A/HRC/45/CRP.7 and women, and how we needed to repent our sins through purification by jihad with our vagina.” Woman survivor of rape306 211. In some cases, survivors were asked by interrogators and female guards to work with the Houthis, in exchange for release or dropping (false) accusations against them. One survivor was told by a female guard: “You’re stupid, can’t you see how we freed ourselves from humiliation and worked with them and became Zainabiyat.”307 212. Reportedly, in 2019-2020, a large group of women and girls were transferred from these facilities to the Sana’a Central Prison and described to witnesses there that they had been detained and raped in secret facilities in former residential buildings, and in CID facilities. The Group of Experts have verified three cases of women who were detained by de facto authorities in 2018, in the wake of women-led protests in Sana’a after vocally denouncing the Houthis, who remain disappeared as of July 2020. There is information to suggest that all three were being held by the CID in these secret facilities in Sana’a.308 213. The Group concludes that members of the de facto authorities carried out sexual violence and other violations under the pretext of tackling prostitution and immorality and with the aim of fighting against what they have publically claimed since at least November 2017 is a “soft war” by the coalition that has sought to undermine the morals of Yemeni society including “spoiling” Yemeni women. The Director of CID, Brigadier Sultan Zabin, has made public statements to this effect, while denying allegations of arbitrary detention and sexual violence against women and girls.309 Reportedly, in January 2020 the CID issued statistics showing that they had detained “45 prostitution networks” in Sana’a in 2019 alone.310 Witnesses interviewed by the Group in relation to violations at these secret detention facilities recalled the use of false accusations of “immorality” and prostitution against those detained, which was understood as a synonym for supporting Houthi opponents. The de facto authorities appeared to use such accusations, detention and rape in the knowledge that they would attract severe stigma for women and girls, and that they would also have a deterrent effect on victims and their families, pressuring them to conform and comply with Houthi authority, preventing families from reporting violations or following-up on release, and placing survivors and families at risk of social exclusion, community violence and long-term harm.311 Furthermore, such a pretext “enables” perpetrators and superiors to de-humanise women and girls and use rape as a means of control and coercion. (c) Violations on the grounds of someone’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI) 312 306 Confidential sources on file. Confidential sources on file. 308 Confidential sources on file. See also the Section on arbitrary detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and enforced disappearances section. 309 See Red Lines’ Al Masirah 2019 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNbHno878QE&feature=youtu.be, www.ansarollah.com/archives/221513. See also www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ_MqWGCqD0, www.ansarollah.com/archives/316799 , www.ansarollah.com/archives/123871 and twitter.com/M_N_Albukhaiti/status/1257236317689262088?s=20 310 www.almashhad-alyemeni.com/156556 311 See A/HRC/42/CRP.1 Chapter VI paras. 376 and 467, and Chapter VII paras. 628 and 634. See also UN Panel of Experts Report, S/2020/326, Annex 5. 312 LGBTQI+ “markers” do not always translate to the MENA and Yemen contexts. Survivors reported to the Group that these markers did not always adequately represent their gender performance and/or many do not have access to or knowledge of these terminologies. In 2019, at a stage in which the Group was not yet able to conduct in depth investigations on these issues, it used “LGBTQI+” (see A/HRC/42/CRP.1, para. 633). Now that the Group has conducted a focused investigation and contextualised certain violations, it has opted to use the terms “violations on the grounds of someone’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI)” and “persons with nonconforming sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI)” based, inter alia, on the survivors’ accounts obtained directly by the Group. These terms are inclusive of persons with non-binary gender identities, which in certain contexts may include for example gender queer persons. The Group recognises that across cultures and communities different terms are often used to refer to people who 307 58