Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
Article 1 of the Constitution of Yemen of 1991, which theoretically applies to government-controlled areas (only 20 to 30 percent of the population), declares the country to be an independent Arab state. Article 2 declares Islam as the state religion. Article 3 states that “Islamic Shariʻah is the source of all legislation”.
The president must be a Muslim who “practices his Islamic duties” (Article 107, d). Although non-Muslims can run for the House of Representatives, they must “fulfil their religious duties” (Article 64, b-4).
The president, his deputy, members of the House of Representatives, the prime minister and cabinet members, the speaker, and members of the Consultative Council, take the oath of office by saying: “I swear by Almighty Allah: To adhere to the Quran (the Book of God) and the traditions established by Prophet Mohammed” (Article 160).
Officially, “freedom of thought and expression of opinion” is protected in Article 42 “within the limits of the law” and the constitution declares that the state adheres to international human rights law. In practice, neither the constitution nor other laws protect freedom of religion, belief, or conscience. Proselytising is forbidden as well as conversion from Islam to another religion. Mockery of religion is also prohibited.
In general, the construction of new buildings requires government approval, which implicitly includes places of worship even though they are not specifically mentioned.
Article 52 states: “Residences, places of worship, and educational institutions have a sanctity which may not be violated through surveillance or search except in the cases stipulated by the law.” Article 60 (implicitly referring to Islam) states: “Defending religion and the homeland is a sacred duty, military duty is an honour, and national service is to be organized by law”.
Islamic religious education is compulsory in schools. In government-controlled regions, schools are expected to provide the same curriculum to both Sunni and Shi’a pupils. In Houthi-controlled areas, Zaydi principles are taught. Other forms of religious education are not provided in public schools. There have been reports of continued Houthi efforts to impose their religious practises on non-Zaydi residents in the northern areas under their control, including efforts to ban music, require women to wear full veils, and forbid gender mixing in cafes unless couples had children or were in possession of a marriage licence.
Yemen held three parliamentary elections after the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen in 1990, the last one in 2003. The 2009 planned elections were cancelled because of a legal dispute over election reform. Then President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in 2012. He was replaced by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who was elected for a two-year transitional period at the helm of a national unity government. This solution proved short-lived when the Houthi’s major political force “Ansar Allah” – Houthi Shi’a rebels from the former North Yemen – allied with former President Saleh and staged an armed takeover against the government in 2014. Hadi resigned in January 2015 and fled to Aden. Consequently, the rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, and the presidential palace. The Saudi government was quick to intervene and on 26 March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a militarily operation named “Restoring Hope” to re-install President Hadi.
Today the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi has “lost control over most of the population, the territory and the borders of the Republic of Yemen” with “political groups, militant Islamist organizations and militias, some sponsored by members of the Saudi-led coalition taking over. The repeated fighting between Shi’as, Sunnis, jihadists, and tribal groups have left the poorest country in the Middle East in a state of permanent civil war.
A UN-backed cease-fire entered into force in April 2022, but failed to be extended at the 2 October 2022 deadline.
In June 2015, the European Union imposed a travel ban on Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi and Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, son of the former president, and froze their assets for their role in undermining Yemen’s peace and stability.
Incidents and developments
The ongoing war between the Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthis has caused one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, including a cholera outbreak. According to a 2022 UNFPA report, Yemen suffers: “Violent conflict, an economic blockade, currency collapse, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic” which has displaced 4.3 million people and forced almost three quarters of the population (23.4 million people) to turn to humanitarian aid. U.N. organizations warn of an imminent famine.
According to the World Health Organisation, the total number of suspected cholera cases reported from October 2016 to April 2021 was estimated at 2.5 million people including almost 4,000 related deaths with a fatality rate of 0.16 percent.
Minority religious groups such as Baha’is, Christians, Hindus, and Jews have reported high levels of harassment, especially in Houthi-controlled areas. Houthis have arrested numerous Baha’is, raiding their homes and religious centres. Jews, the only indigenous non-Muslim group, face increasing anti-Semitism including anti-Semitic textbook material, and attempts at forced conversion to Islam. Due to the ongoing conflict, it was not possible to monitor the situation of Ismaili Muslims.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government was weakened by the Houthi insurgency and lacks the capacity to enforce laws. Officially, the constitution only applies to the regions under governmental control. Populations in Houthi-controlled regions suffer harsher conditions.
Although terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or ISIS-Y seem to have been weakened, the former is still present “in the central and eastern provinces. Its priority is to establish control over ports along the Gulf of Aden and oil and gas infrastructure facilities”. According to an October 2021 UN report on Yemen, the number of arbitrary killings, disappearances, kidnappings, and other acts of violence committed by various groups is still substantial. The report also lists violations of privacy rights and limits on freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement.
According to the US State Department, at the end of 2021, Houthis controlled one-third of the western part of the country where 70 percent to 80 percent of the population lives and might face a variety of forms of persecution. Those at most risk are religious communities.
There are perhaps only 10 Jews remaining in Yemen. In 2021, 13 Jews migrated to Egypt. Other families have left for the United Arab Emirates. According to Dr Elie Abadie, Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates in the United Arab Emirates, it took UAE authorities two days to respond to his request to let these families in, and 10 days to implement the decision.
The exact numbers of Christians remaining in Yemen is difficult to assess but the Christian community is shrinking due to the violence and persecution; as an Islamic nation with blasphemy and apostasy laws in effect, Christians, Jews and Bahai, and other minority faith groups, are particularly vulnerable. Prior to the Houthi takeover of the capital Sanaa, Christians practiced their faith in secret at their homes in Sanaa, Taiz and Marib. Today the majority of Christians – estimated at some 2,000 according to the Saudi linked news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat – “have since emigrated from Yemen and moved to Beirut or Cyprus, before later moving to other countries”. The Baha’is in Yemen are also estimated to number 2,000 and suffer similar levels of persecution.
On 12 January 2021, Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani wrote on Twitter, “Iranian-backed Houthi militia continues to prosecute minorities in (the) illegal trial of 24 members of the Baha’i community, including six of their leaders deported outside Yemen after detention and looting of their assets in flagrant violation of (international) humanitarian law.” In April of the same year, he issued a statement through the government’s official news outlet Saba condemning Houthi persecution of Jews and Baha’is. In August 2021, Al-Eryani wrote: “Members of the Baha’i sect have been subjected to organised terrorism by Houthi militia”, adding that the government condemned the Houthis for forcing out the last three Jewish families from the country and for the continued detention of Levi Salem Musa Marhabi. At the time of writing, he was still imprisoned despite a 2019 Houthi Court of Appeal decision to free him.
In February, two Saudi-influenced newspapers reported on the fate of Christians under the Houthis. Among other topics, the articles addressed Christian persecutions and more specifically, the case of a convert, Mushir Khalidi who became a priest. According to the authors, Khalidi and other converts were held in solitary confinement and forced to renounce their faith. According to the same source, Houthi leader, Khaled al-Madani, responsible for monitoring so-called “signs of westernisation”, is also in charge of cracking down on Christians, deciding which professional fields women are allowed to work in and examining dress code.
In February, the Biden administration formally delisted Yemen’s Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization”. The move reversed the 19 January Trump designation, which the UN and aid groups had argued risked worsening the dire humanitarian situation.
In February, the Baha’i International Community published a statement informing that the Houthis continued to “intimidate and endanger the lives of Baha’is”. It stressed the fact that 19 Baha’is who had been accused, imprisoned, and expelled from the country, were to face a new trial. They could either attend it and be jailed, or not return to Yemen and be accused of being fugitives.
In April, Houthi militiamen appeared on social media giving the Nazi salute and screaming among other things “Allah is greater, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.” In November 2020, a similar video was aired by the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.
On 10 June, according to a report by the Yemeni Coalition for Monitoring Human Rights Violations (YCMHRV), Houthis attacked a mosque in the al-Mujama’a neighbourhood (Ma’rib Governorate) during prayer time killing 11 civilians.
A 10 September – 1 October report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen noted that Houthi leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, had declared in March 2021 on Baha’i and Jewish communities: “They don’t want to coexist … they want to take away the sovereignty of Islam.” The same report investigated cases of children being recruited by the coalition and the Yemeni government for training in Saudi Arabia as well as the imprisonment of children accused of allegedly being connected to the other warring party.
On 6 October, the Australia-based anti-capital punishment organisation, Eleos Justice, published an article on Yemeni Baha’i leader Hamed Kamal bin Haydara. Haydara described his own ordeal, and how Baha’is in the Houthi-controlled parts are tortured and suffer “systematic and silent extermination”. Haydara was detained in 2013, accused of apostasy and espionage in 2015 and sentenced to death in 2018. He was released in 2020.
On 31 October, a Sunni-dominated religious school in Juba District, Ma’rib Governorate was hit by missiles launched by Houthis. Dozens, including children and women, were killed and wounded.
On 19 January 2022, after Houthi missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates, President Biden stated “his administration is considering re-designating Yemen's Houthi movement as an international terrorist organization”. Supporters to the redesignation include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Israel though opponents, including the UN, warned that the move could “precipitate a collapse of Yemen’s economy and accelerate the region’s poorest country’s descent into famine”.
On 26 January 2022, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen addressed to the President of the UN Security Council a 300-page report on the situation in Yemen. Among other things, it highlighted Houthis’ “systematic persecution” of Yemeni Jews. In the same report, Abdul Malik al-Houthi claimed that a Western nation was trying to spread Baha’ism, Ahmadiyya and atheism in Yemen in order to undermine Islam. Because of the office occupied by the Houthi leader, these declarations encourage systematic persecution of religious minorities.
In a January interview, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia Bishop Paul Hinder described the war as “a silenced conflict” decrying the lack of political will to end the war as there are “fewer economic interests at stake in Yemen.” He concluded by warning the lack of international attention was “a fatal self-deception, because it has a strategic position. The regional powers in the Middle East have taken notice, but the others seem to be sleeping... Except if they can sell weapons!”
The bishop also outlined the Catholic presence in the country noting that in the capital and in Al Hudaydah, there are eight Missionary Sisters of Charity and one Catholic priest, “but the situation of division and insecurity limits their activity.”
In early April, the Saudi-backed government and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels signed a cease-fire agreement. The truce was renewed on 2 June for another two months though it collapsed on 2 October. The Norwegian Refugee Council estimates that the truce “resulted in a 50% drop in civilian casualties in the first month”.
In a 17 August Arab News report, children were recruited by the Houthis through financial incentives in ‘summer camps’ where they were taught that “real Islam” meant allegiance to the Houthis and hatred of Israel and the United States. According to a 29 June 2021 report by the Sanaa-based NGO Seyag Childhood Protection, the Houthi organisation enlisted at least half a million children in 2021 and trained them in 6,000 ‘summer camps’.
On 6 October 2022, the Baha’i International Community addressed the 51st UN Human Rights Council, explaining the situation of Baha’is in Yemen. The representatives stated: “the Yemeni Bahá’ís remain systematically persecuted at the hands of the Houthis simply because of their religious affiliation. At present, 24 Bahá’ís are still under indictment. The six Bahá’ís who were unjustly detained and tortured in Sana’a and later deported from the country have now been branded by the authorities as fugitives”.
In December, the United Nations estimate that since fighting escalated in 2015, “around 375,000 people, or 1.25% of the total population, have been killed by wartime violence” with more than 11,000 children injured or killed.
Prospects for religious freedom
The ongoing civil war threatens the cohesion of Yemeni society and the safety of its people. The length and intensification of the armed conflict make talks at a national level increasingly difficult. Taking advantage of the country’s social, political and security instability, foreign countries and radical Islamist groups from different geographical areas and political and ideological tendencies, have turned Yemen into a base for their operations. The continuous fighting and high tensions remain a cause for concern as they affect the life of millions of Yemenis. As long as the current conflict goes on, human rights and freedoms, including religious freedom, are of little to no importance. The prospects for Yemenis are negative.
Yemen