Mr Abdelghani Ahmed Hussein Suleiman, is 38 years old and a teacher. Born in Saudi Arabia, where he has always lived, he is a Pakistani national. He is married to a Yemenite national who also lives in Saudi Arabia, and has three children.

Arrested by the Saudi authorities without any legal reason, he was detained incommunicado in this country for two months before being forcibly expulsed in August 2007 towards his country of origin, Pakistan, a country to which he no longer has any connection.

His wife was expulsed with their children to Yemen, two months after the forced expulsion of her husband.

In mid-April 2008, Mr Suleiman went to Yemen, in possession of a visa, in order to see his wife and children, and to try to find a solution to reunite his family.

On 28 April, in the evening, he was arrested in public, in presence of numerous witnesses, and taken in a Political Security Services’ (Al Amn Assiysassi) car. Four hours later, he was taken to the family home with his hands handcuffed behind his back, and feet tied, accompanied by agents of the same service who carried out a search without a warrant. Certain agents were in plain-clothes, and others wore official uniform.

He was then taken to an unknown location, and gave no sign of life for two months. Despite the numerous steps undertaken with the authorities to find out his place of detention, threats and insults, in particular at the detention centre of the Political Security Services centre in Sana’a, no information was given on Mr Suleiman’s fate.

It is only through the intermediately of a person released from the Political Security Services centre in Sana’a that the place of detention was know, while the authorities denied detaining him. Finally, those responsible recognized that he was being detained, but it was only after numerous undertakings that visits were accorded.

Nonetheless, no lawyer is able to assist him due to the absence of a legal procedure started against him. After more than six months, Mr Suleiman is still unaware of the legal reasons of his detention, the length of this measure, and the fate that is reserved for him. It must be feared that he will be subjected to torture or a forced return to Pakistan.

It is without doubt that Mr Suleiman’s present detention can only be interpreted as arbitrary detention, contrary as much to domestic legal norms in force in the country, as to the pertinent international norms enounced in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Yemen in 1987.