SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni authorities have questioned a member of the Baha'i faith suspected of contacts with Israel and charged him with seeking to establish a base for the community in the predominantly Muslim country, state news agency Saba reported.

But the accused' s wife and local rights activists say the charges against Hamed Merza Kamali Serostani are part of Yemen's wider persecution of its Baha'i community and aim to distract from charges that he was abused by interrogators after his December 2013 arrest.