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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the death of a UN staff member while in the custody of Houthi authorities in Yemen.
Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shami, who worked for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), had been arbitrarily detained by the Houthis since June 6, 2024.
Guterres said in a statement Saturday on the US social media platform X that al-Shami was the second UN employee to die in Houthi detention following the death of a World Food Program (WFP) staff member in February 2025.
“I remain gravely concerned for the safety and well-being of the UN personnel, former UN staff and personnel from humanitarian and civil society organizations who remain detained,” he said in the statement.
The first UN staff member to die in Houthi detention was Ahmed Ba’alawi, a national staff member of the World Food Program, who had been arbitrarily detained by local authorities in northern Yemen since Jan. 23, 2025 and died on Feb. 11 of that year.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when Houthi forces seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.
The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leaving millions of people dependent on humanitarian assistance. Source: Anadolu.
