SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, and AFDI International for Human Rights said in a joint statement issued today that the information published by the "G Forum" website on August 19, 2020, regarding the UAE's hiring of American and French mercenaries to carry out assassinations against politicians affiliated with the Islah party in Yemen is an illegal act that is criminalized by the laws of the two countries, such as the first paragraph of Article 436 of the French Criminal Code, which punishes with imprisonment for five years and a fine of up to 75,000 euros for everyone who participates in hostilities outside the national army, "which requires an urgent investigation into these crimes by the two countries authorities, noting that it undermine peace in Yemen and contribute to feeding the conflict between the parties.

 

The two organizations stressed that the information contained in the press report and the details of the agreement raises many questions about the assassinations that occurred in the city of Aden during the previous period, as more than 120 political, military, and clerical figures were assassinated, and these mercenaries killed Many of them in return for large financial privileges, which constitutes the crime of using mercenaries in the context of an armed conflict, and the crime of deliberate killing of persons who are supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law, human rights and domestic law, and is criminalized in French and American laws.

 

The two organizations said that the Yemenis must feel safe, and the families of the victims shall receive justice and support in light of the violations and deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation in Yemen, and the continued impunity enjoyed by human rights violators and escaping prosecution and punishment.

 

The two organizations affirmed that they seek to achieve international justice for the victims and prosecute war criminals before the international courts, as they will file complaints before judicial authorities in France against the French mercenaries for having committed extrajudicial killings and war crimes in Yemen, according to the available data and recorded confessions, and based on the articles stipulated in the French penal code on penalties for mercenaries.