Yemen: Acquitted Journalist Must Be Released
On 4 September 2022, Dar Sa’ad police station released a video which was shared on social media and national media news outlets featuring Ahmad Maher. In the video, which Amnesty International analysed, Ahmad Maher appears to “confess” to criminal offences including the forgery of identity documents for members of the military and his knowledge of assassination schemes against two STC military generals. According to his lawyer, the video, which violates his right to presumption of innocence, was not requested by the prosecution and was not recorded in their presence. A few days after the video was made public, a member of the criminal prosecution interrogated Ahmad Maher in Dar Sa’ad police station in the presence of members of Dar Sa’ad security forces who all were, according to Ahmad Maher’s relative, involved in his torture. During questioning by the prosecution, Ahmad Maher retracted his “confession”, stating that he was forced to make it under duress, and asked for referral to medical treatment. The prosecution requested the director of the police station to refer Ahmad Maher for treatment, but the request was refused. On 15 September 2022, Ahmad Maher was transferred to Bir Ahmad prison where he remains to date.
All parties to the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated grave human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment and unfair trials. In November 2023, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen reported that STC affiliated forces are detaining, subjecting to enforced disappearance, or threatening journalists and activists who publicly criticize them and are forcing them to sign or deliver “confessions”. The Panel also documented that STC-affiliated forces are systematically torturing detainees in formal and secret prisons.
In July 2018, Amnesty International published a report on enforced disappearances and detention violations committed by UAE-backed security forces, including the Security Belt forces in southern Yemen. Many arrests appeared to be based on unfounded suspicions and personal vendettas. Among those targeted were former fighters who fought in the 2015 battles to rout the Huthis from the south and who were later seen as a threat; sympathizers and members of the Hadi-aligned Islah party, Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood branch; as well as activists and critics of the coalition.