The assassination of Aftahan Al-Mashhari is an attack on all Yemenis
Aftahan Al-Mashhari speaking to a media crew in 2025. Image source: Aljazeera Mubasher
The Karama network condemns the assassination this morning of Aftahan Al-Mashhari in Taiz, Yemen.
Aftahan Al-Mashhari served as head of the Hygiene and Improvement Fund in Taiz governorate, and was notable for her efforts in fighting corruption. Her murder on a busy road in broad daylight is a grave attack on all Yemenis, and the peace, justice and security they deserve.
We call on local authorities to ensure justice is served in this case, and that far greater effort is made to protect all women and girls across Yemen. Our partners have shown how women and girls in Yemen continue to suffer discrimination under the law, face violations of their basic rights, and their rights in international law, and international humanitarian law. We are far beyond requiring a wake-up call for the safety and security of women and girls in Yemen. But the murder of Aftahan Al-Mashhari must be taken as an impetus for action to address the inequality, indiginities, and insecurity faced by women and girls in Yemen.
The world must recognise the agency and power of women and girls in Yemen. They refuse to be passive victims. For many months, women in Yemen have taken to the streets in a vast and non-partisan protest movement demanding basic needs of citizens to be addressed, calling for better governance and accountability.
In this context the heinous act of violence against Aftahan Al-Mashhari again demonstrates the extraordinary risks that women in Yemen and the wider world take simply by engaging in public service. It should not be the case that running for office, taking a position of community responsibility, or simply demanding one's rights should make women a target for violence. But across the world women like Aftahan Al-Mashhari have paid the ultimate price for the failure of our societies to root out discrimination and violence against women and girls.
It is a reminder of far too many other women victims of political violence, a great proportion of whom have never found justice.
We mourn Aftahan Al-Mashhari, we give thanks for all she contributed to her community and her stance against corruption. We demand action from all parties in Yemen to achieve justice for Aftahan Al-Mashhari and for women and girls in Yemen.