A/HRC/42/CRP.1 detained for more than a year. Other sources indicate that Saleh was killed in a convoy as he was trying to leave Sanaa. A forensic pathologist, who analysed video footage of Saleh’s body at the request of the Group, was inconclusive about the cause of death. Saleh’s deputy, ‘Aref al-Zuka, was reportedly also injured during the attack and taken to hospital, where Houthi fighters later killed him.773 (c) Assassination of Sheikh Dayfallah al-Muthana and Family 484. Sheikh Dayfallah al-Muthana was a well-known GPC leader, a member of the Permanent GPC Council, an elected counsellor in the governorate of Dhamar and a General Manager in the Governorate administration. He was a prominent GPC figure in Yemen, a key tribal mediator, and one of the sheikhs for the district of Risabah, Dhamar. 774 485. On 2 December 2017 at 0800, al-Muthana was at the Risabah Crossroads775 where a number of his properties were. He was driving the lead vehicle in a group of three vehicles, accompanied by family and colleagues, including his brother, also a GPC member, his cousin, his adult sons, and his bodyguards. The area was busy with many bystanders. A large group of heavily armed Houthi fighters stopped the vehicles in what appeared to be a pre-planned operation. They opened fire targeting al-Muthana at will, and in the process injuring him and others, and killing al-Muthana’s brother, his cousin and a bodyguard. The bodyguards returned fire, and al-Muthana fled with others with the help of bystanders.776 486. The Houthis searched the area for al-Muthana. They demolished a number of his commercial and residential properties with explosives, and attempted to destroy others. 777 Al-Muthana and a colleague sought refuge inside al-Nur Mosque, 500 meters south of the crossroads. 778 On 2 December 2017 at 2030 hrs, Houthi fighters found al-Muthana in the mosque, surrounded it from all sides and opened fire on the mosque, killing al-Muthana and his colleague.779 (d) GPC Women-Led Protests 487. On 6 December 2017 and 21 March 2018, over two-hundred women and girls who were GPC members and affiliates staged a series of demonstrations in Sana’a, organised by prominent GPC women, against the rule of the Houthis, denouncing the assassination of Saleh, and demanding the return of his body.780 In both cases, the de facto authorities deployed armed security, including the security force referred to externally as the “Zeinabiyyat”, who attacked demonstrators and women-bystanders. They beat them with batons, rifles, and electric batons, threatened to de-robe and rape them in the street, and called them prostitutes. Such threats carry particular connotations and gravity in Yemeni society, raise the risk of gender-based violence against them, and were perceived by the participants as tantamount to sexual violence. 781 488. In the days after the 6 December 2017 demonstration, de facto authorities detained and disappeared a number of GPC women and girls, some of whom had taken part in the demonstration. Up to 130 of these women and girls, approximately half of whom were GPC members, including girls as young as 17, were detained for several months in an unofficial detention facility in the basement of Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar’s former residence.782 In this detention facility, the GPC detainees were separated from the others and treated differently. They were told that their ideology was flawed, and were given pro-Houthi and religious lectures. The “Zeinabiyyat” guards told them that they were no longer human773 Confidential Sources on File. Confidential Sources on File. 775 Located at 14.695299, 44.342860. 776 Confidential Sources on File. 777 Confidential Sources on File. 778 Located at 14.692139, 44.344778. 779 Confidential Sources on File. 780 Confidential Sources on File. 781 Confidential Sources on File. 782 Confidential Sources on File. 774 120