Aden/Geneva — Official accounts and platforms affiliated with Yemen's "National Shield Forces" have orchestrated and amplified a systematic campaign of incitement targeting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman.

The campaign includes the recirculation of a lecture by Salafi preacher Abdulghani al-Umari (Abu Hudhayfa), spiritual guide to the forces, in which Ms. Karman is vilified, her peaceful efforts described as "ruin and destruction," and she is falsely accused of receiving support from "infidels." The National Shield Forces are a formal military body established by presidential decree, directly funded and supported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and overseen by Saudi military advisers..

This incitement employs language of treachery, takfir (excommunication), and hatred. Such language endangers personal and societal safety and contravenes international human rights law—particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits advocacy of violence and hatred. The use of platforms affiliated with official military formations to broadcast messages of hatred and takfir against a national and international figure of Ms. Karman's stature signals a chilling institutional deviation from constitutional and national duties to safeguard citizens' security.

The campaign against Chairperson Karman is part of a sustained pattern of incitement directed at journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society actors in Yemen. In recent years, numerous activists and humanitarian workers have been subjected to physical assaults, arbitrary detention, and intimidation as a direct consequence of such hostile rhetoric. Armed groups and individuals influenced by this discourse have carried out attacks with impunity, while the persistent absence of investigation and accountability has entrenched a climate of violence against those fulfilling essential public functions.

Under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the deliberate targeting of human rights defenders and civilians through incitement to violence constitutes a serious violation. The failure of competent authorities to investigate such incitement or hold perpetrators accountable does not extinguish legal responsibility; obligations to ensure accountability remain binding under international law. State-affiliated military bodies bear a heightened duty of neutrality and may not be instrumentalized to suppress free voices or settle political scores.

Institutional Position

The systematic incitement campaign targeting Chairperson Tawakkol Karman severely violates the right to life, freedom of expression, and the international protections guaranteed to human rights defenders. This violation is profoundly compounded by the weaponization of military-affiliated platforms to broadcast takfiri and treasonous rhetoric against a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Disseminating state-backed hate speech in an active conflict zone places Ms. Karman, her staff, and field teams in immediate, life-threatening danger while entrenching a culture of absolute impunity. By failing to investigate and halt this campaign, authorities are dismantling the legal safeguards essential for press freedom and civil society operations. Immediate, decisive corrective measures are required to enforce accountability, restore the strict neutrality of military institutions, and uphold the state's binding obligations under international law.

Demands Aligned with International Human Rights Principles

These desperate campaigns will not deter Chairperson Tawakkol Karman or the institutions she leads from continuing their peaceful struggle and steadfast defense of human rights, freedom of expression, and the values of democracy and equal citizenship in Yemen and across the Arab region. This voice will remain the voice of the voiceless, and will persist in exposing violations and pursuing accountability for perpetrators, regardless of the challenges and threats.

Released by:

Women Journalists Without Chains

Geneva, Switzerland — July 4, 2026