Arya News - The United States late Wednesday called on Yemen-based Houthis to release all current and former staff the rebels have kidnapped.
Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The United States late Wednesday called on Yemen-based Houthis to release all current and former staff the rebels have kidnapped, amid ongoing legal proceedings alleging international spy cells operating in the Middle Eastern country under the cover of humanitarian aid.
It was unclear how many current and former staff, all Yemeni nationals, of the U.S. Mission to Yemen were in Houthi custody. The United Nations has said 59 of its staff and dozens of diplomatic mission, NGO and civil society personnel have been detained by the Iran-proxy militia.
"The Iran-backed Houthis, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, have intensified their campaign of intimidation and abuse against Yemeni citizens affiliated with international organizations and foreign governments," State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in a statement .
"The Houthis" arrests of those staff, and the sham proceedings that have been brought against them, are further evidence that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people as a way to stay in power.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Mission staff."
The Houthis have detained and are trying the workers they allege are members of foreign espionage cells linked to United States, Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Late last month the Houthi-controlled Foreign Ministry warned the United States against interfering in its judicial independence, saying it only confirms Washington"s involvement in espionage against them.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is "gravely concerned" about the arbitrary detention of his 59 personnel and the dozens of others in Houthi captivity and condemns their referral to a special criminal court.
Some of the U.N. personnel have been held by the Houthis for years without any due process and in violation of international law, he said, adding that they are immune from legal process for all acts performed in their official capacity.
In late August, 11 U.N. employees were abducted by Houthi-controlled authorities after they raided World Food Program facilities in the capital Sanaa. The raid followed Israeli airstrikes that killed the Houthis" prime minister, Ahmed al-Wawai, along with several other ministers.
Hans Grundberg, U.N. special envoy for Yemen, said then that there were 23 U.N. workers in Houthi captivity.
On Tuesday, Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said one of his colleagues who has been detained by the Houthis since November 2021 has been presented before the Special Criminal Court on "fabricated charges of espionage connected to his work."
"This is totally unacceptable and a grave human rights violation," he said.
"Our colleagues, along with dozens of other U.N. and humanitarian staff, have been detained while bravely carrying out their work assisting the people of Yemen, and held in intolerable conditions ever since," he said in a statement .
The U.N., he said, has received reports that numerous detained staff have been mistreated.
"Their suffering, and that of their families, has gone on far too long," he said. "Their safety and well-being are at grave risk."
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. secretary-general, told reporters during a Tuesday press conference that they have not been able to speak with any of their detained staff but are in constant communication with the Houthis trying to secure their release.
"We don"t want them to be in this court, and we want them to be released," he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen said Wednesday that the "sham trials" are evidence of the Houthis" weakness.
"The Houthis continue to use intimidation to distract from their inability to govern legitimately," it said on X .
"We call for the immediate release of these unjustly held Yemeni citizens, so that they can return to their families after years of illegal detention."
The U.N., along with humanitarian and non-governmental organizations, operate in Yemen as its 12-year civil war between the Houthi militants and the internationally recognized Yemeni government has made it one of the world"s worst humanitarian crises.