For more than two years in Yemen, five men have been and
still are being unlawfully detained behind bars. They are being held in
connection with a June 2011 mosque explosion that killed seven people and
seriously injured the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. These five men that
remain in custody are among some 32 people Yemeni security agents forcibly
sought after allegedly linked to the incident. Of those people, 10 were
released while the other 22 remaining detainees went on a hunger strike that
led to an additional release of 17 people. On August 26th, the
Specialized Criminal Court charged 28 of the 32 accused with being part of an
armed gang intending this attack. However, the judge assigned to this case
recused himself citing he could not ensure that he could deliver justice
impartially due to all the media attention. The five men still remaining in
detention awaiting a new judge assigned to their case, have been beaten, tortured
and initially denied rights to a lawyer. Three of the men had their names
appear on a presidential release form, but officials never freed them.
Holding the five
accused for over two years without a trial is a violation of Article 14 of the
United Nations International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, as well as Yemeni law. It states, “In cases
where the accused are denied bail by the court, they must be tried as
expeditiously as possible. All stages, whether in first instance or on appeal
must take place ‘without undue delay.’” Since the day the accused men were torn
from their families and detained, they have been denied legal representation
and endured various torture tactics. They have recounted abuse details of
solitary confinement, blindfolded and hung upside down, arms and legs tightly
chained, and torment of snakes released into their cells. Joe Stork, the acting Middle East director,
stated that President Hadi’s government is acting like Yemen’s old abusive
regime as they continually keep these men behind bars. He said, “Keeping people
locked up against the law and presidential orders sends a message that this
government doesn’t care about human rights.” He went on to explain that all
their delays and detainment are not from serious investigations, but from political
forces postponing the course of justice.
Elaine
Etzler
10/11/13
11:40am
Source Article: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/10/09/yemen-stuck-behind-bars
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