Tawfiq Al-Mansouri, a Yemeni journalist who was sentenced to death by Houthi authorities in April, has been denied crucial medical treatment, potentially putting his life at risk.
Houthi treatment of Al-Mansouri, who reportedly suffers from diabetes, kidney failure, heart problems, prostate inflammation, and asthma, has been described as “an act of cruelty that violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment”, with Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa stating that:
“Since his detention and due to terrible detention conditions, he has suffered chronic illness including; diabetes, kidney failure, heart problems, prostate inflammation and asthma. More recently we received worrying information that he contracted COVID-19 in June, and that since October, his health condition has further deteriorated as he is being denied crucial treatment for his heart problems.
Al-Mansouri was one of four journalists – Tawfiq al-Mansouri, Akram al Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, and Hareth Hamid – to be arbitrarily detained by Houthi authorities in 2015. The group was eventually sentenced to death in April 2020 in a “grossly unfair trial”, with the Houthi aligned court basing their verdict on trumped-up charges including “spying for Saudi Arabia.”
Houthi authorities have repeatedly used the lives of journalists as bargaining chips; with the prisoner exchange in October 2020, where 5 Yemeni journalists were released in exchange for 680 Houthi rebels, exemplifying their use of innocent civilians for their own political gain.
The urgency of the case of these 4 innocent journalists, who have been sentenced to death for simply doing their job of covering the war in Yemen, has only been made more apparent by their worsening health and appalling detention conditions.
The International Observatory of Human Rights continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Tawfiq al-Mansouri, Akram al Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, and Hareth Hamid.
Read more about IOHR’s campaign to #SaveYemeniJournalists here: https://iohr.rightsobservatory.org/campaign/saveyemenijournalists/