Amnesty International on Wednesday (May 1st) condemned the prolonged detention of 10 journalists by the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) in Yemen, saying it reflected "the dire state of media freedom", AFP reported.
The 10 journalists have been held since the summer of 2015 and are being prosecuted on trumped-up spying charges, according to the rights group.
Amnesty said the men have been tortured, held incommunicado and deprived of medical care.
"The unlawful and prolonged detention, torture and other ill-treatment of these 10 journalists is a shocking reminder of the repressive media climate facing journalists in Yemen and illustrates the risks they face at the hands of all parties to the conflict," said Rasha Mohamed, Amnesty's Yemen researcher.
"These men are being punished for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression," she said in a statement, calling on the Houthis to "release them immediately and drop all the charges against them".
According to Amnesty, some of the journalists worked for online media outlets affiliated with Al-Islah, an Islamist party that opposes the Houthis.
