Houthis release Ethiopian-Yemeni model after five years in prison
Entisar al-Hammadi was sentenced on charges of prostitution, drug abuse, fornication, which her lawyer and rights groups say were false
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SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have released model Entisar al-Hammadi after holding her in prison for nearly five years, her lawyer and a security source told AFP on Sunday.
Hammadi, 23, was arrested in February 2021 in Sanaa while heading to a photo shoot.
She was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of prostitution, drug abuse and fornication — charges described by her lawyer and rights groups as false and targeting women’s liberties.
“Entisar al-Hammadi was released yesterday evening and is now in her home,” her lawyer, Khaled al-Kamal, told AFP.
“Entisar suffered from various illnesses and her condition had deteriorated as a result of the injustice she suffered,” he added.
Hammadi had attempted to take her own life in 2021, rights groups said at the time.
Born to an Ethiopian mother and Yemeni father, Hammadi had posted dozens of pictures online in traditional costume, jeans or a leather jacket, both with and without an Islamic headscarf.
She has thousands of followers on Instagram and Facebook.
According to HRW, Hammadi had worked as a model for four years and acted in two Yemeni TV series.
Amnesty International said that upon her arrest, Hammadi was “interrogated while blindfolded, physically and verbally abused, subjected to racist insults and forced to ‘confess’ to several offenses – including drug possession and prostitution.”
Violence against women, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, soared after Yemen plunged into a civil war in 2014 that the United Nations says has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Times of Israel Community.