A Yemeni lawyer says Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces barred her from entering the interim capital of Aden on Tuesday, June 3, because she was traveling "without a male guardian," or mahram.

Afnan Al-Batati, from Hadramout province, detailed the incident in a Facebook post viewed by "Baran Press." She claims she was stopped and interrogated for hours at an STC checkpoint near the iron factory northwest of Aden as she returned from Taiz city.
Al-Batati described the travel restriction as "unprecedented and without legal basis."

According to Al-Batati, female personnel at the checkpoint subjected her to a search despite no apparent legal justification. She further stated that checkpoint staff refused to speak with her directly, claiming they "do not speak to women." Instead, they addressed her driver, demanding he pledge not to transport women without a mahram again.
Al-Batati also reported that the checkpoint commander refused to speak with her, only instructing her bus driver to verbally promise not to transport women without a mahram in the future. He then made the same demand of her: that she not travel without a mahram.

Al-Batati says she was eventually allowed to leave the checkpoint after verbally pledging not to travel without a mahram. She condemned the incident as a violation of women's equality and freedom of movement, and a direct infringement on the right to free movement enshrined in the Yemeni constitution.