A young Yemeni model who was abducted by Houthi rebels and prosecuted on trumped-up charges of prostitution, drug dealing and breaching Islamic norms by posing in fashion shoots has been jailed for five years.

Entesar Al-Hammadi, 20, has a Yemeni father and Ethiopian mother and worked as a model for four years as well as acting in two Yemeni soap dramas in 2020. She was the sole breadwinner for her four-member family, including her blind father and a disabled brother.

After her arrest, she was told that she would be jailed for five years and now the court, which is backed by Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels, has confirmed the five-year jail sentence for Entesar and one of her female friends who was arrested at the same time.

Two other unnamed young women that were also with them were handed jail sentences as well, the first woman for one year and the second for three years.

Her lawyer, Khaled Mohammed Al-Kamal, said that she had attempted suicide after the rebels transferred her to a ward of the prison designated for prostitutes.

According to the lawyer, she was only saved when a child spotted her hanging and cried out, though it is not clear what a child was doing in the prison.

Her lawyer, who also represented the other women, confirmed that the sentences had been upheld, despite previous criticism from Human Rights Watch.

The organisation said that the whole procedure had been “marred with irregularities and abuse”, and it was bizarre that ordinary modelling photos had been “treated like they were an act of indecency”.

Entesar was a teenager when she and two friends were snatched off a street in the rebel-controlled capital, Sanaa, on 20th February last year.

She was taken to a secret location, where she was “subjected to interrogation while blindfolded” and “physically abused”, according to Amnesty International.

According to activists, the rebels punished the model and actress, whose mother is Ethiopian, for refusing to spy on their behalf.

Entesar denied all charges against her. Houthi forces have controlled Sanaa and the surrounding area since September 2014. Their government is largely unrecognised.

In addition, the dangers facing journalists in rebel-controlled areas of the country have often made reports difficult to verify. But it is known that women who try to assert their rights or get involved in public life in any way have become targets in an escalating crackdown by the Iran-backed rebels.