Michigan - The American Center for Justice said that soldier Musa Ahmed Al-Baadani, who has been detained for more than four years by the forces of the STC Fifth Brigade of Lahj,  was still seeking his freedom despite the Public Prosecution’s decision to release him. The center called on the Southern Transitional Council (STC)- which is responsible for those forces - to release the detainee and open an investigation into the repercussions of not implementing the prosecution’s order to release.

The ACJ indicates in its statement that “Musa Al-Baadani,” a soldier who was injured in the Mokha area, was arrested by the forces of the Fifth Brigade in Lahj, which have a bad reputation and are known of repeated incidents of kidnapping civilians, looting travelers, raiding homes, torture, and forced disappearance without any legal justification. The information obtained by the Center showed that “Al-Baadani” had been disappeared for 14 months without his family knowing the reasons and place of his arrest. 

The American Center for Justice stated that the families of detainee “Al-Baadani” were allowed to visit him in the second year, at a rate of one visit every 6 months, which constitutes a complex attack on the legal rights guaranteed to detainees to freedom to visit, meet their families, and communicate with the outside world on a regular basis. This violation was added to his deprivation of freedom, despite acquitting him of the charge against him.

Regarding the circumstances of his arrest, ACJ stated that he was arrested in March 2020 on charges of participating in an armed gang. However, eyewitnesses confirmed that that the real reason for Al-Baadani’s arrest was his refusal to give up a plot of land he had purchased to an influential person close to the notorious Fifth Brigade, which prompted them to fabricate that charge against him with the aim of illegally seizing the land. The American Center for Justice notes that it reviewed two memorandums issued by the Specialized Criminal Prosecutor in Aden on 3/13/2023 and 5/14/2023 and addressed to the Director of Counter-Terrorism in Lahj Governorate, demanding the release of “Musa Al-Baadani,” and holding them responsible for his remaining in detention in violation of the law. 

The ACJ affirms that the testimonies it heard, as well as the set of documents it obtained and viewed, prove beyond a reasonable doubt that individuals affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council deliberately violate the rights of civilians without any legal justification. The Center indicated that the silence of the authorities authorized to enforce the law in Yemen helped these forces to continue their violations, especially the failure to implement release orders issued by the Public Prosecution, conduct investigations into the violations against civilians, and hold those involved accountable.

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls on the Transitional Council to quickly release the detainee, “Musa Al-Baadani,” and to bring violators from its forces to account and investigate the kidnapping process and the failure to implement the judicial authorities’ orders to release the detainee.