Detainees in Emirates prisons in Yemen face coronavirus outbreak risk

Hundreds of arbitrary detainees in Emirates prisons in Yemen face the danger of an outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), in light of the lack of the simplest protection standards for them.

The families of the detainees in “Bir Ahmed” prison in Aden, southern Yemen, appealed to the international community for urgent intervention to release them “after the local judiciary was unable to provide them with justice” and rid them of the hell of the prison.

The parents called on the international community to review the conditions of their children arrested in this prison (subject to the control of forces backed by the UAE), and measures to protect their health and safety after the passage of years of their arrest without any charges being brought against them.

They urged “all advocates of freedom and defenders of human dignity and human rights and humanitarian organizations in the world” to “immediate, direct and effective interference with the competent authorities for the immediate release of all detainees.”

The families of the detainees stressed that “the countries of the world are currently fighting their existential struggle against the coronavirus, and are taking preventive and health measures everywhere, preparing hospitals and evacuating prisons for fear of the spread of the pandemic, but the opposite is happening, where neglect is taking place in Bir Ahmed prison, so the possibility of infections reaching Detained detainees.

In March 2018, the Criminal Prosecution Office in Aden issued a decision to release detainees in “Bir Ahmed” prison, who were not found to have been involved in any criminal acts. According to international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, there are unofficial detention facilities and secret prisons in Aden, and families of detainees are prevented from visiting them.

Last Friday, the Yemeni government recorded a virus infection, the first in a country suffering a near total collapse in the health sector, as a result of the war that has continued for 6 years.

Human Rights Radar in the Arab world (an Amsterdam-based non-governmental organization) has previously called on the United Nations to take “urgent” action to save the lives of detainees in “UAE forces prisons” in Aden (south).

In a statement, the human rights organization stressed the need for international action to save the lives of detainees in the prisons of the Emirati forces in Aden in general, and the detainees of the “Bir Ahmed prison” in Aden, in particular.

The statement of the organization stated that many of the detainees in “Bir Ahmed” had to go on hunger strike, “to draw the world’s attention to their forgotten issue, after they faced the most severe forms of torture and abuse by their jailers.”

The organization urged the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths “to include the issue of Aden detainees, to urgent and urgent issues in his current moves, to end the suffering of dozens of detainees in Bir Ahmed prison, which is run by security forces backed by the UAE.”

The statement called for “conducting a neutral and transparent investigation to reveal the circumstances of deaths and serious injuries in Aden detention centers, and to reveal the reasons that led to the recent loss of the mentality of three detainees of Bir Ahmed prison.”

The statement quoted a human rights source – who asked not to be identified – that “Bir Ahmed prison inmates are subjected to terrible psychological and physical violations, and they are subjected to severe investigation sessions that last for long hours, and no trials were held and most of them were not charged, at a time when many prisoners do not know The reasons for their arrest.

The UAE runs three secret prisons at the headquarters of the “Arab Alliance” in Brega, the “Bir Ahmed” prison, the “Rayyan” prison in Hadramout, in addition to other prisons, such as “Waddah Hall” and “Mansoura” prison.

The detainees in “Bir Ahmed” had gone on hunger strike in previous months, with their continued arbitrary detention, despite the issuance of orders to release dozens of them, who were not explicitly convicted.

Most of them were arrested by forces loyal to the Emirates, known as the Security Belt. Some of them were in secret prisons, before they were transferred to the “Bir Ahmed” prison, which became famous in conjunction with documenting the horrific violations suffered by Yemenis at the hands of the Emirati forces and their allies, last year.

The Geneva Council for Rights and Justice, had previously held the Emirates fully responsible for any repercussions on the health of the hunger strikers.

The Geneva Council called for an end to the horrific violations of the Yemeni detainees. The Human Rights Council said that crimes of torture and sexual extortion have turned into a systematic behavior against hundreds of detainees, in prisons that are directly supervised by the UAE, or through armed groups supported by Abu Dhabi.

He pointed to the repeated documentation humiliation in Emirates prisons, using various methods of torture and sexual in Yemen, including flagrant violations committed systematically without accountability, which is a form of ill-treatment that amounts to war crimes.

The British channel “Channel 4” had earlier highlighted allegations of torture and “rape” against detainees in secret prisons of the Emirates in Yemen.

The report added that these methods are practiced extensively, especially in the city of Aden, the country’s temporary capital (south).

The channel reported the testimony of a Yemeni citizen, Adel Al-Hassani, in which he indicated that he was tortured in an Emirati military headquarters in Aden.

Al-Hassani said that he spent two years in detention, and was released in April, following the intervention of a Yemeni minister, who later fled to Malaysia with his family, fearing for his life.