Entisar al-Hammadi, a model, actress, and fashion influencer from Yemen, has been attacked and detained by plainclothes Houthi personnel on February 20th. According to Amnesty International, she was detained for "challenging social norms" and is at risk of sexual abuse of being put under a "virginity test" along with physical and mental torture, all for not abiding by Islamic dress codes and culture norms.
In #Yemen #Huthi authorities must halt plans to carry out a forced “virginity test” on Yemeni actress and model Intisar al-Hammadi, who has been arbitrarily detained for more than two months on spurious grounds.@amnesty, demand her immediate release.
https://t.co/TBICYKNmn2— Amnesty Brighton (@AmnestyBrighton) May 8, 2021
The 20-year-old model is born to a Yemeni-Ethiopian household, grew up in a conservative environment, and has been subjected to racism due to her darker skin colour all her life. She was very intrigued by the fashion industry and wanted to pursue a career in the industry from a very young age. Despite all the hurdles and negativity from her own family as well as the Islamic conservatives around her, she became famous on social media after her photographer friend posted pictures of her in traditional Yemeni clothes.
Later she began to post pictures with clothes outside the "Islamic dress code,"including not wearing hijab, for different fashion shoots. The Muslim conservatives heavily criticized her work, while she also gained support from feminists and activists from Yemen and the rest of the world for her courage and passion for her work.
According to the local activists, including The Feminist Voice of Yemen, Al-Hammadi was kidnapped by the Houthis and "interrogated while blindfolded, physically and verbally abused [and] subjected to racist insults" throughout her detainment. Her lawyer reported to Amnesty that in the detention center, she was forced to wake up in the middle of the night by the security forces and was driven to her neighbourhood houses, questioning people if Al-Hammadi was involved with "prostitution". She was also forced to sign pre-written documents with her fingerprints while blindfolded.
On April 21st, she was brought to public prosecution and was "forced to 'confess' to several offences, including drug possession and prostitution", along with the documents as "proof" that she was made to sign in her detainment. Her lawyer was barred from accessing her case files by the prosecutor and was threatened to be killed by the gunmen on April 27th if he did not abandoon her case. "At the end of the interrogation, her lawyer witnessed her being slapped by the prison manager," Amnesty reported.
While the conservatives have been supportive of the incident, there has been an uproar on social media with the hashtag "Freedom for Entisar al-Hammadi." Thousands of people and activists have been voicing their protest against Houthi brutality and showing their solidarity with the model.
Lynn Maalouf from Amnesty International said, "The Houthi de facto authorities must bring Entisar al-Hammadi's distressing ordeal to an end by ordering her immediate release," and insisted that her lawyer must be given access to all her case data. She has also added that "any statements she has made under duress must be excluded from evidence during her prosecution."
Now Al-Hammadi's elderly father and sick mother are awaiting her fate and hoping to have her back safe. Her extended family members have refused to make any comments in fear of being targeted, and her friends are making anonymous efforts to stand by her side to stay safe from the Houthis.
