Yemeni journalist and writer Salah al-Din Ali al-Ruhani has been detained by the Houthi group in Sanaa for more than three months. His health and whereabouts remain unknown to his family.
Nabil al-Asidi, a board member of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, told CPJ that al-Ruhani previously worked for the Sanaa-based al-Lahdhah channel before joining Yemen Elyoum. Al-Asidi added that the Houthi group has a “long-standing practice of disappearing journalists, preventing family members from visiting them, bringing no formal charges against them, and restricting their personal freedoms.”
According to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, a security force raided his home at 6am, surrounding the residential neighborhood with two armored vehicles, two military units, a transport bus, and female police officers. The force searched his home and interrogated him for approximately five hours before taking him to an undisclosed detention facility. Attempts by colleagues to inquire with security and intelligence agencies were met with references to unspecified "procedures," with no further information provided.
Al-Ruhani has been held without formal charges, denied access to legal counsel, and his family has been prevented from visiting or communicating with him. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate condemned his continued detention outside legal guarantees and called for his immediate release, the disclosure of his whereabouts and legal status, and the protection of journalists' rights in Yemen.