Michigan- The American Center for Justice (ACJ) reiterates its commitment to stand by the victims and their families in their quest for justice and to reveal the fate of their loved ones who were forcibly disappeared. Victims of forced disappearance are deprived of their basic rights, while their families live in constant agony between pain and hope of knowing the fate of their loved ones.

ACJ confirms that the Houthi group "Ansar Allah" tops the list of parties involved in cases of enforced disappearances, with 132 cases, followed by the Security Belt Forces with 63 cases of enforced disappearance, 2 cases attributed to the internationally recognised Yemeni government forces, and 2 cases attributed to the Joint Forces on the West Coast, according to statistics from the Abductees' Mothers Association in Yemen, an organisation formed by the families and mothers of detainees in Yemen to follow up on their cases.

One of the cases of enforced disappearance reviewed by the American Center for Justice is the case of the 70-year-old citizen "Yousef Al-Raimi," who was arrested and forcibly disappeared on 12/08/2018 when he left his home in Sana'a to get supplies for his house and children. His fate remains unknown to this day. Similarly, the fate of the community activist and educator "Zakaria Qassem," 56 years old, remains unknown since 27/01/2018, following his arrest by forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council.

Also among the previously mentioned names is "Mohamad Qahtan," a Yemeni politician and member of the Yemeni Islah Party, who was disappeared by the Houthi group. "Ayoub Al-Salahi" and "Akram Hameed," both from Taiz governorate, have also been forcibly disappeared for eight years without any information about their whereabouts.

ACJ stresses that what the various parties in Yemen are doing blatantly and unjustifiably violates the legal rules stipulated in the Yemeni constitution and international law, especially the "International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance." It points out that arrest and detention procedures must go through several legal stages and be conducted by official competent authorities to meet the requirements of the Yemeni constitution and international law. However, what the center has observed through several complaints received indicates that these authorities have not followed legal procedures to detain individuals, instead they place them in prisons without any specific charges.

The Center also confirms in its statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which falls on August 30th each year, that this day has been established to remind us of the suffering of the forcibly disappeared who, from the first moment, are subjected to unacceptable violations, including being deprived of their freedom without legal justification. Also their places of detention and reasons for arrest remain unknown, and they are put on secret trials and placed in secret prisons.

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) emphasises that the detention of Yemeni citizens without charges, without disclosing their whereabouts, or without initiating legal procedures based on actual reasons constitutes an act of abduction outside the framework of the law, which places full legal responsibility for the lives of these individuals on the parties committing these violations. 

The ACJ calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities regarding what is happening in Yemen, to pressure all parties involved in these crimes to disclose the fate of the forcibly disappeared and work for their immediate release. The centre also urges bringing all those responsible for these crimes to justice and ensuring they are held accountable for their violations against civilians.