At the time of the original urgent appeal in November 2009, Alkarama feared that Yasser Abdulwahab Mohamed Al-Wazir would be subject to an unfair trial and risked receiving an extremely punitive sentence due to his work as a human rights defender inside Yemen. This would later become a reality.

Yasser Al-Wazir's recent trial was indisputably unfair, as it did not respect the guarantees provided by international law. Prior to his trial Mr Al-Wazir was held incommunicado for three months and suffered torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the Yemeni State Security - contrary to Yemen's obligation under the Convention Against Torture, to which it has been party since 1991.

Sana'a's Specialized Primary Criminal Court is considered by numerous international human rights organizations, as well as various Yemeni lawyers and human rights activists as being "manifestly unfair". We also recall the 2007 trial of Abdul Rahman Al-Hossami , who received two and a half years imprisonment for "assaulting a public officer performing his duty" after having his house ambushed by Yemeni Political Security forces armed with automatic machine guns.

On 20 January 2010, in a formal communication, Alkarama requested the further intervention of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders with the Yemeni Government, who appears to be targeting Yasser Al-Wazir due to his criticism of the human rights violations carried out by the Yemeni government against the Houthi movement.