human rights defender
Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali
Actions and Campaigns
Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Organization affiliation
- Habitat Organization for Human Rights Development
- Women’s Leadership Union
HRD's year of birth
1990
HRD's Gender
Woman
Type of HRD
- NGO member
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Children's rights
- Women's rights
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Fatima Al-Arwali was the head of the Habitat Organization for Human Rights Development and the former head of the Yemen office of the Women’s Leadership Union. In recent years, she has documented and publicly denounced the recruitment of children and human rights violations against women captured by the Houthi movement.
Detained since
Aug 22, 2022
Charge(s)
- Espionage
Sentence
Death sentence
Latitude: 15.703433338617463
Longitude: 47.85644531250001
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Al-Arwali has been held in gruesome conditions, including incommunicado detention, without access to a judicial authority and denied contact with relatives or a legal advisor of her choice. Her first trial hearing held in September 2023 was marred by several clear legal violations, including the failure to record Al-Arwali’s statement in the hearing’s minutes that she was detained in a basement and had not seen the sun for a year and that she wanted to see her children. Likewise, the appointment of prominent human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, who was defending her, was not documented in the hearing’s minutes and he was even denied presence in the court. In court, her brother also confirmed from sight that she appeared sick and to have lost weight.
Recent case update / evolution
Al-Arwali is charged with aiding aggression, where she is alleged of recruiting herself to work with Emirati intelligence officer and agreed with them to provide them with information and coordinates for the locations of the army, the popular committees, military manufacturing sites, and missile platforms in the Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda Governorates, also in addition to their locations in Ma’rib Governorate, in exchange for receiving a monthly salary in Emirati dirhams. She was also accused of publicly impersonating another woman and hiding her real name because she was wanted by the authorities.
On 05 December 2023, the Specialised Criminal Court of First Instance in Sana’a issued a discretionary death penalty against Al-Arwali. In July 2024, Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali was brought before the Specialised Criminal Prosecution in Sana'a, where she stated that she did not want to appeal the death sentence handed down to her in December 2023.
Following these developments, the case file will be referred to the Public Prosecution office, which will in turn refer it to the Supreme Court, which will re-evaluate the initial ruling.
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1990
- HRD's Gender
- Woman
- Type of HRD
- NGO member
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Children's rights
- Women's rights
- Organization affiliation
- Habitat Organization for Human Rights Development
- Women’s Leadership Union
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Fatima Al-Arwali was the head of the Habitat Organization for Human Rights Development and the former head of the Yemen office of the Women’s Leadership Union. In recent years, she has documented and publicly denounced the recruitment of children and human rights violations against women captured by the Houthi movement.
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 15.703433338617463
Longitude: 47.85644531250001
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Aug 22, 2022
- Current Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Espionage
- Sentence
Death sentence
- Recent case update / evolution
Al-Arwali is charged with aiding aggression, where she is alleged of recruiting herself to work with Emirati intelligence officer and agreed with them to provide them with information and coordinates for the locations of the army, the popular committees, military manufacturing sites, and missile platforms in the Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda Governorates, also in addition to their locations in Ma’rib Governorate, in exchange for receiving a monthly salary in Emirati dirhams. She was also accused of publicly impersonating another woman and hiding her real name because she was wanted by the authorities.
On 05 December 2023, the Specialised Criminal Court of First Instance in Sana’a issued a discretionary death penalty against Al-Arwali. In July 2024, Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali was brought before the Specialised Criminal Prosecution in Sana'a, where she stated that she did not want to appeal the death sentence handed down to her in December 2023.
Following these developments, the case file will be referred to the Public Prosecution office, which will in turn refer it to the Supreme Court, which will re-evaluate the initial ruling.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Al-Arwali has been held in gruesome conditions, including incommunicado detention, without access to a judicial authority and denied contact with relatives or a legal advisor of her choice. Her first trial hearing held in September 2023 was marred by several clear legal violations, including the failure to record Al-Arwali’s statement in the hearing’s minutes that she was detained in a basement and had not seen the sun for a year and that she wanted to see her children. Likewise, the appointment of prominent human rights lawyer Abdulmajeed Sabra, who was defending her, was not documented in the hearing’s minutes and he was even denied presence in the court. In court, her brother also confirmed from sight that she appeared sick and to have lost weight.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
7 relationships, 6 entities