Alkarama sent a communication to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on May 19, 2008, asking it to intervene with the Yemeni authorities.

Reminder:
Mr. Adel Yahia Yahia AL-SHAHRANI was born in 1971 and lives in Sanaa. A graduate of the Faculty of Education Sana'a, he taught for several years before exercising the profession of a taxi driver.

He was arrested at his home on August 15, 2007 at 2 am by members of the intelligence services who entered his home threatening and terrorizing all members of his family. After having him handcuffed and blindfolded, officials locked up his wife and four children (the eldest being 13 years old) in one room of the house and conducted a thorough search until 7am. No judicial warrant was presented and the reasons for his arrest were not notified to him.

He was taken to an unknown location. It is only on 1 October 2007 that his family was able to visit him, for the first and last time, in the barracks of the local intelligence services of Sanaa where he was detained. Since then, his family have been unable to see him again.

For the moment, Alkarama does not know details about his detention nor the treatment he has suffered. But according to reports, he was never brought before a magistrate and has not been the subject of a legal procedure.