Saudi-Led Forces Commit ‘Possible War Crimes’ in Yemen
LONDON (Dispatches) – Amnesty International says Saudi Arabian-backed militants could be committing war crimes in Yemen by interfering with the flow of humanitarian supplies into the impoverished country.
The UK-based human rights body said in a statement on its website that the militants stop the aid-laden ships to inspect their cargoes even though it is the United Nations which is mandated to do so.
They divert the ships to the Yemeni ports which are controlled by a Saudi-led coalition of invaders whom they work for, or delay them for further inspection sometimes for a month or more, the organization added.
"The times that these inspections are taking are effectively obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid and essential goods. And that is why, in our analysis, we have found that this could amount to collective punishment,” the statement quoted Lynn Maalouf, the Middle East research director at the Amnesty, as saying.
The coalition has been waging a war on the Arab world’s already most impoverished country to restore its former Saudi-allied officials. Yemen’s Health Ministry says more than 600,000 people have either been killed or injured during the three-year-old invasion.
The combination of the war and blockade has brought the country close to the edge of famine.
Meanwhile, a report had revealed that hundreds of detainees have suffered torture and sexual abuse by the Emirati officers at the jails Abu Dhabi runs in war-torn Yemen.
Citing victims and witnesses, the Associated Press reported that the detainees, who are held without charges, have been sodomized, raped, probed and stripped down in at least five prisons.
In one case, detainees suffered sexual abuse at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden on March 10, when fifteen Emirati officers ordered prisoners to undress and lie down for anal cavity checks, claiming they were looking for contraband cell phones.
Those prisoners who resisted were beaten until they bled, and threatened with barking dogs.
"They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain,” said a prisoner, who was detained last year and has been in three different jails.
"The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can’t find it,” he said.
The detainees also smuggled letters and drawings from inside the Beir Ahmed prison to the AP, describing instances of sexual abuse.
In another development in the country, Yemeni officials say the airport in the strategic port city of Hudaydah is still under the control of the Houthi Ansarullah movement, rejecting reports that the facility had fallen to the hands of Saudi-backed forces.
Yemen's army spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman dismissed claims that the invaders had gained ground in Hudaydah as he showed photos of enemy armored vehicles blown up in the city.
He also hailed the Yemeni fighters' achievements in the country's western coast as a "miracle."
The Yemeni fighters, Luqman said, have been fighting against Daesh and al-Qaeda militants in Hudaydah's al-Durayhimi district, and have surrounded all Saudi-backed forces and mercenaries in the al-Jah neighborhood.
The mercenaries have two choices, either to surrender or die, he pointed out.
Saudi Arabian-backed militants could be committing war crimes in Yemen by interfering with the flow of humanitarian supplies into the impoverished country, Amnesty International says.
The UK-based human rights body said in a statement on its website that the militants stop the aid-laden ships to inspect their cargoes even though it is the United Nations which is mandated to do so.
They divert the ships to the Yemeni ports which are controlled by a Saudi-led coalition of invaders whom they work for, or delay them for further inspection sometimes for a month or more, the organization added.
"The times that these inspections are taking are effectively obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid and essential goods. And that is why, in our analysis, we have found that this could amount to collective punishment,” the statement quoted Lynn Maalouf, the Middle East research director at the Amnesty, as saying.
The coalition has been waging a war on the Arab world’s already most impoverished country to restore its former Saudi-allied officials. Yemen’s Health Ministry says more than 600,000 people have either been killed or injured during the three-year-old invasion.
The combination of the war and blockade has brought the country close to the edge of famine.
Meanwhile, a report had revealed that hundreds of detainees have suffered torture and sexual abuse by the Emirati officers at the jails Abu Dhabi runs in war-torn Yemen.
Citing victims and witnesses, the Associated Press reported that the detainees, who are held without charges, have been sodomized, raped, probed and stripped down in at least five prisons.
In one case, detainees suffered sexual abuse at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden on March 10, when fifteen Emirati officers ordered prisoners to undress and lie down for anal cavity checks, claiming they were looking for contraband cell phones.
Those prisoners who resisted were beaten until they bled, and threatened with barking dogs.
"They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain,” said a prisoner, who was detained last year and has been in three different jails.
"The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can’t find it,” he said.
The detainees also smuggled letters and drawings from inside the Beir Ahmed prison to the AP, describing instances of sexual abuse.
In another development in the country, Yemeni officials say the airport in the strategic port city of Hudaydah is still under the control of the Houthi Ansarullah movement, rejecting reports that the facility had fallen to the hands of Saudi-backed forces.
Yemen's army spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman dismissed claims that the invaders had gained ground in Hudaydah as he showed photos of enemy armored vehicles blown up in the city.
He also hailed the Yemeni fighters' achievements in the country's western coast as a "miracle."
The Yemeni fighters, Luqman said, have been fighting against Daesh and al-Qaeda militants in Hudaydah's al-Durayhimi district, and have surrounded all Saudi-backed forces and mercenaries in the al-Jah neighborhood.
The mercenaries have two choices, either to surrender or die, he pointed out.
Saudi Arabian-backed militants could be committing war crimes in Yemen by interfering with the flow of humanitarian supplies into the impoverished country, Amnesty International says.