Yemeni journalist and media activist Hala Fouad Badawi has been under detention since 30 December by Yemeni military intelligence command in Hadhramaut Governorate, in the country’s southeast. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) condemn her arrest and urge the competent authorities to release her immediately.

The YJS reported that Hala Badawi was arrested on Thursday, 30 December, over her reports and recent social media posts calling for improving living conditions and holding to account those responsible for corruption in government institutions.

Sources also confirmed that the authorities seized her phone and working materials.

On 5 January, she was officially charged with "spying and communicating with foreign agencies" and moved from the detention facility of the military intelligence to the Central Prison in Mukalla city, the capital of Hadhramaut governorate.

Badawi has suffered systematic harassment by the authorities because of her job as a journalist. In February 2020, she was arrested when she was going to cover the popular protests held every Thursday in the governorate, at which protestors demanded improvements to their living and economic situation.

-IFJ