SAM accuses UAE-backed militias of committing serious abuses in Yemen
SANAA, Feb. 21 (YPA) – SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties accused UAE militias of pursuing a policy of intimidation and enforced disappearance of civilians in the hodeidah governorate’s directorates.
SAM said, in a statement, that the repeated arrests and summonses carried out by the various military brigades without bringing up judicial orders for arrest or trial show a serious tendency on the part of the UAE-backed militias to adopt a policy of enforced disappearance, particularly again people opposing them.
According to the statement, the organisation received a report from the sister of 39-year-old detainee Fouad Zuhair, from Hays district, south of Hodeidah province, stating that her brother was arrested on February 15 by members of the so-called ” Al-amaliqa 7th Brigade “.
The organization, quoting Zuhair’s sister, said Fouad was taken by two members of those forces, noting that he was placed in the brigade’s security prison before being transferred to Abu Musa al-Ashari camp, in the coastal city of Khokha.
Zuhair was arrested by the UAE-backed troops on 30 July last year, the victim’s sister said in a statement.
Despite the letter issued by the National Commission to Investigate Human Rights Allegations, according to the organization’s statement, in which the chairman of the committee, Judge Ahmed Al-Mefalhi, asked the commander of the Al-amliqa Brigade to explain why Fouad was arrested in violation of the law.
“However, the leadership of the UAE-backed brigade did not respond to the committee’s efforts, and did not officially declare its presence inside its detention facilities.
The Geneva-based Sam Yemen Organization said the frequency of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial arrests reflects a worrying trend among Abu Dhabi-backed forces in their behaviour to intimidate opponents.
“This behavior has pushed a lot of residents to migrate from their province, which will have serious repercussions on the social level and population distribution in Yemen, the statement read.
Sam also called on the military formations to stop these illegal practices, against Yemeni law and international law and release all detainees held in the prisons they supervise in the southern Hodeidah coastal directorates on the Red Sea.
E.M