Top official exposes STC’s regional kidnappings in Aden

ADEN, Aug. 24 (YPA) – Head of the “Observer for Human Rights” Foundation, Anis Al-Sharik, in Aden city, said on Saturday the Aden and Lahj provinces, south of Yemen, suffer from regional control over the security and military sector.

He attributed the spread of the phenomenon of arrests, kidnappings, enforced disappearances and illegal violations targeting citizens in Aden and some areas in particular to the lack of functional balance in the security and military sectors in a regional manner.

In a post on the “X” platform, Al-Sharik accused the leaders of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), who come from the areas of Dhalea and Yafa’a, of practicing regionalism against citizens from various southern provinces and adopting a policy of repression and regional violations.

He called on the STC’s leaders to assume their moral responsibility in protecting citizens, youth, opinion makers and organizers of peaceful events from arbitrary and illegal arrests.

Al-Sharik mocked the STC’s claims of protecting Aden by preventing the organization of community events, seminars and peaceful demonstrations, while the STC has protected those who carry out arbitrary arrests, disappearances and violations against citizens without punishing their perpetrators.

In August 2023, the head of the Al-Rasid Foundation for Human Rights had published information indicating that 80% of those kidnapped and detained people in the STC’s prisons in Aden are from Abyan province.