At least 27 civilians remain in detention, the majority of them for more than a year, after being granted release by the Hadhramout Specialized Criminal Court.

Hands of the prisoner

April 11, 2021

Sana’a – The local authorities in Hadhramout Governorate must immediately and unconditionally release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained in Al Munawara Central Prison in Mukalla City, Mwatana for Human Rights said. At least 27 individuals remain in detention in spite of being granted release: 13 were granted acquittals, three had their cases nullified by the court, and 11 have served their full sentences.

According to witness testimonies and the families of the detainees, Emirati commanders are putting pressure on the Hadhramout authorities to prevent the release of detainees. The mother of one of the detainees told Mwatana, “When we went to ask about my son, one of the officials told us that the local authority could not release them, as the detainees are wanted by the [Saudi/UAE-led] coalition, especially by the UAE.”

Mwatana has verified the abusive detention conditions detainees are subjected to in Mukalla through testimonies from former detainees, relatives of detainees, legal consultations, and field visits to the prisons. Since mid-March 2021, the city’s central prison has witnessed six suicide attempts by individuals who are being arbitrarily detained. The suicide attempts were in protest of their continued detention in spite of the acquittals that had been granted to them by the prosecution and the Hadhramout Specialized Criminal Court. Reliable sources told Mwatana that the detainees had attempted suicide by using razors in the prison bathrooms in at least four of the incidents, after which the victims were secretly taken to a hospital in Mukalla for treatment, and then were returned to the prison. According to family members’ testimonies, the six detainees are now in stable condition.

A brother of one of the detainees said, “My brother feels very desperate, which prompted him to attempt suicide. With the approaching month of Ramadan, it will be a full year since he was granted release in April of 2020, but he continues to be detained.”

Groups of detainees in the so-called “political ward” of the prison have been attempting to go on hunger strikes since mid-February 2021 in protest of the authorities’ failure to implement the court’s release orders. The prison authorities ended the strikes by force-feeding the detainees. The last time families of the detainees were able to visit them was on March 23, 2021. Since then, the local authorities have suspended family visits for the detainees under the pretext of COVID-19 precautions, only allowing telephone communication once every three weeks for a period of ten minutes.

In addition, the 27 detainees have been subject to arbitrary and abusive conditions throughout their time in detention. Most were subject to enforced disappearance for long periods of time—some of them up to five years—before they were referred to the Specialized Criminal Court and were granted release orders or acquittals, or had their cases nullified. In spite of the court’s orders, the local authorities in Mukalla determined that they would condition the detainees’ release on personal and commercial guarantees from the detainees, including restrictions on their ability to leave Mukalla City. However, even though the detainees agreed to these stipulations, local authorities continue to deny them release due to what officials have described as “the orders of high Emirati commanders.”

According to victims and witnesses, Emirati forces run illegal detention centers in the south of Yemen. Mwatana has documented critical civilian facilities that have been converted into centers of detention and torture by the Emirati forces, including Al-Rayyan International Airport in Mukalla[1] and the Yemen Liquefied Natural Gas Company in the Balhaf area of Shabwa Governorate. Mwatana has also verified that dozens of civilians have been detained in these detention centers, where many of them have been subjected to torture, from April 2016 until now. Even after announcing they would hand over these facilities to the local authorities, the Emirati forces continue to commit grave human rights violations in these prisons. They have also pressured local leaders not to implement the court’s orders to release the detainees.

Mwatana also verified that ten of the 27 detainees were subjected to torture and cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment during various stages of their detention in Al-Rayyan Airport Prison and Rabwah Prison in Hadhramout Governorate, as well as Balhaf facility in Shabwa governorate, before they were moved to Al- Munawara Central Prison in Mukalla. The methods of torture and other forms of abusive treatment ranged from deprivation of food, water, and sleep; severe beatings with iron bars, batons, sticks, and ropes; electric shocks; forcing detainees to roll on thorns; forcing them to embrace large ice blocks with their bodies until they melted; and forcing them to strip naked.

The 50-year-old mother of one of the victims said, “My son’s future has been lost, and his years of education have been wasted for no reason.”

There is no doubt that the practice of torture as a means of extracting confessions in the context of arrest, investigation, and detention processes is prohibited under Yemeni and international law. Such actions must be subject to legal accountability and should face direct international pressure to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana for Human Rights, said, “The failure of the authorities in Hadhramout to implement the judgements of release constitutes unjustifiable abuse against civilians. The injustices that the detainees are being subjected to has pushed them the point of attempting suicide to put an end to the torment being forced upon them. They must be released immediately.”

In June of 2020, Mwatana for Human Rights published the report “In the Darkness,” which shed light on violations of international law related to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and abusive treatment in Hadhramout Governorate committed by the Saudi/UAE-led coalition forces and the Hadrami Elite of the UAE-backed Transitional Council.[2]

Mwatana for Human Rights emphasizes that the release of the detainees should be the Hadhramout authorities’ top priority. Mwatana also emphasizes the need to hold the violators of the detainees’ civil and human rights accountable and to ensure redress for the victims.

[1] See also: About Death on the Road to Seiyun and Other Atrocities, https://mwatana.org/en/death-on-the-road-to-seiyun/

[2] Mwatana for Human Rights, “In the Darkness“, Section 5, Chapter 9: Al-Rayyan Airport Detention Center in Hadhramout – the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition and Hadrami Elite forces of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, https://mwatana.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/In-the-Darkness.pdf