Guterres condemns the referral of UN staff to Houthi courts and calls for their immediate release.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the Houthi militia’s decision to bring UN employees before special courts, calling for their immediate release.

The Houthis are arbitrarily detaining 59 UN staff members, though the exact number referred for trial was not immediately clear.

Guterres’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the Secretary-General “condemns the referral by the de facto Houthi authorities of UN personnel to their special criminal court”.

He added: “We urge the de facto authorities to annul this referral and act in good faith to ensure the immediate release of all UN staff, NGO workers, and diplomatic personnel.”

In recent years, the Iran-backed Houthis have carried out several waves of arrests and continue to detain 59 UN employees, all Yemeni nationals, who are being held incommunicado.

The Houthis have justified these detentions with accusations of espionage for the United States and Israel, but the UN has rejected these claims, stressing that its staff cannot be prosecuted for carrying out their official duties.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated in a communiqué that one of his colleagues had been referred to the Houthis’ special court based on “false accusations of espionage”.

He said: “This is absolutely unacceptable and constitutes a serious violation of human rights,” reiterating the call for the immediate release of all UN staff and other organization workers.

Houthi-controlled courts, in areas where the group holds power including the capital Sana’a, have frequently summoned NGO workers, journalists, and political opponents.

Last November, a Houthi court sentenced 17 people to death by firing squad after they were convicted of espionage, according to the Houthi-run Yemeni News Agency Saba, which did not disclose the names of those sentenced.