On 18 March 2010, Alkarama sent the cases of 10 Yemeni detainees to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), requesting its intervention with the Yemeni authorities. The detainees were arrested in the context of the so-called "war on terror" and are currently detained at the Al-Hodeidah Political Security prison without warrant or charge.

According to their families of the detainees, the prison authorities have punished those who participated in the hunger strike by withdrawing their visitation rights. Most of the detainees are held in solitary confinement in underground cells and only six of them have been transferred to communal cells.

Letter from wife of a detainee

Alkarama received a letter from the wife of Yahia Ahmad Mauda, one of the Political Security detainees, requesting a Alkarama's urgent intervention with the Yemeni authorities in and effort to ameliorate his deteriorating health condition.

Mrs Mauda said that her husband was arrested in mid-September 2010 and taken to the Political Security headquarters in Al-Hodeidah. She is now appealing for medical tests in order to prove the extent to which his health has deteriorated. According to her testimony, her husband is suffering from tuberculosis and has been vomiting blood in his place of detention.

Numerous arrests in the context of the "war on terror"

Between 2009 and 2010, there have been numerous arrests in the province of Al-Hodeidah, as well as other Yemeni provinces, under the guise of the so-called "war on terror". Students and political activists are the main targets, as they represent the mainstay critics of the Yemeni regime.

Most of these cases never go before the courts, and the vast majorities are arrested without a warrant and are practically never charged. During their arbitrary detention they are denied access to a lawyer and unable to instigate any legal action to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.

Below is a list of the detainees currently held inside the Al-Hodeidah Political Security headquarters:

1 Ashraf Abdo Saeed Ghanem Al-Maqtari
2 Khalid Mohammed Ahmed Mahdi Alassafani
3 Abdulrahman Ahmed Mahdi Alassafani
4 Mohammed Abdullah Hassan Alusabi
5 Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed Akhlufa
6 Osama Abdullah Yahya Sharaf Zine
7 Ayman Ismail Abdullah Nasser Allak
8 Abdul-Jabbar Abdullah Yahya Cotton
9 Murad Ali Mohamed Salem
10 Yasser Abdullah Salem
11 Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Afif
12 Jalal Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mass
13 Hussein Issa Ahmed Alian
14 Issa Ahmed Alian
15 Tariq Mohammed Ahmed Thabet Adeni
16 Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Mahdi
17 Suleiman Mohammed Suleiman Atiya
18 Mohammed Abdullah Qasim Ibrahim Assaid
19 Wahid Abdullah Ali Abdullah Hijam
20 Yasser Abdo Salah Alahudli
21 Ahmed Hassan Shaaban
22 Samir Suleiman Mohammed Jamali
23 Omar Hassan Ghazouani
24 Haitham Abdel H. Saleh Alahudli
25 Nasser Ahmed Ismail Mataher
26 Osama Mohamed Yehia Khalil
27 Ali Isa Hadrami
28 Haba Yahya Ahmed Mauda

Note: Cases 1 to 10 have been sent to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention