Oppression of of Sunni Muslims, opposition by Houthis

The Executive Director at SAM for Rights and Liberties noted that people who oppose the Iran-backed Houthis, including journalists, human rights defenders, or activists of "any [kind]," "are arrested and affected by other kinds of serious human rights violations, including torture, kidnapping, disappearing, and killing". 

The same source notes that a "'normal'" person will not be very affected by the Houthis, unless they oppose or confront the HouthisHouthis or speak out against Houthi control of education or religious practices. Similarly, the Executive Director at Mwatana stated that:

Houthis have arbitrarily arrested many people from different areas in Yemen, and one of the reasons was that either these people disagree with the Houthis' discourse or because of their political background and [if they are] considered as opponents. 

A report by Amnesty International on the conflict in Yemen states that Houthis armed group, supported by state security forces, has carried out a wave of arrests of its opponents, including human rights defenders, journalists, and academics arbitrarily seizing critics at gunpoint and subjecting some to enforced disappearance as part of a chilling campaign to quash dissent in areas of Yemen under its control. (Amnesty International n.d.)

The executive director at SAM for Rights and Liberties noted that the Houthis "use police forces to control the community" and that "people are put in jail without following any proper legal procedures".

The BBC reports that "[t]here are rumors' that the Houthis are targeting Sunni mosques in the capital and changing their imams," while noting that the call to prayer was changed from the Sunni to the Zaydi version. The US International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 indicates the following:

In northern areas traditionally under Zaydi control, there were reports of continued Houthi efforts to impose their religious customs on non-Zaydi residents, including by banning music and requiring women to wear full veils.