Friends and former colleagues of Shaif al-Hamdani did not know if they would ever see him again.

A Yemeni former employee of the U.S. Embassy in his country, Mr. al-Hamdani had been arrested in 2021 by Houthi militants who had taken control of the capital, Sana. In the years that followed, little was known about his case or those of 10 other active or former Yemeni employees of the U.S. Embassy detained with him, except that they were being held for links to the United States.

Then in June, Mr. al-Hamdani reappeared in a most distressing way: In a propaganda video released by the Houthis, he confessed to spying for the United States and Israel.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

Ten years after it was first established, a Vatican commission on clerical sexual abuse issued its first report on Tuesday, a limited step in self-accounting by some bishops that was immediately criticized by victims’ advocates as being toothless and lacking independent verification.

Since the clerical abuse scandal erupted into the mainstream media two decades ago, the church has struggled to put in place effective measures around the world to end abuse and hold the church hierarchy accountable when it was involved in covering up cases.

The Vatican group, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, was formed in 2014 to advise Pope Francis on how best to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sexual predators among the clergy. Last year, Francis also tasked the commission with verifying that countries were following a new church law that set out rules for reporting and combating clerical sexual abuse.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.