Section 7: Torture
Mwatana documented 62 torture cases in 2018, including at least 45 committed by the Security Belt Forces and Hadhrami and Shabwani Elite Forces (proxy Emirati forces) and forces loyal to President Hadi in Abyan, Shabwah, Taizz, Aden, and Hadramaut governorates. Mwatana documented the torture of 11 fishermen, one a child, in the city of Jazan in Saudi Arabia, after they were stopped and taken from the coast of Midi in Hajjah governorate. Four people died as a result of the documented torture , Ansar Allah (Houthis) group bears responsibility for the deaths of two victims in Al Hudaydah governorate, while forces loyal to President Hadi and proxy Emirati forces hold responsibility for the deaths of other two victims.in Taizz and Shabwah governorates.
Despite the brutality of the torture so frequently carried out, perpetrators on all sides have escaped punishment. Victims of torture usually do not submit complaints, either because there is widespread lack of confidence in judicial institutions or because they are afraid of retaliation from the responsible authorities.
The armed group Ansar Allah (Houthis) committed at least 17 in Sana’a Taizz, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, and Sa’ada governorates. Ansar Allah used a number of torture methods, including beatings with batons, boards, and metal pipes, electrocution, removing fingernails, prolonged and solitary confinement in a very small room (1 meter by 1 meter), raising the victims with chains and hanging them, cutting the body, Pouring chemical solutions on wounds that cause seizures, and hanging heavy weights from a person’s reproductive organs.
Legal Framework
Torture is prohibited in all circumstances and at all times, including during conflict. It is a fundamental prohibition. Nothing justifies it. Common Article 3 to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 specifically requires protecting people in custody, including civilians and captured fighters, from “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture” and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.”
Torture, cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity constitute war crimes in non-international armed conflicts. When committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, torture constitutes a crime against humanity.
International human rights law also prohibits torture in all circumstances and at all times. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment sets out a series of requirements for states to prevent, investigate, prosecute and ensure redress for torture.[1] Yemen ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1991.
Case Studies
- In mid-June 2018, three armed men under the command of an Ansar Allah (Houthis) field supervisor attacked Ali Abdullah Sultan (39 years old) and took him in their vehicle to the Political Security Organization building in Ibb city, where he was detained and mistreated.
When Ali Abdullah Sultan arrived at the PSO in Ibb, the Ansar Allah field supervisor was there along with two armed men. They beat, assaulted, and mistreated him. They detained him for 40 days. During 30 of those days, officials in charge of the detention center tortured him.
Sultan believed he was detained in retaliation for submitting a complaint against Ansar Allah officials for mistreatment. About two years ago, Sultan had an argument he had with an Ansar Allah supervisor after the supervisor insulted some women from his village. In December 2016, shortly after the argument, armed men under the command of the same Houthi official stopped Sultan around 5 pm in Al Sayani Checkpoint in Ibb governorate, and took him with them on a bus. Sultan was surprised to see the supervisor he had argued with on the bus. He was stabbed and severely beaten, then thrown, unconscious, in a drainage ditch in Al Qaidah area. He woke in the Al Qaidah Hospital, where a motorcycle driver had taken him. A group of armed Ansar Allah men then raided the hospital and took Sultan with them to an Ansar Allah office in Al Sayani district in Ibb governorate. He was released after four days.
Sultan said that after what happened: “I was advised to submit my medical reports to the Ombudsman Commission of Ansar Allah, and I did that even though I did not want to, after I had been harassed for a year. Two days after I submitted my complaint, three armed men came and took me to the Political Security Organization building, and I found the supervisor that I had submitted the complaint against standing at the door of the building. He called me that night for questioning, and he put me in a cell, and he accused me of recruiting fighters for the resistance. I responded to his charges by saying that my case was the case of an old dispute that I had with him. Then armed men beat me and tied me by my feet to a lift, then raised me up around 9 meters in the air. They then lowered me into a barrel full of water.”[2] He added: “I was subject to horrifying types of torture, including the use of sharp instruments and chemicals that were given to me that would cause spasms and cramps. They did not allow me to use the bathroom.”[3]
- On Tuesday, 2 October 2018, at around 4 pm, forces from the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition stopped 11 fishermen, one a child, on their boats near Sahar Island on the coast of Midi in Hajjah governorate.
Three of the fishermen said that three armed men wearing civilian clothes on another vessel started shooting rounds into the air to force the fishermen to direct their own boats to nearby Al Fasht Island. The fishermen were taken to the city of Jazan in Saudi Arabia after spending a night on the island. Their eyes were covered during the journey. Upon arrival, the fishermen were beaten, tortured, and treated in a degrading manner for three days.
Othman Abkar (24 years old) said: “As soon as we arrived in Jazan, they called me in for interrogation. I went in before all of my other colleagues. They accused me of spying on the Coalition forces for Ansar Allah (Houthis), and they tortured me. They beat me and used many different methods, and this went on for an hour that day. The men that were taken with me also went through the same process, and they continued to torture us, individually and as a group, in this manner, for three days.”[4]
“Khalid” (15 years old, pseudonym) said in his testimony: “They did not have any mercy on me as a child, and they tortured and beat me with many different methods. After they tortured us, they would force us to squat, and anyone who could not squat would get a severe beating.”[5]
Abdoh Ibrahim (21 years old), tortured severely, said: “I was tortured in a very ugly manner, and I was bleeding. After that, one of the officers at the center that we were being detained in came and said: ‘We searched your boats, and we found out that you really are fishermen.’ After that, we were taken into a room that is around 50 meters squared in size, and they told us that they will release us in five days. We were released on 14 November 2018.”[6]
- On Thursday, 4 October 2018, at around 11 pm, the Shabwani Elite Forces arrested Sarhan Saleh Bushamal (28 years old) in the Mayfa’ah district of the Shabwah governorate, torturing him for two days until he died in Al Hawtah Military Base in Mayfa’ah district.
“Dirhem Muhammad” (41 years old, pseudonym) said: “Sarhan got into an argument with one of the soldiers from Al Hawtah Military Base, which is controlled by the Shabwani Elite Forces. On the following day, a military vehicle came, and there were five soldiers on it, in addition to the commander of the military base. This vehicle came to Sarhan’s home, and they took him to the base. Three days after he was detained, on Sunday night at 7 pm, he died. This was on 7 October 2018, and marks from the torture could be seen on his body.”[7]
Correction: Date of Sarhan Saleh Bushamal incident has been updated to reflect the correct date.
[1] The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, drafted on 10 December 1984.
[2] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 25 October 2018
[3] Ibid.
[4] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with Othman Abkar, 17 November 2018
[5] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with one of the victims, 17 November 2018
[6] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with Abdoh Ibrahim, 17 November 2018
[7] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 9 October 2018