Yemeni Jew still held despite court order
Levi Salem Musa Marhabi remains in Sanaa detention three years after a Houthi court mandated his release, suffering severe physical deterioration.
By Isaac Medina ·
Hundreds of Jewish captives have returned home from various Middle Eastern conflicts since 2023, yet one prisoner in Yemen remains unheard. Levi Salem Musa Marhabi is still held by the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Sanaa, defying a 2019 appeals court ruling that ordered his freedom.
Marhabi was taken into custody in March 2016 for assisting a Jewish family and an ancient Torah scroll in their departure from the country. A court sentenced him to three and a half years in prison in March 2018. He has served that term and more, remaining detained for over four years without a formal extension of his sentence.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom documents extensive physical abuse inflicted during his captivity. Houthi forces have beaten and electrocuted Marhabi while denying him adequate food and contact with his family. The American Sephardi Federation reports that this prolonged mistreatment has left him partially paralyzed.
The physical toll of his imprisonment is severe. Marhabi has lost all of his teeth due to the conditions. His kidney and lung diseases have worsened significantly under the care, or lack thereof, of prison medical staff. These health declines are direct results of the inhumane environment described by international monitors.
Following the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, Houthi authorities moved Marhabi to a prison ward housing extremist inmates. These new cellmates threatened him, prompting a ten-day hunger strike by the prisoner. Houthi officials eventually responded by relocating him to solitary confinement.
In 2021, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Houthi leaders agreed to a deal for Marhabi's release. The terms involved exiling the final three Jewish families in Yemen in exchange for freeing the detainee. One of the displaced families described the decision as a forced choice between continued harassment and safety.
That family member told Asharq Al-Awsat that they had previously rejected multiple offers to leave their homeland. They stated that they felt compelled to accept the exile to secure Marhabi's freedom. The families viewed their departure as the final act of Jewish presence in Yemen, clinging to their home until the last possible moment.
