On the 22nd of June, the Session of the Human Rights Council held an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In this regard, Geneva International Centre for Justice and Association Ma'onah for Human Rights and Immigration would like to acknowledge the great work of Special Rapporteur, raising awareness on the manychallenges facing medico-legal death investigation systems and contemporary forensic professionals, which are crucial for conducting thorough and effective investigations of potentially unlawful deaths.
However, we regret for the silence we continue to witness in the face of events such as the one occurred on 18th September 2021, when Yemen’s Houthi militia supported by Iran publicly executed 9 people, Mohammed Noah, Ibrahim Akil, Ali Al-Quzi, Abdul-Malik Hamid, Moaz Abbas, Muhammad Al-Mashkhari, Muhammad Haig, Muhammad Quzi and Abdulaziz Al-Aswad (a minor), on the pretext of killing of Houthi leader Saleh Al Samad in 2018. Previously held in arbitrary detention, subjected to torture and degrading treatment, the group was sentenced to death after an unruly trial that caused outrage in the country.As of today, little to no mention has been granted to these facts. Although the High Commissioner issued a press statement describing it as an extrajudicial execution and demanding an investigation, the Special Rapporteur’s report did not refer to any measures he took to investigate this crime, thus, we call on him to take the necessary actions in this regard.
Ma’onah and Geneva International Centre for Justice are shocked bythe abhorrent Houthi practices of extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, which cannot remain unchecked.Unfair standards of trials such as the one leading to the previous described executions in Yemen, must be considered illegitimate. Therefore, we call for the opening of a criminal investigation to establish responsibility for those performing human rights violations in the country and to provide justice to victims and their families.
The following statement should have been delivered by GICJ intern Aimara Pujadas during the meeting, but was not broadcasted due to the limited time allocated to non-governmental organisations.
Houthi, Yemen, Conflict, Summary Executions, Killings, War, Justice, Geneva, United Nations, Geneva4Justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre for Justice
