AL-MUKALLA: The UK and EU joined 25 international organizations in urging the Houthis in Yemen to investigate the death of a humanitarian worker in their custody. 

The UK Embassy in Yemen expressed condolences on Tuesday to the family of Save the Children worker Hisham Al-Hakimi, who died inside a Houthi detention facility last week, and appealed for details on how he died to be released.

“We support the UN’s call for information on the circumstances of Hisham’s detention and death,” the embassy said in a statement on the social media platform X, sharing a prior request from David Gressly, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, urging the Houthis to provide an explanation for the employee’s death.

The EU Delegation to Yemen also demanded an investigation into the death of the Save the Children employee, as well as the release of all UN and US diplomatic mission personnel held by the Houthis.

“They called for the circumstances of Mr Al Hakimi’s death to be promptly and thoroughly clarified. They reiterated their call for staff of UN and diplomatic missions detained in Sanaa to be released,” the EU ambassadors to Yemen said on X after a meeting in which they reviewed Houthi human rights violations.

Similarly, Save the Children announced that two-thirds of its operations in Houthi-controlled areas would be halted until the Houthis began investigating the death of its employee, noting that it had requested the assistance of an external law firm to investigate the employee’s detention and the organization’s responses before and after his death.

Al-Hakimi, 44, who had worked for Save the Children since 2006, was kidnapped from his home in Sanaa on Sept. 9 by the Houthis and forcibly disappeared, despite demands from his family and the organization to visit him, disclose his whereabouts, or provide legal justifications for his arrest.

“This is a tragic event that will have repercussions for our staff member’s family, his colleagues and our work in Yemen. It is paramount that an investigation into his death is conducted as soon as possible,” Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, said in a statement.

Similarly, 25 international organizations working in Yemen have signed a statement expressing support for Save the Children and urging for an inquiry into Al-Hakimi’s death in Houthi custody. The groups also urged the Houthis to release the UN personnel.

“We are concerned by reports that Hisham was detained without charges or legal proceedings and that no one was able to speak to or see him through the period of his detention. We call for an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Hisham’s death,” the 25 organizations said in their letter.

The Houthis have not provided an official response or addressed the calls for an investigation into the death of the aid worker, either officially or through their supporters on social media.

Due to brutal torture, dozens of Yemenis have died in Houthi detentions or shortly after their release during the past several years. The Houthis continue to detain three Yemeni employees of the UN and a number of Yemenis employed by the US Embassy in Yemen.