Amb. Edmund Fitton-Brown
Senior Advisor, Counter Extremism Project (CEP)

On March 20, 2024, CEP hosted a webinar to present two new, in-depth reports concerning Houthi human rights abuses. 

The Houthis are currently claiming humanitarian motives, more specifically a desire to stop the fighting in Gaza, as the impetus behind their ongoing attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. However, their own record of atrocious human rights abuses at home belies this claim. They have engaged in a concerted campaign to target vulnerable members of Yemeni society, including women, journalists and religious minorities, in order to force them to comply with the group’s radical ideology. The Houthis do so through a coordinated effort by their security services and the legal system which they coopted and dominate. These are responsible for detaining, torturing, unfairly trying, and then convicting individuals who have expressed perspectives which differ from those of Abdelmalek al-Houthi’s. 

These two new CEP reports which focus on Houthi oppression of women, journalists, and religious minorities document these abuses of vulnerable groups and identify the individuals or institutions that are responsible for or complicit in these excesses. Today, members of all three categories of vulnerable demographics remain imprisoned in Houthi jails where they are subject to relentless torture sessions. For example, the last Jew in Yemen, Libi Marhabi, has been unjustly imprisoned by the Houthis for the last 8 years and has been subjected to such brutal torture that he lost all of his teeth, is partially blind, has lost mobility, and is in failing health – at the age of 35. 

Nura al-Jarwi, who was herself a prisoner in Houthi jails, provided testimony based on her experience as a Houthi prisoner and spoke about the plight of women in Yemen who are subject to Houthi abuse.

Victim of Houthi Regime Providing Testimony:
Nura al-Jarwi
President, Association for the Protection of Violated Women and Survivors of Houthi Prisons

On March 20, 2024, CEP hosted a webinar to present two new, in-depth reports concerning Houthi human rights abuses.

The Houthis are currently claiming humanitarian motives, more specifically a desire to stop the fighting in Gaza, as the impetus behind their ongoing attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. However, their own record of atrocious human rights abuses at home belies this claim. They have engaged in a concerted campaign to target vulnerable members of Yemeni society, including women, journalists and religious minorities, in order to force them to comply with the group’s radical ideology. The Houthis do so through a coordinated effort by their security services and the legal system which they coopted and dominate. These are responsible for detaining, torturing, unfairly trying, and then convicting individuals who have expressed perspectives which differ from those of Abdelmalek al-Houthi’s.

These two new CEP reports which focus on Houthi oppression of women, journalists, and religious minorities document these abuses of vulnerable groups and identify the individuals or institutions that are responsible for or complicit in these excesses. Today, members of all three categories of vulnerable demographics remain imprisoned in Houthi jails where they are subject to relentless torture sessions. For example, the last Jew in Yemen, Libi Marhabi, has been unjustly imprisoned by the Houthis for the last 8 years and has been subjected to such brutal torture that he lost all of his teeth, is partially blind, has lost mobility, and is in failing health – at the age of 35.

Nura al-Jarwi, who was herself a prisoner in Houthi jails, provided testimony based on her experience as a Houthi prisoner and spoke about the plight of women in Yemen who are subject to Houthi abuse.

Claire Jungman
Chief of Staff, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)

On January 30, 2024, CEP held a webinar to present a policy paper concerning the threat to global security posed by the Houthi attacks on the international shipping industry since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023. 

Report here: https://counterextre.me/StakesOfHouthiAggression

Since November 18, the Iran-backed Houthis have launched dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, prompting the United States to announce a multinational naval operation to protect global shipping interests. Several major shipping companies, meanwhile, have started diverting shipments around the Cape of Good Hope—adding weeks to shipping times, fuel consumption, and increasing shipping and insurance costs. Tensions and confrontations have escalated throughout 2024: on January 9, the Houthis ignored recent warnings and launched a complex missile attack against several commercial ships; on January 11, the U.S.-led coalition launched retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets. Most recently, on January 15 the Houthis struck a U.S.-owned and operated cargo ship for the first time. The Biden administration re-designated the Houthis as Specially Designated Global Terrorists on January 17.

These attacks, and the international response to them, have escalated and expanded the stakes of the war between Israel and Hamas. Houthi aggression has significant security and economic implications for international trade and the fight against ramping inflation both in Europe and the United States, as the Red Sea shipping route is a vital component of the global economy. CEP’s policy paper explores the consequences of recent Houthi aggression on the global shipping industry as well as its possible implications for both the peace process in Yemen and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East connected to Hamas’s war against Israel.

Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown
Former UK Ambassador to Yemen and Senior Advisor, Counter Extremism Project (CEP)

On January 30, 2024, CEP held a webinar to present a policy paper concerning the threat to global security posed by the Houthi attacks on the international shipping industry since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023. 

Report here: https://counterextre.me/StakesOfHouthiAggression

Since November 18, the Iran-backed Houthis have launched dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, prompting the United States to announce a multinational naval operation to protect global shipping interests. Several major shipping companies, meanwhile, have started diverting shipments around the Cape of Good Hope—adding weeks to shipping times, fuel consumption, and increasing shipping and insurance costs. Tensions and confrontations have escalated throughout 2024: on January 9, the Houthis ignored recent warnings and launched a complex missile attack against several commercial ships; on January 11, the U.S.-led coalition launched retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets. Most recently, on January 15 the Houthis struck a U.S.-owned and operated cargo ship for the first time. The Biden administration re-designated the Houthis as Specially Designated Global Terrorists on January 17.

These attacks, and the international response to them, have escalated and expanded the stakes of the war between Israel and Hamas. Houthi aggression has significant security and economic implications for international trade and the fight against ramping inflation both in Europe and the United States, as the Red Sea shipping route is a vital component of the global economy. CEP’s policy paper explores the consequences of recent Houthi aggression on the global shipping industry as well as its possible implications for both the peace process in Yemen and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East connected to Hamas’s war against Israel.