Michigan - The American Center for Justice (ACJ) said that the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and its Security Belt forces  should provide all information about the abducted lawyer Sami Yassin Qaid Al-Sharjabi, who was kidnapped by a military team without legal justification. The center stressed that the delay in releasing him and revealing his fate should lead to holding those forces and their supervisor fully responsible for his life. 

The Center stated in a statement issued today, Monday, that the mother of the lawyer, “Sami Yassin Qayed Al-Sharjabi,” confirmed during her communication with the center’s monitoring team, that her son, “Sami,” was deprived of his fundmental rights to defend and have a legal investigation, as the prosecutor prevented him from meeting with the lawyer. She said “My son was kidnapped and forcibly disappeared since November 16, 2023, while doing his job as a lawyer, by armed individuals who assaulted him and forcibly took him and his car to one of the prisons of Camp Al-Nasr, without any legal justification, or bringing him before the judiciary until now." 

The lawyer's family filed several complaints to the  Presidential Leadership Council and the Supreme Judicial Council, in which they confirmed that lawyer "Sami Yassin" was arbitrarily detained, ill-treated ,and physically assaulted when he was arrested while carrying out his duties and obligations as a lawyer near the Judicial Inspection Authority building in Khormaksar at 11:00 am. A report on the incident was filed at Khormaksar Police Station No. (21) on November 16, 2023, in addition to the storming and searching of his home, and the confiscation of his papers, personal belongings, and some of the contents of his home. 

According to ACJ’s follow-up, lawyer “Yassin” has been prevented from communicating with the outside world since November 16, 2023, as he was forcibly disappeared. He was also denied access to legal representation, and his family was prevented from visiting him or knowing any information about his health condition, in addition to being deprived of basic necessities such as food, water, appropriate clothing, and medical care, and practicing his work as a lawyer or dealing with legal cases. 

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) stresses that the kidnapping incident violated a number of legal texts and rules that incriminate arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and threatening the freedom and safety of people without legal permission or a judicial decision. It also emphasizes that what happened with lawyer Sami Yassin was a full-fledged crime of assault and kidnapping that required the Security Belt forces in Aden to quickly reveal his fate instead of a policy of silence and unjustified procrastination regarding the serious violation. 

The ACJ renews its call to the leadership of the STC to reveal the fate of lawyer Sami Yassin. Additionally, it highlights the importance of the authorities supervising the area where the kidnapping incident took place, providing sufficient information about that incident and the people involved in it, and bringing them to a fair trial for their unjustified and serious violation of a number of rules and agreements of international law.