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UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 The United Nations chief called on Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels on Tuesday not to prosecute detained U.N. personnel and to work \u201cin good faith\u201d to immediately release all detained staff from the U.N. and foreign agencies and missions.<\/p>\n
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the referrals of the U.N. personnel to the Houthis’ special criminal court and called the detentions of U.N. staff<\/a> a violation of international law, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.<\/p>\n There are currently 59 U.N. personnel, all Yemeni nationals, detained by the Iranian-backed Houthis, in addition to dozens from nongovernmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions, he said.<\/p>\n He said a number of them have been referred to the criminal court in Yemen\u2019s capital, Sanaa. \u201cThere were procedures going on in the court, I believe, today and all of this is very, very worrying to us,\u201d Dujarric said.<\/p>\n The court in late November convicted 17 people<\/a> of spying for foreign governments, part of a yearslong Houthi crackdown on Yemeni staffers working for foreign organizations.<\/p>\n The court said the 17 people were part of \u201cespionage cells within a spy network affiliated with the American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence,\u201d according to the Houthi-run SABA news agency. They were sentenced to death by firing squad in public, but a lawyer for some of them said the sentence can be appealed.<\/p>\n U.N. human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk said in a statement Tuesday that one of those referred to the court was from his office. He said the colleague, who has been detained since November 2021, was presented to the \u201cso-called\u201d court \u201con fabricated charges of espionage connected to his work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is totally unacceptable and a grave human rights violence,\u201d T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n He said detainees have been held in \u201cintolerable conditions\u201d and his office has received \u201cvery concerning reports of mistreatment of numerous staff.\u201d Dujarric said some have been held incommunicado for years.<\/p>\n Dujarric said the U.N. is in constant contact with the Houthis, and the secretary-general and others have also raised the issue of the detainees with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman and others.<\/p>\n The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and since then they have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen\u2019s internationally recognized government, which is supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.<\/p>\n The November verdict was the latest in the Houthi crackdown in areas of Yemen under their control. They have imprisoned thousands<\/a> of people during the civil war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n