The American Center for Justice (ACJ) has issued an urgent appeal to the Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, calling for immediate intervention to end the prolonged detention of eleven Yemeni nationals held in Iraqi prisons.
In its statement, the Center highlighted the case of Yemeni detainee Hasna Ali, who is in her sixteenth year of detention. She has received cumulative prison sentences amounting to up to 32 years and is currently suffering from serious health conditions, including a perforation in the diaphragm and a gastric ulcer. She has also been deprived of contact with her children for many years.
According to ACJ, many of the detainees are serving harsh sentences linked to broader political circumstances, reportedly without clear evidence of involvement in criminal or terrorist activities. The Center emphasized that this situation places a moral and legal responsibility on the Yemeni government to act to protect their rights and facilitate their return.
The Center further noted that there is a viable opportunity to secure the transfer of Yemeni detainees from Iraqi prisons, pointing to similar agreements concluded by Baghdad with other countries. It urged the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council to take decisive sovereign action by directing relevant authorities to expedite the necessary legal and technical arrangements.
Abdulrahman Barman, Executive Director of ACJ, stated that resolving this issue requires moving beyond ineffective administrative approaches that have failed in the past. He stressed that the case should be treated as a priority human rights matter at the core of the Council’s responsibilities, particularly given the deteriorating health conditions of several detainees, some of which have reached critical levels requiring immediate intervention. He also commended the constructive role played by the Yemeni embassy in efforts to address the issue.
Hasna Ali is considered among the longest-serving female detainees in Iraq. She was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to imprisonment in connection with her marriage to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a senior Al-Qaeda figure. She had married him in Yemen when he was working as a teacher in her village in Amran Governorate under an assumed identity. He later moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he served as an imam in a major mosque, before relocating to Iraq, where he became involved in leading the group’s activities against U.S. forces. He was killed in 2010.
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