Review of the fifth periodic report of Yemen

1.8.3Cases of Arbitrary and Incommunicado Detention of Foreign Nationals

Many foreign nationals are detained arbitrarily in Yemeni prisons. They are often in a precarious position, since they receive no support from their families, and often denied any access to the outside world, with no one to intervene on their behalf, especially if their embassy does not become involved.

The case of the five Cameroonian nationals¹¹⁹: Ludo Mouafo, Pierre Pengou, Baudelaire Mechoup, Zechariah Ouafo and Donatien Koagne) who were arrested in March 1995 by Political Security forces and taken to its detention center in Sana’a, where they were arbitrarily detained for 15 years, is only one such example. According to the victims, the fifth Cameroonian, Donatien Koagne passed away sometime between December 2009 and January 2010 after being transferred from his cell to Sana’a General Hospital. The other four were finally released on 29 November 2010.

On 1 April 2010, Alkarama sent urgent appeals on their behalf to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) and the Special Rapporteur on torture. Alkarama also informed the Committee against Torture (CAT) about the Cameroonians' situation in the context of Yemen's 2^nd periodic review in November 2009. In its final concluding observations of Yemen’s 2^nd periodic review¹²⁰, published in May 2010, the CAT mentioned the Cameroonians' case and asked Yemen “to provide an update on the case of four nationals of Cameroon - Mouafo Ludo, Pengou Pierpe, Mechoup Baudelaire, Ouafo Zecharie, who have been detained incommunicado and without legal process in Sana’a since 1995.”¹²¹

After this mounting pressure, the four remaining individuals were released in late November 2010 and were able to return home to Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital. Shortly after their return, Alkarama contacted Mouafo Ludo who provided detailed information regarding the conditions and details of his detention. According to his testimony, directly after his arrest, he was placed in a 2m² cell in the underbelly of the Political Security detention center in Sana’a. During the first few months of his detention he was regularly beaten, deprived of daylight and received only one meal and a single litre of water per day. A year later, four other Cameroonians were added to his cell. According to his testimony they were all tortured, electrocuted and hung by their wrists. None of the five detainees was ever brought before a court nor were they allowed to contact their embassy, gain access to a lawyer or call their families. To date, they have received no compensation for their detention and no investigation has been conducted to uncover the circumstances of their arrest and detention.

In a recent case, Mr Hicham Gherras, a Moroccan national, who arrived to Yemen on business on 12 February 2011, was arbitrary arrested a few days after his arrival in the country by plainclothes Political Security agents at his hotel in Sana’a.¹²² Since his arrest, he has been held without charge and never brought before a judge, or given the opportunity to challenge his detention.