SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, based in Geneva, demanded today Houthis militia, the Southern Transitional Council militia affiliated to the Emirates and the forces of the legitimate government, to release all detainees in Yemeni prisons, amidst concern over Coronavirus spread in Yemen where there is no  healthy system can cope with this disaster.

SAM said the parties to the conflict in Yemen should release the detainees in light of the poor conditions in Yemeni prisons and lack of adequate health, medical and humanitarian conditions, which threatens the lives of the detainees.
 
SAM stressed that the situation in Yemen is serious and foreshadows a real catastrophe if the epidemic spreads, especially since there are hundreds of detainees suffering from chronic and serious disease due to the detention conditions and lack of appropriate health and medical conditions in the detention facilities.
SAM issued a report on the 20th of November of this year, titled "Slow Death," documenting the condition of the sick detainees inside the prisons.
 
SAM said that the current situation of detainees should not be politicized  or manipulated, but to consider the humanitarian side, and all parties should move immediately to take alternative legal measures stipulated in the law of criminal procedures, such as release with due judicial measures such as house arrest, or release  on bail or placing the names of those released on the travel ban lists if there are cases in relation to them before the courts.
 
SAM called on the Red Cross, the UNSE office and the World Health Organization to take urgent action in pressuring the parties to the conflict in Yemen to release the detainees and to take urgent humanitarian initiatives in this regard.
 
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, Geneva *
March 18, 2020