Mwatana Organization for Human Rights Demands a Serious Investigation, holding responsible the involved officials and Demanding the Authorities to stop Using Violence to Suppress Protests

Six Protesters and a Paramedic killed and Seventy Injured in an Attack by the Army Soldiers on Protesters Near the Cabinet

the picture is of one of the wounded protesters who was injured on Tuesday September 9th, 2014 in Almo’ed Hospital. Mwatana Organization

Thursday – (11 Sep 2014)

The Mwatana Organization for Human Rights holds the President Abdrabu Mansoor Hadi, Prime Minister Mohamed Salim Basindwah, and the Minister Of Defense Mohamed Nasir Ahmed responsible for the deadly attack by the military soldiers on Tuesday September 9, 2014 against a mostly peaceful protest which led to the killing of 6 protesters and a paramedic –  from the Ministry of Health –;  injuring of not less than 70 protestors by live bullets and attacking medical teams and a governmental hospital.

The Head of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights Abdelrasheed Alfaqih affirmed, “The attack on peaceful protesters is a crime that should not pass without independent and prompt investigation to hold responsible who made the orders and executed them”.

Mwatana visited the site of the attack; collected testimonies and examined video recordings and photos from different resources. It also visited the hospitals and listened to doctors and paramedics over two days to arrive at an accurate story on the attack.

Mwatana said that soldiers from the army stationed around the buildings of the Cabinet and Radio of Sanaa; and on top of the buildings’ roofs fired live ammunition randomly amongst thousands of unarmed protestors and in the air illegally without being forced to. This is a flagrant violation of the right to live; the international law of human rights and the basic principles of the UN pertaining to use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.

Eyewitnesses and injured protesters said to the organization that the protest arrived to the Radio Street that connects Al-Adle Street and Cabinet Street between 10:30am and 11:00am. The protest was stopped by a barrier of army soldiers and the protesters stopped and started chanting slogans.

Few minutes later verbal altercations started between the protestors at the front and the soldiers, the soldiers backed up few meters than opened fire in the air and towards the protesters heavily and randomly. The protesters started to respond by throwing rocks and Molotov. There were face-veiled soldiers on the roofs of the governmental buildings and one private house who were firing directly at the protesters… After that, the protesters established three big tents and the number of the soldiers increased with later enforcements from the riot police that intervened with water cannons and tears gas grenades.

Eyewitnesses said that firing the live ammunition continued for over half an hour and then intermittently and that military armors participated in the shootings using Kord-12.7 mmheavy machine guns.

Furthermore, eyewitnesses from the Radio Street said to the organization that the soldiers chased the protests in alleys and neighborhoods and fired directly during the chase, which lead into hitting a number of houses and water tanks and terrorizing the residents of the neighborhoods near the site of the attack. They also said that the soldiers assaulted protesters with the stock of the rifles some of them were injured.

The army forces were able after about three hours to disperse the protest with a result of seven protesters killed, more than seventy injured by live bullets and tens of suffocation injuries.

A paramedic told the organization that soldiers tried to prevent him from moving injured people to the hospital and raised their weapons at him and that a number of paramedics were subject to harassments from the soldiers because they were moving the wounded protesters to hospitals.

Another paramedic Mohammed Saeed Alnamir age 30, was killed by a bullet in his head. His family to the organization that he was killed in his first day of work with the Ministry of Health while moving the wounded protesters to the hospital.

Based on doctors’ statement, one of the soldiers broke into the Kuwait Hospital at 2:30 pm after moving dead and wounded protesters to it to chase down one of the protesters who ran away to the hospital seeking refuge. The security of the hospital detained the soldier before tens of soldiers stormed the hospital breaking the main gate with one of the army’s armor vehicle after firing heavily and withdrew minutes after occupying the hospital and feeing the detained soldier.

The organization counted according to medical resources six killed protestors – Abdullah Hissain Alshayaghi (40 years old); Abdullah Ahmed Jaadan (22 years old); Ismael Albukhaity (30 years old); Muhsin Ahmed Shatir (30 years old); Waseem Alkhateeb (35 years old); and a person whose identity not yet found till the time of issuing this statement, in addition to the mentioned above paramedic Mohamed Saeed Alnamir (30 years old);

A doctor in Almo’ed Hospital said to the organization that one of the killed protesters was hit with a bullet in the forehead causing a 3 centimeters wide hole while the rest of the killed protester who arrived to the hospital were hit in the face, the head and abdominal area.

In Al-Kuwait Hospital, the doctor said that the three killed who arrived to the hospital were shot in the heart, the head and the back. Doctors in Almo’ed, Al-Kuwait, and Althawrah Hospitals who organization met with said that the bullets shots for the injured protesters were in the head, the chest, the abdomen and the limbs and that there are very server injuries.

The Mwatana Organization for Human Rights affirms that the Yemeni Authorities must stop targeting protests with deadly force and issue public and clear instructions that forbid use of live ammunitions in dealing with protesters. They should also launch a prompt and neutral investigation and hold accountable those who fired and issued the order of firing.

The protest came as part of the third escalation step that was announced by the “Ansar Allah of Group” (Huthis) who are sponsoring the protests against the government.

Two of the protesters were killed and five were wounded in an attack by the security forces on the sit-in camp in AlJeraf area on Sunday, September 7, 2014.

Ansar Allah has called for an open sit-in in Aljeraf Area on one of the streets that leads to the Airport nearing three Ministries – Communications, Electricity and Interior-  starting from Friday 22 of August 2014, until their three demands – to overthrow the government, to cancel lifting up the oil subsidies, and to implementing the national dialogue outcomes – are answered which are. The group escalated their protests in a number of stages in conjunction with the existence of armed groups affiliated with them around the capital Sanaa.

The basic principles of the UN pertaining to use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials state that “law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life,  to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives.

It is generally not permissible to use deadly firearms intentionally unless absolutely unavoidable to preserve life (Principle 9). “Where injury or death is caused by the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials, they shall report the incident promptly to their superiors. Governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offence under their law (Principles 6 and 7). Also, persons affected by the use of force and firearms or their legal representatives shall have access to an independent process, including a judicial process. In the event of the death of such persons, this provision shall apply to their dependents accordingly, (Principle 23).

Not only those who used force shall be held responsible, but also the superior officers shall also be held responsible if they know, or should have known, that law enforcement officials under their command are resorting, or have resorted, to the unlawful use of force and firearms, and they did not take all measures in their power to prevent, suppress or report such us (Principle 23).

According to the special rapporteur, concerned with killings outside of the judiciary in the UN, in principle it is not permissible to fire randomly at gatherings and use of firing is only permissible to target one person of individual posing a threat that leads to death or serious injury. Use of firearms cannot be justified only because a given gathering is illegal and should be dispersed and is not permissible under the justification of protecting property. He adds “ The spontaneous gatherings do happen without a chance to give prior notice or requesting a permit. In this case, the gathering should be considered legal and should be protected. The international covenant only recognizes the right of peaceful gathering according to article 21, however, the person do not lose his right of protection that is a consequence of granting this right when isolated within the gathering or scattered acts of violence start .

*the picture is of one of the wounded protesters who was injured on Tuesday September 9^th, 2014 in Almo’ed Hospital. Mwatana Organization