Mass graves shock relatives of victims [Archives:2005/903/Front Page]
December 15 2005
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ADEN, Dec.13)Mass graves were found in the area of Al-Sawlaban in Khour Maksar and 26 corpses were exhumed last Sunday. Following the circulation of the news, a large number of people including those whose relatives were lost rushed to the place with the hope to recognize some of their missing relatives.
One of the laborers working in the land reported the security authorities that he found a human skeletons and scalps while digging and gardening work, then security forces and a legitimate medical team moved to the place and dug up some of the corpses.
One of the laborers in the land said during the process of shoveling the land, a bad smell was given out and then they witnessed human skeletons and bones wrapped in blankets and buried; three corpses in each grave.
For his part, Staff Colonel Abdullah Abdu Qairan, Director General of the Aden Police Department announced that the mass graves were found in the area of Al-Araish, near Al-Sawlaban Camp. According to him: one of the owners of the land informed the security apparatuses of the existence of human bones when he started to dig the foundation for construction, this lead the security forces to immediately man the location and start search for more corpses.
The General Director of Aden Police Department said the security apparatuses discovered 26 corpses. A source in the criminal labs mentioned that the corpses date 19 years back and these are the corpses of persons who are physically annihilated during January bloody events of 1986 in the city of Aden.
The same source clarified that corpses were recognized by military uniforms wore by security troops at those times.
Earlier this year, a number of mass graves were found in Al-Bureiqa area and 13 corpses were exhumed dating back to January 1986.
Major Ahmad Al-Maribi, Chief of Al-Arish Police Station, who was present in the location when a tractor owned by one of the investors started to scoop the land, said: “we were surprised when we saw bones. This made us man the location and after the search process, we found a large number of corpses.” According to experts and eyewitnesses, the corpses date 2 decades back and the uniforms the victims were put on formed material evidence that they were security troops. What remained ambiguous was their identities. Some of the victims were found either shot dead in their foreheads or chests, or confined with chains.
In addition, the Yemeni Organization for Human Rights Observation (YOHRO), based in London, urged the United Nations in a statement distributed last Sunday to take quick action and man the location where mass graves exist. The Organization, headed by Lutfi Shatarah, asked the UN to sent international experts to the location.
In its statement, the organization said: “we are concerned over such developments and urge the UN to man the location of the mass graves and send international experts to the location to analyze and examine the corpses with the help of thorough devices and nuclear acid.”
The YOHRO appealed to the UN Office in Sana'a to take control of the site and protect it from intrusion or the exploitation of corpses for the machination of political tricks and to conduct an open investigation in accordance with all the international conventions.
Concluding its statement, the YOHRO warned the Yemeni authorities of hurriedly filing any accusations in order not to have their impacts on the results of the international investigation, which is a must, particularly as the Yemeni ruling party waged a war against its partner in the Re-unification- the Yemeni Socialist Party- in 1994. In this year, Aden became a theater for the fall of thousands of victims.
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