A Yemeni court has sentenced a model to five years in prison on drug and sex charges charges. However, the lawyer of that model has denied the allegations brought against him. International human rights organizations have condemned the imprisonment. News Geo TV online.
The convicted Yemeni model is named Intisar Al-Hammadi (20). He was arrested at a checkpoint on his way to the capital, Sanaa, for a photo shoot in February this year. Hammadi’s trial began in June after his arrest. Human Rights Watch called his trial “irregular and abusive.
Iran-backed armed Houthi rebels have been pushing for adherence to women’s morals across the country since the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, was captured in 2014.
The Houthi rebel news agency, Saba, broke the news on Sunday after a Sanaa court handed down its verdict against Intisar al-Hammadi.
Afrah Nassar, a Yemeni researcher at Human Rights Watch, condemned the verdict in a tweet, saying the sentence was unfair and politically motivated. Lawyers for various human rights groups and Hammadi claim he attempted suicide in a Sana’a prison in July.
Hammadi is quite popular in Yemen through social media. His lawyer claims that he was arrested because of his popularity.
Intisar al-Hammadi’s father is Yemeni and his mother is Ethiopian. She posted dozens of pictures online wearing traditional dress jeans and leather jackets. According to Human Rights Watch, Hammadi has been working as a model for four years. He also starred in two TV series in Yemen last year.
In May, Amnesty International, a London-based human rights group, alleged that Hammadi had been “blindfolded, interrogated and physically and mentally abused” after his arrest. He was also forced to confess to several crimes, including drug use and sex work.
