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As civil society organizations from Yemen and around the world we urge United Nations (UN) member states to work toward the establishment of an independent international criminally focused investigative mechanism on Yemen in the coming period, including at the upcoming 51st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

Alkarama’s director, Rachid Mesli, said during his online participation in a human rights symposium on the occasion of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, “The Iraqi authorities are unwilling to hold those involved in the crimes of enforced disappearance to account.”, pointing to the clear complicity between successive governments and the militias that commit these crimes.

Alkarama and other Yemeni and international human rights organisations issued a statement on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, celebrated on 30 August each year.

The joint statement calls for the urgent intervention of all parties to the conflict in Yemen to ensure the release of those arbitrarily detained, and the respect of their rights to dignity, safety and security.

The family of detainee Abdel Rahman ELSAYAR said Egyptian authorities had transferred their son to Badr prison, east of Cairo.  Badr is a recently created prison complex which, according to the authorities, is dedicated to the reception of prisoners serving short sentences, and where “emphasis is put on their professional qualification”.

On 2 August 2022, Alkarama submitted the cases of Mr Abdulkarim Al Khodr and Mr Jaber Suleiman Al Amri to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding their detention in the Munasaha centers despite the expiration of their prison sentences.

Background

On 17 August 2022, Alkarama and the Association of Victims of Torture in Tunisia (AVTT) addressed the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression regarding the case of Mr Salah Attia, a journalist and political analyst, who was sentenced on Tuesday to three months in prison by the Permanent Military Tribunal of Tunis.

Mr Salah Attia was arrested on 11 June 2022 by agents in civilian clothes while he was in a café in the Ibn Khaldoun district.

The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) has made several recommendations for the improvement of the human rights situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following its initial review at the 74th

Alkarama received reliable information indicating that the health condition of detainee Mustafa Talib Younis Abdelkhaleq Al-Darsi has been deteriorating. He remains in detained by the Libyan government, despite an Opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) calling for his release.

Alkarama received with dismay the news of the death under torture of Yemeni aid worker Yasser Junaid, who died while held incommunicado in the prisons of the Houthi group "Ansar Allah".

Alkarama had submitted a complaint to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances  (WGEID).

Prominent lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Al-Roken has served his entire 10-year prison sentence after an unfair trial and numerousbuses and ill-treatment in detention.

Al-Roken's sentence ended on 17 July 2022, but the UAE authorities decided to extend his detention without giving reasons. It is feared that he will be sent to one of the so-called "Munsaha" centers (or "counseling" centers).