A model held for months by Houthi rebels in Yemen has gone on trial, according to Human Rights Watch, which called the process “unfair” and riddled with “irregularities and abuse”.
Entisar al-Hammadi was arrested in February in Sana’a, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control the Yemeni capital are enforcing a “morality” campaign.
Born to an Ethiopian mother and Yemeni father, the 20-year-old had been pictured online in traditional dress as well as leather and denim jackets and sometimes she went without a traditional headscarf.
With her high cheekbones and green eyes, Hammadi had several thousand followers on Instagram and Facebook where she posted sessions with stylists and designers.
“Houthi authorities are carrying out an unfair trial of a Yemeni actress and model,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
The model’s career path is seen as unorthodox by traditional Yemeni society - "My family rejected this in the beginning, but I told them that is my dream and I will achieve it one day" https://t.co/OGOaRkgrFq
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 30, 2021
Hammadi was detained on the trumped up charges of “committing an indecent act and drug possession,” HRW quoted her lawyer as saying.
Her case was transferred to court in June, with Hammadi appearing for hearings on June 6 and June 9, said the New York-based group.
According to HRW, Hammadi had worked as a model for four years and acted in two Yemeni TV series last year.
“Sources told Human Rights Watch that Houthi authorities forced Hammadi to sign a document while blindfolded during interrogation and offered to release her if she would help them entrap their enemies with ‘sex and drugs’,” it added.
The lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the authorities halted plans for a forced “virginity test” after Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the plans on May 7.
The model’s career path is seen as unorthodox by traditional Yemeni society - "My family rejected this in the beginning, but I told them that is my dream and I will achieve it one day" https://t.co/OGOaRkgrFq
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 30, 2021
It also said the public prosecutor had prevented Hammadi’s lawyer from accessing her file and a gunman then threatened him on April 27, telling him to drop her as his client.
The Houthis, who seized Sana’a from Yemen’s internationally-recognised government in 2014 and control much of the northern part of the war-torn country, have not commented on her case.
In recent weeks they have launched a “morality” campaign compared by Yemen experts to the Islamist State’s draconian moral code banning music and song in social functions.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
