During 2017, Mwatana documented 33 enforced disappearance cases, carried out by Ansar Allah group (the Houthis) in six Yemeni governorates: Sa’ada, Sana’a, Al Bayda, Dhamar, Al Hudaydahand Taizz. It also documented as many as 68 cases, carried out by armed groups – affiliated to the Saudi-Emirati-led Coalition and pro-Hadi forces– in six Yemeni governorates: Aden, Abyan, Lahj, Marib, Hadramaut and Shabwah. All arbitrary detention cases documented in this report took place in 2017; however, some victims remain arbitrarily detained until the time of writing this report.
During the same year, all parties to the conflict in Yemen: Ansar Allah group (the Houthis), armed groups supported by the Saudi-Emirati-led-Arab Coalition, pro-Hadi forces, were responsible for cases of enforced disappearance in the areas under their control. All parties to the conflict committed such violation against their political opponents or against civilians suspected of links with or sympathy for their opponents.
The Legal Framework
The UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the General Assembly in 1992, provides that “enforced disappearances occur, in the sense that persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law.”
The Declaration reflects the consensus of the international community to condemn violations against human rights. It can serve as the directional power to review the measures that can ensure the prevention of the occurrence of such violations. Enforced Disappearance is a “two-fold violation of human rights” The Declaration recognizes that any act of “enforced disappearance” is a violation of the right to due process of the law, the right to life, the right to liberty and security of the person and the right not to be subjected to torture in addition to a number of provisions aiming at preventing “enforced disappearance.” It stipulates that “any person deprived of liberty shall be held in an officially recognized place of detention; accurate information on the detention of such persons and their place or places of detention shall be made promptly available to their family members; they shall be allowed to see their counsel; and an official up-to-date register of all persons deprived of their liberty shall be maintained in every place of detention.”
It is clear that armed conflicts cannot be used as a pretext to justify enforced disappearance:
“No circumstance whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”
In 2006, the prohibition on enforced Disappearance was reinforced by adopting the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) (Convention for the Protection from Enforced Disappearance). This multilateral Convention was opened for signature in February 2007. Yemen did not sign on the Convention till the time of writing this report.
ICPPED calls upon each State Party to investigate abduction acts and other acts that fall under the definition of “enforced Disappearance”, committed by persons or groups of persons acting without the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State and to bring those responsible to justice. The International Law considers “disappearance” as an ongoing offence as long as the state continues to conceal the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person” The widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity as provided in ICPPED and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Yemeni Constitution prohibits detention in “centers that do not comply with the Regulation of Prisons Law.” In 1998, Yemen government promulgated a law on Abduction in which it provides for more than 20 years of imprisonment for those who shall be proven to be guilty of taking part in acts of abduction or theft” There is no law in Yemen, however, that criminalizes enforced disappearance.
Incidents:
- At midnight Friday, January 20, 2017, around 12:30 am, the Hadrami Elite Forces detained Adel Abdul Hafeez Al-Soqatri (37 years old) in Al-Shahr District, in Hadramaut Governorate.
In her statement to Mwatana for Human Rights, Ibtisam Mohammed Abdullah Basowdan (33 years old) said: “Someone knocked at the door and asked my husband to come out. My husband looked through the window; he could recognize them. Before he came out, he told me that they were from the Hadrami Elite Forces. The moment he came out, they asked him whether his name was Adel Al-Soqatri. He answered with yes. They immediately folded his eyes, tied his hands and pushed him into a Hilux pick-up truck, where a group of five people, with folded eyes and tied hands, were on board. On the next day, Saturday January 21, 2017, Adel’s father went to Al-Dhabbah Detention Center to look for his son. There, they told him that my husband was there, but he was not allowed to have any visitors. They asked Adel’s father not to show up again to the advantage of his son. Since then, we have done nothing; we are just waiting for God’s grace”.[1]
Ibtisam believes that the reason behind her husband’s arrest could be his attendance at a mosque, frequented by people accused of being al-Qaeda affiliates.[2]
- In the evening of Saturday, February 4, 2017, the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis) detained Abdul Razzaq Ahmed Salem (40 years old) as he was working in his office at the premises of the Water & Sanitation Corporation in Al-Hawak District, in Al HudaydahGovernorate.
According to interviews Mwatana for Human Rights conducted with his relatives, Abdul Razzaq used to work till late hours. On the day he was detained, a military pick-up truck belonging to the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis) drove to the office. Abdul Razzaq was taken to unknown destination. His family did not know his whereabouts until after six months. After six months, he could talk with his wife and his mother on the phone and told them that he was fine. Abdul Razzaq’s family met with a former pensioner at the prison of the Political Security Apparatus. He said that he had met with Abdul Razzaq for one week before the latter disappeared. On January 15, 2017, Al-Masirah, the Houthi-affiliated TV Channel, aired footage, in which Abdul Razzaq Ahmed Salem confessed that he had contacted leaders in Marib and gave them the coordinates of positions of the pro-Houthi popular committees.[3]
- On Thursday, April 27, 2017, pro-Hadi forces detained Sana’a University professor Mustafa Hussein Mohammed Al- Mutawakil (61 years old) at a checkpoint in Bab Al-Falaj, in Marib Governorate. Al-Mutawakil was detained when he was coming back from a trip to Morocco, via Sayun airport, heading for Sana’a. Since then, he continues to be forcibly disappeared.
His wife, Elham Mohammed Abdul Malek Al- Mutawakil (59 years old), also a Sana’a University professor at Sharia and Law College, said: “My husband received an official invitation from Morocco to attend an annual investment conference for investment authorities from Arab countries. He traveled on April 13, 2017 via Sayun airport, after he passed through Marib. When he was done with the conference in Morocco, he went back to Yemen after two weeks on April 27, 2017. He took a bus and headed for Sana’a. According to accounts by travelers, who were on the same bus, the bus was stopped at a checkpoint in Bab Al-Falaj in Marib, where three soldiers came in and took him out of the bus. That day he called me, around 07:00 am, to tell me that he was detained by pro-Hadi forces. Since then I have lost contact with him.”[4]
Fatima Mustafa Al-Mutawakil (31 years old) said: “My mother decided to visit Marib, along with lawyers and a team of Sana’a University professors, who are my father’s friends, to meet with the officials there. However, that did not work out as they could not talk the officials into releasing him or allowing us to visit him”.[5]
Professor Mustafa Hussein Mohammed Al-Mutawakil was appointed as the Chairman of the General Investment Authority in November 2016, upon a decision by the Supreme Political Council that was established jointly by Ansar Allah (the Houthis) and their former ally Saleh. His family believes that his family name was the reason for detaining him.
- On Monday December 11, 2017, the family of Salem Ahmed Al-Oulaqi, Deputy of the Youth Constituency at the General People’s Congress party (GPC), tried to reach him on the phone while he was traveling on his car to Aden. On the next day, and after they contacted the car driver, some of Salem’s friends told his family that the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis) detained him in Jaref area, to the south of Sana’a.[6]
Al-Oulaqi remained forcibly disappeared until he was released on Monday January 29, 2018.
[1] Mwatana for Human Rights interviewed Ibtisam Mohammed Abdullah Basowdan on February 8, 2017.
[2]ibid.
[3] Mwatana for Human Rights interviewed the relatives of Abdul Razzaq Ahmed Salem on August 27, 2017.
[4] Mwatana for Human Rights interviewed Elham Mohammed Abdul Malek Al- Mutawakil on September 24, 2017.
[5] Mwatana for Human Rights interviewed Fatima Mustafa Al- Mutawakil on September 24, 2017.
[6] Mwatana for Human Rights interviewed the family of Salem Ahmed Al-Oulaqi on December 23, 2017.