Yemen mothers call on UAE-backed groups to release their sons

The Mothers of Abductees Association in Yemen yesterday called on the forces of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council to disclose the fate of 38 forcibly disappeared persons in Aden Governorate five years ago.

In a statement the association demanded the disclosure of the fate of their forcibly disappeared sons: “38 of the sons of Aden (under the control of the Transitional Council) have been hidden in secret prisons for 5 years, after being abducted without legal justification, and no one knows about their fate.”

The statement added: “The kidnapped have families who have been denied reassurance about their children, which caused the death of a number of them due to pain over the loss of their sons.”

The statement held the Southern Transitional Council (STC) “responsible for the kidnapping of their children” and demanded their release as well as revealing their fate.

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It also called on all human rights and international bodies to “work seriously and advocate for the cause of the forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained persons, so that they can obtain their freedom.”

According to local and international human rights organisations, many unofficial detention facilities and secret prisons are scattered in Aden and Sanaa, amid security measures that prevent the detainees’ families from visiting their children; security services remain silent about the numbers of prisoners and their places of detention.

Yemen is witnessing a war between pro-government forces and the Houthis, who are accused of receiving Iranian support and who have gained control of the capital, Sanaa.