By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
SANA’A, Yemen – In December 2008, Amnesty International released in Annual Report on the State of the World’s Human Rights, stating that human rights and the rule of law in Yemen have experienced a major setback over the course of 2008.
2008 experienced a rollback of civil and political and human rights, which negatively affected the economic and social standing of many Yemeni citizens. The Amnesty International report made reference to several instances of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment carried out by the government against Yemeni citizens. Such treatment included violence carried out by Yemeni security forces against citizens, cases of arbitrary and prolonged detentions without legally charging the individual, unfair trials, and several cases of forced disappearances, extrajudicial execution and threats of physical liquidation. According to the report, in several cases, individuals were detained solely for requesting information regarding a relative who was in detention. In addition, the report called for the Yemeni government to promote women’s rights in Yemen, and abolish all forms of discriminatory treatment against women.
While the Yemeni government denies that it permits the execution of delinquent minors, Amnesty International alleges otherwise, citing the execution of Adel Muhammed Said Al-Ma’mari, who was executed despite appeals by the international community as well as medical evidence that Al-Ma’mari was not yet 18 at the time he committed the crime and was sentenced by the court. Currently, Radfan Razaz, another minor, is at risk of imminent execution.
In December 2008, human rights and media activists from Yemen participated in the third regional training course, with other Middle Eastern and North African states, to improve existing regional human rights networks and establish new coalitions and organizations that will serve to foster further inter-governmental cooperation, develop additional mechanisms to protect human rights defenders, and to cooperate in the preparation of both governmental and non-governmental reports.
For more information, please see:
Amnesty International – Amnesty International Report 2008: The State of the World’s Human Rights – December 2008
Yemen Observer – Conclusion of the Third Regional Training Course on Human Rights – 30 December 2008
Yemen News Agency – 3rd Regional Training for Human Rights and Media Activists Wraps Up – 26 December 2008
Yemen Post – Amnesty International: Human Rights in Yemen See Major Setbacks in 2008 – 22 December 2008
