Iran-Trained Zeinabiyat Force Oversees Houthi Expansion of Women’s Prisons

The Iran-backed Houthis have established new women-only detention facilities inside police stations across areas under their control, deploying female security unit "Zeinabiyat" to implement the operation, security sources told Khabar Agency.

According to the sources, Zeinabiyat operatives - a Houthi-controlled women’s paramilitary force - conducted prison inspections on July 5, 2025, identifying police departments to convert into specialized female detention centers.

During these visits, the militia inaugurated women’s prisons in select police stations, each comprising an office, a hall, a bedroom, and a detention cell with an attached bathroom—suggesting plans for long-term detention use.

Human rights advocates warn that this move signals a dangerous escalation in the suppression of freedoms, particularly targeting women. The Houthis have long sought to restrict women’s societal roles, exploiting them politically and militarily by recruiting Zeinabiyat members for repression and intelligence operations.

The Zeinabiyat, trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are notorious for conducting raids, arrests, and surveillance of women, as well as managing female prisons—a blatant violation of international human rights laws protecting women’s rights.

This development underscores the militia’s systematic campaign of gender-based repression, further entrenching its authoritarian control over Yemeni society.