SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, which is headquartered in Geneva, stated that the Houthi militias have not allowed the families of the detainees in the Political Security Organization prison to visit their detained relatives for the past two weeks, and SAM considers this an additional gross violation of the rights of the detainees, rights that are protected by the constitution and international conventions. The Organization added that it has gotten information about the deterioration of the conditions of some of the detainees due to the mistreatment and the lack of healthcare services in the prison, especially after the detainees were not longer allowed to wear their own clothes or get medicine on a regular basis. Some of the detainees are suffering from contagious skin infections due to the humidity, crowded conditions, and the detainees not getting enough water to drink or for sanitation.
In a statement that was issued by the Organization on April 3rd, 2019, SAM stated that the ban did not apply only to visits, and that the administration of the prison, which is controlled by the Houthis, has not allowed the families of the detainees to send clean clothes, medicine, or food, which the families had been providing for the detainees every week or two weeks. SAM learned that the Houthi administration of the prison has placed many of the detainees in solitary confinement cells, while the detainees are being subject to harsh treatment and torture, according to the reports that the organization has received.
SAM confirmed that the Houthis have kept Muhammad Ashal, Yusuf Al Kumaim, and Saddam Al Rawhani chained, and they have assaulted and beaten Saddam Dukhan and Saddam Ajlan. They have kept a detainee, Nasr Al Salami, in solitary confinement. These are systematic actions that have caused great worry among organizations because these actions are gross violations of the principles on the treatment of prisoners, as well as violations of conventions, decisions, and recommendations for prisoners.
SAM got a statement from Abdulmajid Sabrah, a lawyer, who said: “We were surprised, on Tuesday, when our 36 clients were brought, including Nasr Al Salami and others, from the Political Security Organization prison to the criminal court, and we were not informed of this session before. While I was talking to the detainees before the court session started, they all, without exception, complained that the mistreatment that they were subject to had increased in the recent period to unprecedented and extreme heights after Yahya Saree’ was appointed as the warden of the Political Security Organization prison.
“When the court session started, the only concern of our clients was to inform the court of the mistreatment that they are being subject to, and Dr. Yusuf Al Bawab, one of the 36 detainees, talked to the court and the public prosecutor’s office. He informed them that the inhumane and degrading treatment that they are subject to is in complete violation of their dignity as human beings and with their human rights. Among the examples of the harsh treatment that they mentioned, they said that they were being beat with sticks and batons, chained with metal chains and kept in basements in solitary confinement for some of them, and all of their clothes were taken, including their undergarments, and they were only left with their prison clothes. They showed their bodies to the court and showed that they did not even have undergarments on, and they were also not allowed to receive food from their relatives. The detainees who were ill were not allowed their medicine, some of whom are suffering from dangerous illnesses. The detainees informed the court that, when they ask for their medicine, they are told to die. We have requested, as their lawyers responsible for defending them, that the court include their complaints in the official court session minutes, but they ignored this, and the detainees did not get a response from the court. After seeing this, the detainees directed their statements to the attendees in the courtroom, saying: “Our fellow countrymen, save us from what we are being subject to in the Political Security Organization prison.” The attendees of the court session were very upset, and some of them did not upset that things like this would happen to powerless detainees. The 36 detainees, including Nasr Al Salami and the others, reiterated that the mistreatment and humiliation that they are subject to is not limited to them, and it is what all of the detainees in the Political Security Prison are subject to. The 36 detainees who were in the courtroom asked that their suffering be conveyed to everyone with a conscience and all of the rights and humanitarian organizations, local and international, so that their suffering can be ended. They also called for the immediate investigation of Yahya Saree’, and everyone implicated with him, for the humiliation and assaults that they are subject to.”
SAM also received testimony from the relatives of some of the detainees, and it will not be releasing their names. Below is a summary of a few of the testimonies with as few details as possible so that no harm befalls the witnesses or their detained relatives.
First Testimony
The mother of one of the detainees says: “My son was detained when he was 19 years old, and he is now 21 years old. When they abducted him, he was healthy, but now he has problems with his spine and back, and he has pain all over his body. We were not allowed to visit our sons, and they tell us that we did not raise them well, and that if we had raised them, they would not be in prison.”
Second Testimony
The sister of one of the detainees says: “We were surprised, on Wednesday March 20th, when we were stopped from visiting and bringing food to him, and we were not given any reasons. We waited until 2:30 in the afternoon, and then we had to go home, taking the food and everything else that we had brought for my brother, with us. Also, on Saturday, the prohibition was still in effect, and no one was allowed to visit or bring food for the detainees. We learned that the prison administration had taken all of the clothes and personal effects of the detainees, leaving them with just the prison clothes and one change of undergarments, as well as their bed and blanket. From time to time, the administration would raid the cells of the detainees and terrorize them.”
Third Testimony
The wife of one of the detainees says: “On Wednesday, the 20th of March, I went to the prison to visit my husband, but they refused to let me visit him, and they would not allow food, water, medicine, and money to be taken to him. They stopped everything. On Monday, the 25th of March, I went to the prison with my mother-in-law to visit my husband, and they refused to let us visit him in the beginning. We were persistent, however, and they finally allowed us a very short visit. Some of the detainees had different illnesses, and, if they asked for treatment, they would be chained and humiliated, and they were treated in an inhumane manner. They were not allowed food, and even medicine and medical treatment, and the guards would come in every few minutes and take some of the detainees away from their families, and they chained my husband to other detainees for three days because he asked one of the guards to bring a doctor for a detainee who was having seizures and had lost consciousness in the cell. There are detainees who have kidney problems, but the administration of the prison does not all them to get painkillers, and they also refuse to allow them to get checked by a doctor.”
At the end of its statement, SAM called upon the international community and the UN Special Envoy to work to save the Stockholm Agreement, especially the part concerning the prisoners, stressing the importance of exerting pressure on the Houthi militias to secure the release of all of the detainees being held illegally, and holding those responsible for these gross violations against the detainees responsible.
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties
Geneva – April 3rd, 2019