Update April 2026: Open Doors reports that three church leaders were arrested and imprisoned over the weekend of 11-12 April, adding to over fifty Christians detained during the winter.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control northwest Yemen began a campaign of arbitrary detention against Christians in November 2025, and by February 2026 dozens had been arrested or had disappeared.
The authorities raided Christians’ homes, broke doors and arrested them by force, without showing arrest warrants or stating any reason, while other Christians were taken from the streets. Some are reported to be in Houthi-run prisons but others have disappeared without trace. Most have been prevented from communicating with family or lawyers, and officials refuse to comment on whether or not they are in custody.
The number of Yemeni Christians who have been detained or disappeared is impossible to verify given the chaotic security situation in the war-torn country, but local sources and rights groups report more than fifty Christians missing, with some stating that over fifty Christians were detained in January alone.
The Houthis have also arrested dozens of UN workers and civil society staff, while authorities throughout the fractured country arbitrarily detain, disappear and torture journalists and media workers.
In 2025 the US Commission on International Freedom reported that the Houthis have discriminated against Christians and Baha’is in aid distribution during the civil war and that in several cases Houthi hospitals have refused medical treatment to Christians.
“I want to be a walking Bible”
In November 2025, Open Doors shared the story of a Yemeni Christian who believed he was about to be arrested. “I will also be taken, there were vehicles with agents asking about me only a few days ago,” said Majed (whose name has been changed for security reasons). “I know it’s coming. In the meantime, I’m trying to memorise as many Bible passages and verses as possible. I want to be a walking Bible, so that wherever I’m taken, I can share about Jesus.”
Majed went on to explain, “In my country, especially in this region [under Houthi control], when someone is taken, they could vanish for months – three, eight, or even more – and we might not know anything about them until they’re released… May God use me. Just like He was with Paul and Silas in prison in Philippi, I know that He will be with me. And if He is with me, who can be against me? They can kill the body, yes, but I pray that the ministry does not stop… May God intervene, amidst the problems and pain, and may He comfort us.”
Days later, Majed disappeared.
Read the new Church In Chains Yemen Country Profile.
(Church in Chains Yemen Country Profile, Human Rights Watch, International Christian Concern, Open Doors, USCIRF, Voice of the Martyrs Canada)