Like many other Yemeni, Mohammad Muthana Al Ammari, a 34 year-old Yemeni teacher, had participated in the demonstrations that toppled former president, Ali Abdallah Saleh. In December 2011, Al Ammari was abducted in Sana'a by a dozen armed men, before disappearing, being subject to torture and reappearing only to be sentenced for political motives by a special court, on 19 October 2012 after a grossly unfair trial, to two years imprisonment. In February 2013, Alkarama submitted his case on behalf of his family to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) requesting them to call upon the Yemeni authorities to put an end to his unlawful detention.

During its 69th session, which took place between 22 April and 1 Mai 2014, the WGAD adopted Opinion No.13/2014 confirming the arbitrary nature of his detention, and requesting his immediate release.

On 5 December 2011, around 12pm, a dozen of armed men surrounded Al Ammari, his wife and his young son in the street next to the Political Security building, placed him in a silver sport utility vehicle, with private plates, and drove into the Political Security parking lot.

Al Ammari's wife, Ahlan Al Ariqi, went to the Political Security headquarters the next morning to ask about her husband's whereabouts, but officials there denied detaining him. However, on 15 December 2011, pro-government newspaper Al-Thawra ran a front-page article with the headline "Six Terrorists from al-Qaeda arrested" featuring photos of the six men, which included Al Ammari. The newspaper quoted a government source who described them as dangerous armed militants captured by the authorities. Despite this, Political Security officials continued to deny his detention for weeks.

Finally, on 11 February 2012, an official from Political Security informed her that they were detaining Al Ammari, and that they would call her when she was authorised to see him. She was denied this right even after President Hadi's election on 23 February 2012 and was only able to see her husband in June 2012, six months after his arrest.

Al Ammari told Alkarama that he had been tortured during the first few months of his detention at the Political Security detention centre. He was hung by his feet for hours several times, beaten with sticks, and denied visits from the date of his arrest until 6 June 2012, when his wife was finally allowed to see him for the first time.

In addition, Al Ammari was not brought before any competent judicial authority until his trial in October 2012 as he was disappeared and detained incommunicado by the Political Security.

Al Ammari's lawyer filed a complaint with the General Prosecution in June 2012 asking that binding orders be issued to the Political Security to ensure his client be presented to court, as the delay in presenting him was prolonging legal proceedings and was harming his client who had already been detained for months without legal reasons. The lawyer called for Al Ammari to be moved from the Political Security detention centre to the Central Prison, a request also denied by the Political Security.

Al Ammari was finally presented to the Court and sentenced to two years in prison on 19 October 2012, following a trial marred with irregularities, and during which no single piece of material evidence was provided by the accusation to the judge. The verdict specified that the sentence began from the first day of Al Ammari's arrest on 5 December 2011, and that he should therefore be released on 5 December 2013.

Alkarama had explained to the UN procedures that Al Ammari's six months incommunicado detention, added to the absence of material evidence presented by the accusation at his trial, the ill-treatment he was subjected to during his pre-trial detention, the lack of presumption of innocence and the interference of Political Security in the judicial process, clearly demonstrated the Yemeni authorities' failure failed to provide the victim with basic guarantees for a fair trial. And since there is no legal basis that could justify the teacher's current detention, Alkarama had asked the WGAD to request Yemeni authorities to immediately put an end to, and provide him with adequate compensation for all the abuses he had been subjected to since his arrest.

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