Geneva – SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties welcomes the release of writer Mohammed Al-Miyahi after seventeen months of detention over his views, and engineer Akram Mohammed Moqbel Al-Shaibani after nearly four years of detention in Sana’a. It also expresses relief at the return of Mukhtar Al-Jubaili to his family after more than ten years in detention since his abduction on October 15, 2015. From a humanitarian perspective, these steps constitute an important and long-awaited development.
However, despite their significance, these releases cannot be regarded as the end of the violation. At the same time, they reveal deep structural flaws within the justice system, where detention in such cases has been transformed into a tool to silence dissent or disrupt public life outside the framework of due legal guarantees. According to documentation by the organization in similar contexts, these detentions occurred in the absence of proper judicial procedures, including the denial of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Yemeni Constitution and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary detention and guarantees the right to promptly challenge the legality of detention before an independent court. Accordingly, holding individuals for prolonged periods without a fair trial, or on the basis of vague or malicious charges, constitutes a grave violation of the rule of law and undermines public confidence in institutions.
In this context, the case of Mukhtar Al-Jubaili represents a stark example of the heavy human cost of the absence of justice. He was abducted at the age of twenty-six and did not return to his family until a full decade later, during which his social and professional environment had entirely changed. Ten years of deprivation of liberty mean a forced interruption of work, a freezing of the natural course of life, and the loss of the most basic forms of stability. Comparable experiences have also highlighted the profound psychological consequences of prolonged detention, including trauma-related disorders, difficulties in reintegration, and feelings of social alienation, in addition to the extended anxiety and uncertainty endured by his family, which weakened their sense of security and affected their social cohesion.
As these cases point to a broader pattern of detentions linked to restrictions on freedom of expression or the use of the justice system for political purposes, the documentation of hundreds of similar incidents since 2015 reinforces concerns about the systematic nature of these practices and underscores the need for comprehensive remedies that go beyond release as a standalone measure.
On this basis, SAM Organization believes that release, while necessary, does not extinguish legal responsibility nor remedy the consequences of the violation unless followed by a comprehensive process that includes official acknowledgment of the unlawfulness of the detention, independent and transparent investigations leading to accountability for those responsible, and full reparation for material and moral harm through fair compensation and restoration of dignity, in addition to the provision of specialized psychological support and sustainable social and professional reintegration programs to ensure victims fully regain their status and rights.
The organization further affirms that preserving evidence and documenting violations constitute a fundamental pillar of any future transitional justice process, as impunity not only risks the recurrence of violations but also obstructs efforts to build sustainable peace grounded in the rule of law.
SAM Organization renews its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all abductees and arbitrarily detained persons, foremost among them lawyer Abdulmajid Sabrah, for clarification of the fate of those forcibly disappeared, and for ensuring their full access to legal rights. It also calls on the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Envoy to Yemen to intensify efforts to safeguard the right to liberty and fair trial, monitor detention conditions, and support accountability processes in a manner that strengthens trust and upholds human dignity.
A society in which the law is suspended in favor of power places its own stability at risk. Justice is not a measure that follows release; it is the fundamental safeguard that prevents the deprivation of liberty in the first place. Any peace that is not grounded in genuine accountability will remain fragile, vulnerable to collapse at the first test.