited him for the first time on 21 January 2026, and he was in acceptable health.
According to previous documentation by GCHR, on 12 May 2025, his brother, Waleed Sabra, posted an appeal on his Facebook page titled “Freedom for Abdulmajeed Sabra” demanding his immediate release. The appeal began, “230 days after the arrest of lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, he remains arbitrarily detained without any clear legal process, without any proven charges, and without any justification for his continued deprivation of liberty.”
He also confirmed that, “His last interrogation was on 10 November 2025, during which he agreed to unfair conditions in exchange for his release. However, he was not released. After the interrogation, they found no real charges or accusations against him, so he was transferred to the Security and Intelligence Reformatory in the Shamlan area, where he was left for more than six months without any follow-up or clear legal proceedings.” The Shamlan area is located northwest of Sana’a.
On 16 June 2026, Sabra began a second hunger strike, as announced by his brother Waleed on his Facebook page. Waleed wrote, “Today, Tuesday, the 1st of Muharram, Yemeni lawyer and human rights activist Abdulmajeed Sabra begins an open-ended hunger strike inside the Security and Intelligence prison in Sana’a, after 260 days of detention without clear charges, convincing legal justification, or procedures guaranteeing his right to defense and a fair trial.”
The following day, his brother announced on the same page that Sabra had ended his hunger strike, explaining, “During our visit today to my brother, lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, he was still on hunger strike. After they asked him to end his strike in exchange for raising his case with the leadership of the Security and Intelligence Service, lawyer Abdulmajeed submitted a complaint, which was accepted, and they promised to take his case very seriously. In return, he agreed to end his hunger strike.”
On 31 July 2026, his mother issued a plea that read: “My dearest son, I don’t want to visit you in your cell from behind the separation wall. My wish is to live the rest of my days with you by my side, caring for me and looking after me, for I need your care now more than ever. Ten months of absence have burdened me with worries and hardship, and I can no longer bear to be separated from you. Do those who imprisoned you ever ask their own mothers what it means for a mother to be separated from her son, or for a father to be separated from his children?! I appeal to all reasonable people to have the final say in my son’s case and to release him. Enough of this injustice.”
Although his arrest came after he posted on social media celebrating the 26 September Revolution in Yemen, GCHR believes that the real reason for his targeting by the authorities is his unwavering legal defense of prisoners of conscience in Yemen.
GCHR strongly condemns the Houthi group’s continued arbitrary detention of prominent human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, who has committed no offense other than peacefully expressing his opinions. The authorities’ refusal to refer him to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for this entire period demonstrates their inability to bring any legitimate charges against him.
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Yemen: Year-long arbitrary detention of human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra
