Three and half years, passed since Houthis coup and control over Yemen took place, and three years since the Saudi and UAE-led Arab Coalition intervention, during which Yemenis witnessed a real humanitarian disaster occurred, and the conflicting parties continued its violation to the human rights and the international humanitarian law, established secret prisons where heinous violations were perpetrated against civilians.
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, monitored in previous* reports many of these violations, and documented relevant facts, and interviewed witnesses and victims, who suffered serious psychological and physical consequences.
Detention and enforced disappearance became a common feature of many perpetrators without fear legal consequences or prosecution.
In this report, Sam reveals the "Beer Ahmed" detention center, another hotbed of violations in the city of Aden, where victims suffer severe and brutal physical and psychological torture. Bir Ahmed is administrated by armed formations, supervised and funded by the UAE, the Arab Coalition member.
These Yemeni armed formations are managing, in cooperation with and supervision of the UAE, several prisons in South Yemen, namely; Khor Maxar, 20th Military Camp, Security Belt, Bir Ahmed, and many other prisons that are beyond the control and supervision of the judiciary, as indicated by survived inmates testimonies, including “the Coalition Prison”.
The farm owner is a warden of a prison and his tribesmen are the guards and soldiers!
In 2016, UAE forces, hired a farm of Ghassan Al-Aqrabi, and turned it into a detention center, known as “Bir Ahmed”, and appointed Al-Aqrabi as a warden to the prison, and hired his tribesmen as guards and jailers. The detention center is affiliated to the Security Belt forces, which are armed formations established and funded by UAE military forces. At least 140 detainees are being held at Bir Ahmed prison, most of them from the governorates of Aden, Lahaj, Abyan and Taiz.
Raids, detentions and enforced disappearances;
Security Belt forces are practicing systematic night raids and detentions followed by the enforced disappearance in Aden, Lahaj, and Abyan governorates. SAM received reports from survived detainees, and witnesses confirm that detention is conducted at two phases;
First phase; the Security Belt forces “disappear” the detainees at “the Coalition” prison, and interview them for hours, with any charges, and their relatives know nothing about them. The detainees at this phase, are subjected to detention, cruel torture, and degrading treatment. The prison administration denies them family visits, communication, and refuse to provide information about them. These measures are considered flagrant violations of the basic rights granted by the law to the civilians.
SAM interviewed an ex-detainee in the Coalition prison; who said “there are no Yemenis among the officers and wardens. They are foreigners whose nationality is unknown to us, maybe American, Mexicans, or other nationalities, as we heard. They wear a uniform, like that wore by security companies”. “in the prison, there are foreign and Emiratis soldiers who interrogate us, and they beat and torture us and splash water on us”, he added.
The second phase; following interrogation and torture at the Coalition prison, the detainees are transferred to Bir Ahmed prison, where their whereabouts is disclosed, and some of them are referred to the prosecutor office, for due process. Many of the detainees lack proper case files, where there is no legal ground for their detention.
SAM received documented testimonies for ex-detainees – whose name are kept by SAM for their safety. One detainee said “I was detained at Bir Ahmed prison for one year and five months, I’ve been arrested at my house, by the Security Belt forces, and held at the Coalition prison, in solitary confinement, where I spent 75 days, and subjected to different forms of torture, and degrading and inhumane treatment, then moved to Bir Ahmed old prison, with number of detainees, who staged a hunger strike, because of the torture in the Coalition prison, and failure to refer them to the prosecutor for legal and fair interrogation process”.
“thereafter I was transferred with other detainees to Bir Ahmed new prison, 150m far from the old one, after they took all our personal belongings, when arrived the prison we were inspected. It is noted that all the prison’s crew are from Ghassan Al-Aqrabi tribe”. End of testimony.
SAM received another detainee’s testimony, who described to SAM monitor the torture that he faced, with other detainees; “first I was at the Coalition prison with other detainees from Almansour central jail, Alrabat checkpoint, Lahaj, and from Aden Security director’s “brigadier Shalal Shai’e” prison. We were brutally tortured while blindfolded and handcuffed with iron handcuffs, all detainees were tortured, without any exception. I was sitting with a group of detainees, who were subjected to frightening, unimaginable torture. We were tortured by electric shocks, beaten with iron, batons and sticks, heavy rocks were placed at the detainees’ chests, and the jailer breaks them, they hit our heads with iron locks. Torture was scary and some detainees’ wounds rotten and were denied treatment or rescue.”
Testimonies on torture and cruel treatment;
SAM interviewed several detainees, who were subjected to different forms of torture and inhumane degrading treatment. Habib “concealed identity”, said “an elements from the Security Belt forces, detained Habib at his house, without knowing the ground for that, when they arrived at the Terrorism Combating prison, in Attwahi, we learnt that he was detained in a narrow room, and tortured him, he was beaten and shocked by electric shock device at his head, and body, and forced to stand for three days while subjected to torture,”. “Habib is suffering from trauma due to the torture, he has been transferred to Bir Ahmed prison and he is still there”, the witness added.
In another testimony by the relative of Saad (concealed identity), a detainee, who said “Saad was detained in 2016, by elements affiliated to the UAE forces, he was detained in Shabwa, while in his way to Aden. He was subjected to severe torture, including beating and electric shocking. Friends told us that they saw him at the ICRC in Almansoura, by end of 2016, at wheelchair with bruises on all his body, and he is still detained”.
In another testimony by a relative of a detainee, who said “detainees at Bir Ahmed prison were thoroughly inspected and humiliated, where they were forced to take off their clothes and laid at their backs naked, and ordered to raise their legs, and whosever refuse, they beat him and unleash police dogs at him that bite him making him bleeds, despite detainees pleading, but they are merciless. All this is under the pretext that they searching for the cellular phones”.
"Mohsen" (the name is unreal for victim’s safety) , who is a former detainee “the jailers torture and humiliate victims, they strip of the detainee’s clothes and insert sharp metal objects in his rectum, at the presence of giant African males, who expose their private parts and threaten to rape the victim”, “there is an electric chair used for torture, also a hole where the detainee’s body is buried for days. They feed detainees at such position. They poop and pee at their place” he added.
“Four Eritreans come to the detention center under the pretext of searching for cell phones with the prisoners, they strip off detainees’ clothes, inspect their rectum, pretexting that they search for cellphones inside them, they beat and step over detainees, they insult Yemeni government, and calling Yemeni women as “worse than donkey”. He added.
A mother of a detainee told SAM monitor “my son told me that they put him in a tight room, they call the pressure cooker, for three days, I remain standing, I can’t sit, move my legs or even turn around.. at food time I go out, had my meal and they send me back.. we pee on our clothes, we are not allowed to go to toilet, only for pooping”.
Complicated measures to visit detainees;
Relatives of the detainees at the detention centers managed by the armed groups, funded and supervised by the UAE forces, are subjected to cruel measures when visiting these centers, where they pass through four inspection rounds;
First round; before entering the gate, the detention management review the list of visitors, and whose name is not there will be returned immediately, the list is reviewed again when visitors ride the bus, to the visit site, and any visitor whose name is not registered he will return back.
Second round; buses overloaded with visitors are allowed to enter, while congested with children and women, whereby exacerbating their sufferings.
Third round; buses stop and visitors are offloaded for another round of inspection, and then move to the visit site which is about 740m far.
Fourth round; when arrive, visitors have offloaded again for the third round of inspection, while women will be inspected by female officers, and finally, the visitors are allowed to enter the visit site.
Cruel treatment of the detainees’ relatives;
SAM received information from the inmates’ relatives on the cruel treatment they face when visiting the detainees, they said: “the soldiers threat them with disrespect, and humiliate them regularly throughout the visit time”.
A witness told SAM that “the soldiers at many instances, mistreat visitors, I saw an aged woman, waiting at the gate to visit her detained son, and she was about 15m far when the soldier sends her off the bus and returned her back to the first checkpoint, where she waited until evening hours, and finally she was sent back without seeing her son”.
Judiciary; Efforts and Obstacles:
The entities defending the detainees at Bir Ahmed detention center, organized several protests in November 2017, resulted in promises to consider the detainees cases, and the penal prosecution in Aden, visited the prisons, to review detainees’ files, but many detainees, according to their relatives, lack judicial files, ultimately some detainees, who spent long periods in the prison without charges, were released. However, many others are still under detention, and the Coalition forces refused to release them, despite judicial orders by the penal prosecution to release them.
A wife of an arbitrarily detained inmate, informed SAM that “the prosecution issued an order to release my husband, who is detained at Bir Ahmed detention center, for two years, on the day of his release, the detention center administration refuses to respond to the prosecution order, and when I visited him last week, I didn’t find him, and they told me he has been transferred to Aden Security Department, and when I checked there, they denied his existence there, and told me that they’ve informed the Coalition that they have no charges against him”.
A father of another detainee told SAM that “the anti-terrorism forces, led by Yusran Al-Maqtari, arrested my son at night from his house in Aden, following his release last year, after one year and four months of detention”. Many of the released detainees are reluctant to talk to the organizations and media, fearing from being detained again. One says “Aden is no longer safe, I’m thinking to move to another city, or to leave the country for my safety, we live under threat and anxiety, although no charges were proved against us”.
International law stand;
Torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, is a violation prohibited by the regional and international human rights and humanitarian laws, even under the national laws. Torture is intended to cause physical and psychological abuse, that might result in permanent disability or disability in the body of the victim, and ultimately might cause death. Torture, is a serious felony, according to the international laws, if committed during international armed conflicts, and a gross violation, if committed during non-international armed conflicts.
The common article 3 of Geneva Convention, which is the minimum level of rights provided during the armed conflicts, has banned torture, also article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has prohibited torture and degrading treatment, all these articles culminated with the international convention to combat and prohibit torture, in addition to the other regional conventions, such as European and the American conventions on human rights, and the African convention, and the Arab charter for human rights, all of which provided for the absolute prohibition of torture.
According to Rome Statute, of the ICC, torture, cruel, and degrading treatment were considered as the war crime, article (8), and crime against humanity, article (7) of the statute.
Recommendations;
First; to the UN and the Security Council;
- noting its mandate to supervise and prevent gross violations to the human rights, SAM Organization calls upon the Security Council, to refer the UAE prisons issue to the ICC, according to its mandate as stipulated in the Rome Statute, and to present perpetrators to the justice and bring justice to the victims;
- SAM organization calls upon the state party to Geneva Conventions, and Switzerland in particular, being the depository state of the Conventions, to work effectively to monitor the violations in Yemen, which are the gross breach to the Conventions, particularly in torture;
- SAM organization calls to ensure respect to the Geneva Conventions, and to strengthening the principle of universal jurisdiction, leading to the prosecution of offenders in Yemen;
- SAM organization calls upon the Prominent Expert Team, established by the UNHCHR to open an investigation in the violations documented in this report and to interview the relatives of the detainees at the informal prisons in Yemen, including Bir Ahmed prison;
- SAM organization calls upon the Sanction Committee, affiliated to the Security Council to investigate all facts presented in this report, and to include all involved parties in its list of sanction against human rights violators in Yemen, and within this context we are ready to cooperate with any investigation and to provide all information and data that might lead to bringing justice to the victims;
Second, to the Government of Yemen;
- SAM organization calls upon the legitimate government to protect civilians in accordance with the Yemeni constitution, and the international conventions from any violations, either arbitrary detention, night raids or torture;
- SAM organization calls upon the legitimate government to provide fair legal procedures upon detention, to avoid violating the civilians’ freedom and dignity and under the supervision of judiciary;
- SAM organization urges the legitimate government to activate judiciary and immediately implement the relevant judicial orders to release detainees at the informal prisons and to review the cases of the detainees;
- SAM organization calls upon the legitimate government to investigate, under judicial supervision, all perpetrators of human rights violations, to bring them to justice, and compensate the victims;
Third; to the UAE and the military formation under its supervision;
- The UAE shall immediately cease detention of civilians in Yemen, and to refrain from operating prisons, beyond the judiciary supervision and power, which is considered as a crime with no status of limitation;
- The UAE shall hand over the secret prisons to the Yemeni judiciary, and initiate a joint investigation to clarify the circumstances of the establishment of these prisons and compensation for victims;
- The UAE shall respect the Yemeni legitimacy and sovereignty, and commit to the president Abdorabo Hadi, request for intervention that identifies the legitimacy of their acts in Yemen;
- The military formation supervised by the UAE, the Security Belt, or Elites and other formation to cease any illegal practices, that disagree with the Yemeni constitution, the international law, and human rights conventions.
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, Geneva
11 April 2018
previous statements about prisons in Yemen