UN staff member dies in Houthi custody after two years of arbitrary detention
Turk demands medical records and accountability while more than seventy UN colleagues remain in the cells of a movement the same organization feeds and mediates with
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UN demands investigation after death of staff member held by Houthis
euronews.com
The UN demanded an urgent investigation on November 1 into the death of Mohammad el Shami, a staff member of its Human Rights Office in Yemen who died in Houthi custody after being arbitrarily detained since June 6, 2024. High Commissioner Volker Türk said Shami's family had been informed of the death only recently, more than a month after it occurred, and had received no explanation of its cause.
Türk demanded full disclosure of medical and detention records, preservation of evidence, and independent scrutiny of any stated cause of death. He added that he remains gravely concerned for other UN personnel still detained, including seven colleagues from his own office, and appealed for their immediate and unconditional release. Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani put the number higher: more than 70 UN staff members and dozens of humanitarian workers remain in Houthi custody.
The detentions date to June 2024, when the Houthis announced the arrest of people they accused of belonging to a US-Israeli "spy network." The organization now demanding accountability from the Houthis is the same one feeding Yemen through the war: the World Food Programme's operations run through the same territory where its colleagues are held, and the Taiz governor's recent famine declaration — with a million civilians starved by both sides' sieges — depends on UN convoys the Houthis can strangle at will.
The war around the detentions is escalating. The Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in July; their strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport last month killed 13 and injured more than 300; Egypt's parliament has approved military support for the Saudi side. The mediators, the food suppliers and the hostages are all the same organization — and more than seventy of its staff are in the cells of a movement that calls them spies.