Two sources close to the Yemeni model, Kholoud Bashraheel, told Reuters that the police in the Yemeni governorate of Hadramaut detained her and her husband after she appeared in a group of photos with him without a hijab or abaya.

The two sources said that the police refused to release the model and her husband after she appeared in a group of video clips and pictures on her accounts on social networking sites without wearing the hijab or abaya that most women in Yemen wear. They added that the authorities have not yet brought charges against them.

Hadhramaut is located in southeastern Yemen, within the areas under the control of the internationally recognized government

There has been no comment yet from the security authorities in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramaut, regarding the arrest of Kholoud Bashraheel. The two sources said that the model was detained on the second day of Eid al-Adha.

Khuloud Bashraheel called in video recordings on social media platforms for “liberation and rejection of traditional and extremist ideas,” and she also recently announced that she had decided to take off the hijab. The pictures and video clips sparked widespread controversy.

In 2021, a Houthi court in Sanaa sentenced Yemeni model and actress Intisar Al-Hammadi and three other women to prison after convicting them of committing an “indecent act.”