Houthis Abduct Several Children in Yemen's Raymah Province

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms has condemned the ongoing targeting of children by the Houthi group, following the abduction of five children from the family of Sheikh Saleh Hantous in Raymah province, days after he was killed in his home.

According to the network, the Houthi group is still holding the following children:

Asad Abdulrahman Saad Ahmed Abdullah Hantous (14 years old)

Bassam Abdulrahman Saad Ahmed Abdullah Hantous (16 years old)

Anas Abdulrahman Hantous (10 years old)

Abdulmajid Yahya Abdu Hantous (10 years old)

Ghamdan Ali Mohammed Hantous (10 years old)

The children were reportedly abducted as part of a wider campaign of arrests and reprisals against members of Sheikh Hantous’s family. They were taken to undisclosed locations, in what the network described as a blatant violation of children's rights.

The organization revealed that information obtained from sources within the group indicates that some of the abducted children have been subjected to mistreatment and coercive attempts to extract confessions, describing these actions as compounded humanitarian crimes.

These violations, the network said, are part of a broader pattern of repression against civilians — especially children — in areas under Houthi control, posing serious risks to their physical and psychological well-being.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms called on the international community and the United Nations to urgently intervene and pressure the Houthi group to immediately release the abducted children, ensure their safety, and hold those responsible accountable for these grave breaches of international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.