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Baha’is Fear Deportations from Yemen

by AFP

Shoppers walk at a market in Sanaa’s old quarter, where many Baha’i reside. Mohammed Huwais—AFP

The thousands-strong community is concerned that a court run by Houthi rebels could target them in Sanaa

The Baha’i community voiced fear on Monday that a court under Yemen’s Houthi rebels could order the mass expulsion of members of the faith.

The community said that an appeals court in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the insurgents, is expected to rule Tuesday on a death sentence handed down on religious grounds to Hamed bin Haydara, a Baha’i detained since 2013.

Citing statements by the prosecutor, the Baha’i International Community said it feared the judge would not only uphold the execution, but order the deportation of Baha’is from Yemen. “By such a ruling, he would target and threaten an entire religious community in Yemen—which wishes for nothing more than to contribute to its nation’s progress,” Diane Ala’i, a representative of the community to the United Nations, said in a statement. She warned Baha’is could face “statelessness and expulsion, confiscation of assets and threat of extermination in the country.”

Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, voiced concern about reports that the Houthis were looking to deport the Baha’is or seize their assets. “We urge them to release arbitrarily detained Baha’is like Hamed bin Haydara and respect religious freedom,” he tweeted earlier this month.

Several thousand Baha’is—members of the 19th century faith founded by the Iranian-born Baha’u’llah that calls for unity among religions and equality between men and women—are estimated to live in Yemen. The Houthis are allied with Iran’s Shia clerical regime, which restricts the rights of Baha’is despite allowing freedom of religion for Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians.

Baha’is consider the Baha’u’llah to be a prophet, a sharp contrast from the orthodox view of Islam’s Prophet being God’s final messenger.

Houthis control much of Yemen despite a U.S.-backed military campaign led by Saudi Arabia, which has contributed to what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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