Detainees demand justice [Archives:2007/1078/Local News]
By: Nisreen Shadad
SANA'A, Aug. 19 ) Forty-eight prisoners implored security authorities to look into their illegal arrest, including the arrest of some children. The prisoners have been jailed for six months on charges of involvement with Houthis, an opposition movement against the Yemeni government. They have been asked to write a letter to NGOs for defending human rights as well as to journalists conveying their straitened circumstances due to the confiscation of their rights.
The relatives of seven of the prisoners petitioned HOOD, the Yemeni Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, for legal counsel. HOOD informed the general prosecution in Sana'a about these seven detainees, including three who are 15 years of age. The general prosecution issued a directive to refer four of the prisoners, including the three children, to the prosecution for interrogation, promising to release them if no evidence is found.
The seven detainees are Waeel Ghalib, 15, Abdul Rahim Al-Ahnumi, 15, Nasir Mujmil, 15, Yusif Al-Alawi, 24, Bakir Al-Shadhi, 25, Salah Al-Kahtani, 23 and Muhammed Al-Hadi, 28.
According to Ahmed Arman, a lawyer and executive secretary at HOOD, the arrest of these seven detainees was unwarranted and thus illegal. He stated, “There is neither a judicial order to arrest them, putting them in detention without accusation nor an interrogation.”
In a letter describing their plight, especially since most of them are supporters of their families, it is stated, “We are oppressed ur families are oppressed our children are oppressed and our salaries, which are considered the only income to their families, are oppressed hey are cut.” The letter definitively concludes, “The only crime we may have committed is responding to the security apparatus' call.”
“The general trustee of the local council in the district called Waeel's father and asked him to bring Waeel to him. Then Waeel was referred to the interrogation and immediately put in the prison,” one of Waeel' relatives stated. The interrogation was performed by the political security and then the men were put in prison, according to the detainees' relatives.
The political security in Hajja jailed the detainees on April 4, 2007 without any legal evidence. HOOD, in a letter to the general prosecutor, Abdullah Al-Ulufi, demanded that the prosecution investigate this case and release those with no evidence found against them while referring those about whom evidence is found to the courts.
In a report issued to HOOD, relatives of the detainees revealed that they made appeals to President Saleh, the governor of Hajja and human rights organizations. The director of the political security subsequently referred the case to the governor who asked about the outcome of the interrogation. After a long period of investigation, they asked for a guarantee from sheikhs in Hajja not to allow the detainees to study in un-reputable institutes that teach Islam. The sheikhs agreed to the request, however, the detainees have still not been released.
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