-AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT -JOINT STATEMENT BY HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUPS

Human Rights Groups Condemn Arbitrary Detention of Yemeni Human Rights Defenders and Urge Authorities to Permit Advocates to Freely Travel and Conduct Human Rights Work

The undersigned human rights and civil liberties organizations condemn the unlawful detention yesterday of Radhya Almutawakel and Abdulrasheed Alfaqih, two prominent Yemeni human rights defenders with Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, and call on all parties to the armed conflict in Yemen to respect the work of human rights advocates.

Authorities working at government-controlled Seiyun city airport detained the advocates on June 18, 2018, as they were preparing to travel abroad to an event at the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Oslo, Norway. The authorities confiscated Almutawakel and Alfaqih’s telephones and other personal belongings, and held the advocates for approximately 12 hours. The advocates were given no reasons for the detention, but were told by the detaining Yemeni government security forces that they were not permitted to travel and were being arrested at the behest of the Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE)-led Coalition. After their release, they received further threats from officials that they could be detained again soon.

The actions of the governments are in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the right to liberty and to be free from arbitrary detention (Article 9), the right to liberty of movement and to leave any country (Article 12), and the rights to freedom of expression (Article 19), peaceful assembly (Article 21), and association (Article 22). The detentions also undermine government commitments in The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution A/RES/53/144, which protects the rights of human rights advocates to promote human rights at the national and international levels.