SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties issued its report “Brutal Killing" included statistics and stories of killing cases that civilians have faced in Yemen during January – December 2016, in addition to similar cases of 2015.
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties has documented 150 violations related to extralegal killings in Yemen during the reporting period; 2016, in addition to some selective cases from the same context in 2015, included many governorates. These violations which is documented in the report are distributed to three categories;
First; Field Execution:
SAM has documented 74 field execution cases; 17 cases in Ibb governorate, followed by Al-Baidha with 9 cases.
Second; Death Under Torture:
SAM organization has documented 58 cases of death under torture, including 10 cases in Hodiedah governorate.
Third; Human Shields:
SAM organization has documented 18 cases of death cases resulted from using victims as human shields, including 11 cases in Dhamar governorate.
SAM organization has documented various means and types of torture perpetrated on victims, including sever beating, denial of food, using police dogs, and torture by electric shock, and the victims included; political, social activists, journalists, physicians, and academia.
Violators include Houthis-militia, at 93% rate, anonymous groups at 4%, legitimate government 2% and terrorist groups 1%.
Most of the cases of extralegal killings occurred in territories that fall under Houthis-Saleh control, and where there are no armed confrontations; such as Dhamar, Hodiedah and Ibb governorates, therefore refute any allegations that the victims were anti-Houthis armed resistance, or that were caught in crossfire or due to security instability.
The report concluded that the violations included herein, reveals a systematic policy among the violators to torture civilian victims, particularly by Houthis-Saleh group, in addition to Hadhrami Elite forces in Hadhramout, and Security Belt forces in Aden which are loyal to the United Arab Emirates.
The report concluded to several recommendations; mainly to the UN and the international community to exert pressure on all parties to stop these violations on the detainees.
- Houthis armed group and Saleh forces committed filed execution crimes against its opponents, in addition they’ve used detainees and abductees as human shields against Arab Coalition airstrikes at a number of military sites and arms warehouses at different Yemeni governorates;
- Houthis armed group and Saleh forces committed filed execution crimes against its opponents, in addition they’ve used detainees and abductees as human shields against Arab Coalition airstrikes at a number of military sites and arms warehouses at different Yemeni governorates;
- Absence of security and judicial institutions has encouraged increase in execution and field execution crimes, leading to increasing number of victims, where law and justice remained at the hands of the combating field commanders;- Many Yemeni families are intimidated and terrorized due to the escalating number of detainees and abductees at Houthis-Saleh prisons and detention facilities, people fear being used as human shields at such detention facilities;
- Certain military agencies affiliated to the legitimate government, in Hadhramout “Hadhrami Elite” force, are committing gross violations against activists and civilians, causing death to some of them under torture.
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties recommends to the;
First; International Community;
- Exert pressure on all parties to end human rights violations in Yemen immediately, particularly torture and field executions, by reaching into solution that ends the fighting is Yemen, that has caused increasing suffering on children and women in particular.
- Pressure over Houthis group to release all detainees at their custody;
- Work with the international and local community to prosecute the perpetrators of all gross violations to the international human rights law, and international humanitarian law, during the ongoing war in Yemen.
- Support activation of judicial system to decide on inmates and criminal cases.
Second; to the Legitimate Government:
- Immediately release detainees in Aden and Hadhramout prisons, to end torture practices at the military groups prisons in Hadhramout and Aden.
- Investigate reasons behind the death of some detainees in Aden and Hadhramout prisons.
- Activation of judicial system to decide on inmates and criminal cases.
Third; to Houthis Militia and Saleh Troops:
We confirm that such recommendations to Houthis-Saleh militia, shall not be construed as implicit or explicit recognition with them, or by any means shall be interpreted as approval to their control over Yemenis fates, and confiscation to their political rights. However, as with respect to the report subject-matter, we recommend the following:
- Allow access to all local and international human rights organizations to the governorates under their control and open the detention centers and prisons to verify the violations.
- Allow serious investigation to the claims on human rights violations that have impacted their opponents, particularly enforced disappearance, torture and field execution, and the identify the perpetrators.
Fourth; to the International Organizations:
- We call upon all regional and international human rights organizations to dispatch missions to Yemen to monitor human rights situation in the country.
Here to download the full detailed report