The 2022 report
Eradah Organization
to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance
In the past years of war in Yemen, Houthis militia have been committing hundreds of thousands of great violations against human rights since its coup and invasion of Sana’a in Sep. 21, 2014, in addition to other parties to conflict, whether legitimate government or other security and military formations or coalition forces. But Houthis militia accounts for the bulks of violations
Due to the absence of equality and accountability for those responsible for horrific violations, besides the lack of justice, the civilian conditions in Yemen get worse. The Houthis militia has singled out the people in its controlled areas with iron and fire. If anyone managed to escape from Houthis militia’s rockets or landmines or drones, he couldn’t escape arresting or enforced disappearance of displacement. The cases of arresting and enforced disappearance were about 20,000 in the past 8 years. Thousands of people are still detained in Houthis militia’s jails up to date. Millions of Yemeni civilians became homeless waiting for crumbs from relief organizations to meet the basic life’s needs.
We are in Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance feel great ache for those still in Houthis militia’s jails suffering brutal torture, enforced disappearance, self-destruction and financial and political blackmail throughout the years of war in Yemen. Our hearts bleed for the detainees’ families, for the fathers who were deprived of hearing their sons’ voices and for women who were deprived of their husbands endure the pain and suffering and take charge of earning a living for their children within the hardships of life and lack of income resulting from the war in Yemen.
We also feel great ache for those still detained in the jails of other military and security formations in legitimate government controlled areas, whether official or extrajudicial and our hearts bleed for the situations of them and their families.
Enforced disappearance, brutal torture and deprivation of basic rights and other violations the detainees are subjected to in Houthis terrorist militia’s prisons is a clear violation of local, international and humanitarian law and a stain on the conscience of humanity.
During the four past years of the organization age, Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance worked on many ways and managed to establish a database with suitable documenting and monitoring process. We tried to verify allegations of human rights violations, in addition to documenting cases of violations whether by Houthis militia or other parties to conflict in Yemen.
Throughout the past period, we have worked hard to ease the burden on the detainees’ families within the available capabilities.
1 – Monitoring and documenting of 2022 :
The monitoring and documenting team managed to document 38 persons subjected to enforced disappearance, some of them have been arrested for more than 8 years during Houthis militia’s invasion of Yemeni’s cities and provinces and still remain under arrest up to now.
We, Eradah Organization, have received a total of 108 reports about forced disappearance. We managed to verify about 86 cases distributed as follows:
11 persons were abducted from their homes located in Houthis militia’s controlled areas.
2 persons were abducted from their homes located in legitimate government controlled areas by military and security formations.
16 persons were abducted from their workplaces by Houthis militia.
2 persons were abducted from their workplaces located in legitimate government controlled areas by military and security formations.
38 persons were abducted from security checkpoints by Houthis militia.
3 persons were abducted from security checkpoints located in legitimate government controlled areas by military and security formations.
5 persons were abducted in Al Qaida ambushes in Abyan province.
9 women were abducted by the Houthis militia.
During 2022, the observers of Eradah Organization managed to documented various torture cases via receiving reports about 120 torture cases in the prisons of parties to the conflict in Yemen, distributed as follows:
The monitoring team managed to document that 104 persons were tortured in Houthis militia’s jails and 6 people were tortured in military and security formations’ jails in the areas controlled by the legitimate government.
One person became disabled due to being brutally tortured by Houthis militia.
7 persons were tortured to death within willful medical negligence in Houthis militia’s jails, in addition to one person died due to medical negligence in legitimate government’s jails and one person in military and security formations’ jails in legitimate government controlled areas.
● The annexed table at the end of this report summarizes all of these cases.
Examples of flagrant human rights violations by the Houthi militia:
● Child abduction by Houthis militia and blackmailing their families politically and financially, thousands of them were reluctantly driven to battlefronts.
● Abduction women and subjecting them to systematic psychological and physical torture, financial blackmailing of families, demonising girls and their families and fabricating false accusations against women under the Name of prostitution and espionage as with Entisar Al Hamadi, Fatimah Al Arouli and dozens of other abducted women.
● Unlawfully using judiciary for financial and political blackmail through appointment of Houthis judges who in turn have pronounced 31 sentences without arguments last year stipulated execution by firing squad against detainees from Almahweet, Sa’dah, Sana’a and other provinces.
Inhuman executed 9 people from Hudaydah governorate on Sept 19, 2021 in Sana’a that was a serious crime against humanity.
Biased and unjust death penalty against detainees can amount to war crimes and a flagrant violation of human rights.
We, Eradah Org, have followed with grave concern the last death sentences issued against people from Sa’dah and educators from Almahweet after 8 years of enforced disappearance in Houthis Intelligence prison including Abdulaziz Al Aqeeli and his colleagues Sagheer Far’e and Isma’eel Blghiath
Moreover, Houthis militia passed more than 400 death sentences against civilian detainees in the past years after fabricating false accusations against them and used torture to extract a confession that resulted in killing some detainees and psychologically harming others some of them tried to commit suicide.
2 – The human aspect:
Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance tried to help the detainees’ families within the available resources such as providing direct cash assistance to those most in need which amounted to 15 millions Yemeni Riyals during 2022. Unfortunately, hundreds of families still need help to relieve their sufferings who are suffering lack of income due to abducting their breadwinners.
3 – Collecting and documenting information about the persons responsible for committing severe torture against detainees:
During 2022 the monitoring and documenting team worked to collect information about those criminal characters. We managed to collect information about 7 persons charged with committing serious crimes and violations including torture to death as a precursor to prepare complete files to ensure accountability for such crimes locally and internationally
4 – The events and activities in 2022:
● Human rights Symposium and press conference to publicize the report of 2021 on Jan. 2, 2022.
● Hearing session and human rights Symposium and press conference in Berlin, the capital city of German, on Jun. 1, 2022.
● Participating in the 51st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Sep. 21, 2022.
● Meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Enforced Disappearance and CED holding closed hearing on Sep. 23, 2022.
● Attending many meetings and symposiums on the margins of the 51st session of human rights in Geneva between Sep. 20 and 24, 2022.
● Making 17 TV interviews and dozens of participation and interventions and issued 37 statements of condemnation on Eradah Organization website and the organization social platforms, Facebook and Twitter.
● Distributing 6000 English illustrative brochures in Europe about the violations in Yemen.
Recommendations:
● We demand all local and international human rights organizations to put in many efforts that ensure the release of all abductees and enforced disappearance in Houthis militia’s jails and other parties to conflict in Yemen, in addition to suspending all death sentences against abductees.
● We demand all local human rights organizations to adopt the collective joint action that enables them to face Houthis militia’s serious violations of human rights through monitoring, documenting and revealing violations in the media to expose the abusers of such violations locally and internationally.
● We demand all local human rights organizations to urge the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights and Yemeni Government to ratify Rome Convention for the Protection of Human Rights 1950.
● Looking for the ways that ensure to pursue the abusers of human rights through local, international and humanitarian laws and hold perpetrators accountable in the International Criminal Court.
● We call upon all local and international donors to stand with abductees’ families to relieve their sufferings.
Issued by Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance
Wednesday March 1, 2023.
Appendix: Table of human rights violations monitored by ERADAH or received from other sources.
Case No of cases Perpetrator
Abduction from home
11 Houthis militia
2 Military security formations in the areas controlled by the legitimate government
Abduction from workplace
16 Houthis militia
2 Military security formations in the areas controlled by the legitimate government
Abduction at security checkpoints
38 Houthis militia
3 Military security formations in the areas controlled by the legitimate government
Abduction at ambushes 5 Al Qaida ambushes in Abyan province
Women’s abduction 9 Houthis militia
Cases of tortures and it consequences
Torture 104 Houthis militia
6 Military security formations in the areas controlled by the legitimate government
Disability due to brutal torture 1 Houthis militia
Death due to torture 7 Houthis militia
Death due to medical negligence. 1 Legitimate government’s jails
1 Military security formations in the areas controlled by the legitimate government