Fatma al-Arwali, a 34-year-old human rights defender, is at risk of execution after the Huthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Sana’a, Yemen, convicted her of ‘aiding an enemy country’ and sentenced her to death on December 5, 2023, following a grossly unfair trial. Since her arrest in August 2022, the Huthi’s security and intelligence service subjected Fatma al-Arwali to a litany of human rights violations, including enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention, in conditions violating the absolute prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment.
take action:
- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
- Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 8.24. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.
contact information:
sample letter:
Dear Mohamed Abdelsalam,
I am deeply concerned that woman human rights defender, Fatma al-Arwali, is at risk of execution after the Huthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Sana’a sentenced her to death on December 5, 2023, following a grossly unfair trial. Fears for her life mounted after her brother received a phone call on January 18, 2024, from an unknown number and was told that she will be executed on February 21, 2024, in Tahrir Square in Sana’a. On January 21, 2024, he visited the security and intelligence service center in al-Siyasi neighborhood in Sana’a, and officials denied there was an order to execute her.
On August 13, 2022, Huthi security forces arrested Fatma al-Arwali at a checkpoint in al Manshour in Ta’iz governorate. They subjected her to enforced disappearance for about eight months, while authorities denied her family any information about her fate and whereabouts.
We urge the Huthi de facto authorities to immediately quash the conviction and death sentence and ensure that Fatma al-Arwali receives a fair retrial before a competent, independent, and impartial court without recourse to the death penalty.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- READ THE FULL URGENT ACTION: Wordopens in a new tab or PDFopens in a new tab
- GET INSPIRED: Read about the people you have helped
- READ TIPS for writing effective letters and emails
- CONTACT US: [email protected]