- 2014-10-03 — Hamed bin Haydara had been held at an undisclosed location since his arrest by National Security Forces on the 3rd of December, 2013. During this time he was held in prolonged solitary confinement, severely tortured and electrocuted, and forced to sign documents while blindfolded. In September of 2014 NGOs discovered where he was being detained so the National Security was forced to relocate him to the Criminal Investigation Detention Centre in the Central Prison in Sana'a. [Defending Bahá'í Rights facebook page]
- 2015-01-08 — The first trial hearing of Hamed bin Haydara was held. Legal and human rights NGOs witnessed tampering and interference on the part of the prosecution. The prosecutor, Rajeh Zayed, threatened to detain and execute Bahá'ís. More were arrested. [Defending Bahá'í Rights Facebook page]
The Specialized Criminal Prosecution of Yemen indicted Mr. Hamid Kamali (also known as Hamed Kamal bin-Haydara) for "compromising the independence of the Republic of Yemen", reportedly in relation to his work for the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'ís based in Israel. Mr. Kamali was also accused of spreading the Bahá'í faith in the Republic of Yemen.
On 8 March 2015, at his first hearing, Mr. Kamali denied all charges against him and his case was adjourned to 4 April 2015, and subsequently to 8 November 2015. At that hearing, the judge allegedly rejected evidence of torture that Mr. Kamali had been subjected to while he was under the jurisdiction of the National Security Agency. However, following the request of his lawyer, Mr. Kamali was released on bail on medical grounds.
On 12 February 2016, Mr. Kamali appeared in a closed hearing where the General Prosecutor pursued the maximum punishment for the charges brought against him, namely execution and asset forfeiture. The next court hearing was set for 3 April 2016. [OHCHR Report] - 2019-01-08 —
Imprisoned Bahá'í Hamed bin Haydara, 55, who had been sentenced to death, appeared in court in Sana'a for an unexpected hearing. Mr Haydara had been in Houthi detention in central Sana'a since December 2013. UN human rights representatives called for the rebels to overturn his death sentence.-
In addition to Mr Haydara, five other Bahá'ís were held by the rebels in Sana'a, two of whom had been hidden since last April, They were Waleed Ayyash, 51, and Wael Al Al Ariki, 41, a human-rights activist, Sheikh Akram Ayyas, 37, had been in Houthi detention since October 2017, Badea Senai, 66, who was an urban planning adviser for the government, had been in prison since May 2017 and Qwan Mohammad Qadri, 45, who was arrested by the Houthis in August 2016. He is of Iranian descent and was an employee of the British Council in Yemen.
-
Under a prisoner exchange deal agreed at UN-led peace talks in Sweden in December, the government had repeatedly requested the release of all Bahá'í detainees held by the Houthi rebels. Each side submitted 8,000 names of Yemeni people they believe to be detained, dead or missing for the other side to locate and release as a confidence-building measure but the Iran-backed rebels have not responded to the government's request on the Bahá'í detainees. [The National 13JAN2019]
- 2019-02-19 — Hamed Bin Hayadara, who was facing a death sentence, appeared in a Sana'a court where he was charged with "foreign espionage" and "abandonment of religion". The judge adjourned the session until 12 March. He was among the six Bahá'ís detained in Sana'a. [SBSWorldNews]
- 2019-09-17 — The prosecutor in Mr. Haydara's appeal not only restated its support of the lower court decision to execute Mr. Haydara but also called to "immediately deport… all who are considered Bahá'ís" and to "ban their entry" into Yemen, significantly escalating the scope of the judicial prosecution far beyond the mandate of the appeal. In its written statement, the prosecution further requested the court to adopt any additional measures to discourage Bahá'í beliefs and their expression in the country. At a court hearing on 1 October 2019, the judge called for the listing of the assets of Mr. Haydara and of the Bahá'í National Assembly in advance of their seizure. [BIC News 10 October, 2019]
- 2019-09-26 — By a resolution of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations the international community condemned the Houthi persecution of Bahá'ís on the basis of their religion or belief. This resolution passed just two weeks after the prosecutors in a Houthi-controlled appeals court in Sana'a, Yemen who defended a previous death sentence of a Bahá'í on the basis of his beliefs, argued for the expulsion of all Bahá'ís from the country and the confiscation of their properties. [BIC News 30 September, 2019]
- 2020-03-22 —
Houthi-controlled Court of Appeal upheld the preliminary ruling that ordered the execution of Hamed bin Haydara. He was not allowed to attend the trial nor was he allowed to have anyone defend him. The court ruling also ordered that his properties, as well as those of the Bahá'í institutions in the country, be confiscated. [Republican Yeman dated 22 March 2020]
- In January 2018, Mr. Haydara was sentenced to public execution. Eighteen court hearings have been held since then, and the last one was scheduled to have taken place on March 31, before being brought forward unexpectedly to the 22nd of March. This hearing took place after more than six years of unjustified detention, false and unfounded allegations, and harsh and degrading treatment of Mr. Haydara.
- In recent years, the first instance court in Sana'a has not only tried Mr. Haydara but has targeted more than twenty members of the Bahá'í community, including members of the Bahá'í administrative structure. Mr. Haydara was one of six Bahá'ís detained in Yemen for their beliefs at the time of this hearing.
- The case of Mr. Haydara has received widespread media attention since his detention. See Media Coverage and Statements on the Persecution of the Bahá'ís in Sana'a, Yemen.
- Bahá'ís have been systematically persecuted since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Iranian state even formulated its own state doctrine in 1991 with the aim of eliminating Bahá'í as a viable community in Iran and abroad. The persecution was exported to Yemen via the influence on the Houthis. [Website of the Bahá'í community in Germany]
- For further information see BWNS 1303; BWNS 1232; BIC 21 March 2020; BIC 23 March 2020; BWNS 1036.
- Amnesty International.
- 2020-03-25 —
The Houthi authorities announced the intended release of all Bahá'í prisoners in Yemen as well as a pardon for Hamed bin Haydara whose death sentence was upheld by an appeals court in Sana'a just two days prior. The six Bahá'ís that were to be released from custody were the aforementioned Mr. Hamed bin Haydara, as well as Mr. Waleed Ayyash, Mr. Akram Ayyash, Mr. Kayvan Ghaderi, Mr. Badiullah Sanai, and Mr. Wael al-Arieghie.
- The Bahá'í International Community further advocated for the Houthi authorities to drop charges that were issued in 2018 against over 20 other Bahá'ís, to return seized assets and properties of members of the Bahá'í community, and to allow the functioning of Bahá'í institutions in Yemen.
[Asharq Al-Awsat 27 March 2020]
- The announcement was made In a general television address by Mr. Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Houthi Supreme Political Council. [BIC 25 March 2020]
- Notwithstanding the above, the prisoners were not released.
- 2020-07-30 —
It was announced that Mr. Hamed bin Haydara, Mr. Waleed Ayyash, Mr. Akram Ayyash, Mr. Kayvan Ghaderi, Mr. Badiullah Sanai, and Mr. Wael al-Arieghie, prominent Bahá'ís that had been imprisoned by the Houthi authorities in Sana'a, were released from prison in Sana'a. Their years-long incarceration on charges of espionage and heresy had drawn worldwide condemnation.
- Following their release, the Bahá'í International Community called for the lifting of all charges against these six individuals and the other Bahá'ís that had been charged, the return of their assets and properties, and the safeguarding of the rights of all Bahá'ís in Yemen to live according to their beliefs without risk of persecution.
[BIC News 30 July 2020]
- The release of the six came four months after the Shiite Houthis announced they had commuted the death sentence of Hamed bin Haydara and ordered his release, as well as that of the other five detainees. The six men were flown out of Yemen to Ethiopia late on Thursday, said bin Haydara's wife, Alham. It was reported that they were living in "safe" locations in Europe, receiving medication for wounds and diseases that they contracted during their detention inside Houthi prisons.
[San Francisco Chronicle 30 July 2020; Arab News 20/11/2020]
- The six had been detained at various times:
Mr. Haydara, an engineer, was arrested because of his beliefs at his workplace in December 2013. Following a long court case that lacked due process, he was sentenced to death in 2018. His appeal was rejected in 2020.
Mr. Ghaderi, a project officer, was arrested in 2016 when a gathering was raided.
In April 2017, Mr. Waleed Ayyash, a Yemeni tribal leader, was arrested on his way to Hudaydah and was held in an undisclosed location.
The following month, Mr. Al-Arieghie, a civil rights activist, was abducted by the authorities in Sana'a.
Mr. Sana'i, a prominent civil engineer in Yemen in his late 60s, was arrested in front of his workplace.
In October 2017, Mr. Akram Ayyash, a manager of a nonprofit organization, was arrested during a raid by security forces on a Bahá'í celebration.
- In September 2018, these five, along with nineteen others, were indicted at a court hearing in Sana'a under baseless charges. [BWNS1443]
- Diane Ala'i, representative of the Bahá'í International Community, expressed gratitude to the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for their support. [The National]
- Upon their release they were immediately exiled from the country. [AL Monitor 10 August 2020]
- Following another court hearing on 22 August 2020 the charges against the six men were not dropped and the prosecution declared the recently released men as "fugitives" despite the fact that their departure from Yemen had been a condition of their release. The prosecution asked the bailors to ensure the compulsory attendance of five of them at the next hearing scheduled for the 12th of September. [BIC News]
- 2020-11-20 — Hamed bin Haydara told Al-Sharea daily newspaper that "The Houthis are applying a policy of silent extermination of our cultural and social heritage. This is a type of systematic religious cleansing crime. The Houthis are applying the same radical ideologies that they learnt in Iran, which deems members of religious minorities heretics. There is no country in the world that has persecuted the Baha'is like Iran and the Houthis. There is a great similarity between persecution against us in Iran and Sana'a, as both use the same methods of persecution, rhetoric, rumors and lies against the Bahá'ís," he said.
Hamed bin Haydara and five others were expelled from Yemen in July. They were abruptly taken to a United Nations plane at Sana'a International Airport and forcibly sent into exile. They were not given an opportunity to settle their affairs in the country or to retrieve their belongings. They were taken to Luxembourg, where Haydara received medical treatment for injuries sustained during torture that have affected his hearing and mobility. [Iranwire 26 May 2-23]
Note: Al-Shari 'newspaper is an independent newspaper publishing since 2007 in Sana'a. In 2015 it was forced to stop publishing due to harassment and threats received by the Houthi militia and resumed its daily publication from Aden. [Arab News 20/11/2020; Iran Wire 22NOV20]
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