23 August 2012

Yemen: Alkarama and HOOD appeal to the Yemeni government to save its detained citizens in Iraq and Pakistan

Saleh Baydani Update - Today, Alkarama submitted to the Special Rapporteur on summary executions the case of Saleh Musa Ahmad Baydani , young Yemeni citizen sentenced to death in Iraq after unfair trial. 

 

10 March 2012
The Alkarama Foundation (Geneva) and the the National Institution for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms HOOD (Sanaa), appeal to the Yemeni government to act quickly to save its citizens detained in Iraq and Pakistan, given that the lives of some of them are in danger.

The two organisations urge the President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi and the Prime minister of the coalition government Mohammed Basindawa to take prompt decisions save the life of the Yemeni citizen arrested in Iraq: Saleh Musa Ahmad Baydani (18 years), who was sentenced to death in a trial that lacked the minimum guarantees of fair justice and the rights of the accused. The urgent action is especially needed given that information has reached his family that his life is in eminent danger after the Iraqi authorities ratified his death sentence.

HOOD and Alkarama remind the Yemeni authorities of their constitutional and moral obligations towards 19 Yemeni prisoners in Iraq, who are detained in the Susa prison in the Sulaymaniah province of Kurdistan, like Mr Baydani, and in the Rasafa prison in the capital Baghdad. They were given sentences ranging from 15 - 30 years in jail to the death sentence.

Our two organisations had previously launched an appeal in November 2011 to stay the execution of two detained Yemeni citizens. We also appealed for a review of the harsh sentences against other prisoners, among them is the female Yemeni prisoner Hasna Ali Hussein Yahya (29) who is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Our two organisations also express concern for the decision of the Pakistani government to refer the widows of Osama Bin Laden, one of which is the Yemeni prisoner Amal al-Sada, to the courts on illegal residency charges. This seems like an attempt to excuse the arbitrary arrest of the widows of Osama Bin Laden and their children, who have been held in a secret house in the city of Islamabad without any legal proceedings since May 2011.

HOOD and Alkarama share the concern of the families of the detained Yemeni prisoners in Iraq and Pakistan, and urge the Yemeni government to rapidly ask the governments of these two countries to respect the basic rights of the Yemeni citizens who are detained by them and to treat them according to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Yemen - HR Instruments

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

ICCPR: Accessed on 09.02.1987
Optional Protocol: No

State report: Due on 30.03.2015 (6th)
Last concluding observations: 23.04.2012

Convention against Torture (CAT)

CAT: Accessed on 05.11.1991
Optional Protocol: No
Art. 20 (Confidential inquiry): Yes
Art. 22 (Individual communications): No

State report: Overdue since 14.05.2014 (3rd)
Last concluding observations: 17.12.2009

International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)

No

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Last review: 01.2014 (2nd cycle)
Next review: -

National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)

No