UAE-Backed militias suppress protest in Ataq

SHABWA, Nov. 09 (YPA) – The UAE-backed militias suppressed on Saturday a protest in Ataq, the capital of Shabwa governorate, which called for the disclosure of the fate of the forcibly disappeared and their release from secret prisons.

Human rights sources in the city said that ‘Shabwa Defense’ forces broke up the protest, where participants were calling on UAE-aligned local authorities to intervene and secure the release of detainee Hatem Al-Awlaki from prisons in Aden, as well as those imprisoned in the secret detention facility at Ataq Airport.

The sources added that the militias detained several participants, including family members of the kidnapped Al-Awlaki and relatives of other victims of enforced disappearance. They also tore up pictures of the abduction and enforced disappearance victims.

The militias also ripped up pictures of the victims of abduction and enforced disappearance.

It is worth noting that the UAE-backed forces abducted Al-Awlaki from his home in Aden in 2016, and he has been forcibly disappeared ever since, without any charges or trial.

This crackdown comes at a time when the Laqmoush tribes have declared an escalation against the UAE-backed militias following the failure of a local mediation led by the UAE-affiliated governor of Shabwa, Awad bin Al-Wazir, and to the head of the Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s branch in the governorate, Lahmar Ali Lasud.

This mediation, which began in late August, was aimed at uncovering the fate of their family members who have been detained by the STC forces in Aden since April 2016.

@E.Y.M