Mwatana Calls for the Protection of Detainees and an End to Torture Practices in Detention Facilities Across Yemen
In a statement issued today to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, observed annually on June 26, Mwatana for Human Rights stated that torture, ill-treatment, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment continue to be perpetrated systematically and on a wide scale in Yemen by all parties to the conflict, in both official and unofficial detention centers under their control. These grave violations persist in the absence of effective legal accountability mechanisms and amid ongoing impunity, exacerbating the suffering of victims and undermining justice.
Mwatana added that this day is not merely a symbolic annual occasion but a persistent reminder of the duty of both the international and local communities to oppose torture, stand with victims and their families, and reaffirm their commitment to international legal principles that criminalize torture and prohibit its use under any circumstance. It stressed the urgent need to take immediate steps to ensure prompt and transparent investigations into torture violations, to hold perpetrators accountable, and to provide justice and reparation to victims—measures essential to preventing the recurrence of such violations.
In its statement, Mwatana affirmed that all forms of torture, as well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, constitute crimes under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. These violations may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes when committed in the context of armed conflict. This is in accordance with several binding international instruments, foremost among them the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly Article 5; the four Geneva Conventions, ratified by the Republic of Yemen, especially Articles 32, 37, and 147 of the Fourth Convention; the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits torture; and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Yemen is a party. Additionally, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in Article 7, absolutely and unconditionally prohibits torture—including during emergencies or armed conflicts.
Mwatana reported that it has documented no fewer than 878 incidents of torture committed by various parties to the conflict in Yemen from the onset of the armed conflict in late September 2014 through May 2025. These findings were gathered by Mwatana’s field team, which is active across several Yemeni governorates, using rigorous investigative tools and scientific, methodical approaches.
According to Mwatana’s documentation:
The total number of victims amounted to at least 1,005 individuals, including 125 children and 33 women, in addition to victims from specific and vulnerable groups such as lawyers, journalists, migrants, and humanitarian workers, totaling 34 individuals, distributed across Yemeni governorates controlled by various parties to the conflict.
Mwatana also confirmed that, during the period between the outbreak of the conflict in September 2014 and May 2025, it verified the responsibility of multiple conflict parties for several deaths inside both official and unofficial detention facilities, with at least 46 cases of death directly resulting from severe acts of torture.
Testimonies from victims and their families—corroborated by Mwatana’s field investigations—point to a variety of physical and psychological torture methods used against detainees as forms of punishment, revenge, or humiliation, often for political or regional affiliations or merely on the basis of suspicion. Evidence shows disturbing similarities in torture practices across different parties, including severe beatings with hands, sticks, electric cables, and rifle butts targeting sensitive parts of the body; suspension from limbs to the ceiling of detention rooms; deprivation of sleep, food, and water for extended periods; electric shocks to various parts of the body; forced standing or carrying heavy stones for hours; burning with fire or cigarette butts; sexual violence; and acts of humiliation and degradation.
On the psychological level, violations included threats of death, rape, or physical harm to victims or their family members; humiliation through degrading acts such as forcing victims to bow to rival flags; and prolonged solitary confinement in narrow, dark cells known as "al-Dhughata", causing severe psychological deterioration. Additionally, victims were subjected to defamation and the spreading of false information as a form of psychological pressure on both them and their families.
Testimonies and Case Examples
At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Monday, January 23, 2023, a group of armed men wearing military uniforms and affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces, traveling in a military vehicle, detained 19-year-old Abdullah (pseudonym) while he was returning home from Qa’atabah District in Al-Dhale’ Governorate. He was taken to the old governorate office building, which had been converted into a detention facility, where he was subjected to various forms of torture. He was later transferred to the central prison in the Sanah area of Al-Dhale’ Governorate, a region under the control of the STC forces.
Abdullah’s father gave the following testimony to Mwatana:
“After my son was detained and we confirmed his whereabouts, we went to visit him. He told me that he had been severely beaten with a thick electric cable—on his head, hands, and back—to force him to confess to crimes he had never committed. He was also beaten with a hammer and nails on his hands, and his fingernails were pulled out using pliers. Additionally, he was subjected to electric shocks in sensitive parts of his body, including his genitals.”
In another instance of torture, around midnight on Sunday, September 25, 2016, armed men affiliated with the city police station in Marib Governorate—operating under the internationally recognized Yemeni government—stormed the home of Raghad (pseudonym, 33 years old). The armed men conducted a thorough search of the house, looking for stolen items allegedly linked to her son. Despite finding no evidence, they arrested Raghad, her husband, and her daughter, taking them to the city police station, where they were subjected to torture. Raghad was eventually released 15 days after her arrest.
Raghad told Mwatana:
“As soon as we arrived at the city police station, my daughter and I were brutally beaten. We were treated like animals. They tried to force me and my daughter to strip so they could search us. I was sexually assaulted—the soldiers touched my body in ways I am ashamed to describe—all while beating and searching me.”
She continued:
“My daughter was released after three days in detention, but I remained for fifteen days during which I endured various forms of torture. Interrogations would start around 9 p.m. and continue until dawn. I was severely beaten during questioning—slapped with their hands, kicked with their feet. They used a thick electric cable to whip and torture me. I was also subjected to verbal abuse and threats of being falsely charged with prostitution and immoral conduct, in order to coerce false confessions from me about my son and to accuse him of theft. This continued for fifteen days.”
On August 29, 2023, Mwatana for Human Rights issued a statement shedding light on horrific violations against women in Marib Governorate, northeastern the Capital Sana’a. The violations—committed by security agencies affiliated with the Islah Party and the internationally recognized government—included enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as denial of due process and fair trial guarantees.
On the other side of the conflict, at noon on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, a group of around five armed individuals in military uniforms affiliated with the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group stopped Saad (pseudonym – 47 years old) at the “Al-Radheela” checkpoint at the entrance to Damt District in Al-Dhale’ Governorate. He was arbitrarily detained without a judicial warrant and forcibly taken to a detention center known as "Dar Al-Qur’an" in the same district. There, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for two months, during which he endured various forms of torture.
In his testimony to Mwatana, Saad stated:
“From the moment I was taken to Dar Al-Qur’an prison, the suffering began. I was beaten severely from the outset—one of the interrogators violently slammed my head against the wall of the interrogation room until I started bleeding. Then I was placed in a small, cramped cell known as ‘al-Dhughata’. My hands were tied and suspended from the wall of the cell. During interrogations, my eyes were blindfolded, and I was repeatedly subjected to electric shocks on my chest, feet, abdomen, and thighs in an attempt to force a confession that I was affiliated with what they called ‘mercenaries.’ I begged them to stop and insisted that I was innocent and not affiliated with any side, but it was no use.”
Saad continued:
“When I kept refusing to confess to the fabricated charges and tried to convince them of my innocence, they responded with more violence. I was punched and beaten continuously on my face. My hands and feet were bound, and a metal rod was inserted between them to suspend me in a position known as ‘the grill’. I was forced to stand on tin cans while they whipped me with an electric cable. They also burned my feet. I screamed in pain, but my cries did not stir even the slightest mercy in them.”
The Saudi/UAE-led coalition has also been implicated in such violations. On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, a force of about five armed men in civilian clothing—affiliated with the Director of Security of Shibam District in Hadhramout Governorate and using a military vehicle—detained Yousef (pseudonym – 40 years old) and forcibly took him to the district’s security headquarters. He was later transferred to the “Tini Prison” in Seiyun, where he was subjected to torture and enforced disappearance for nearly one year and eight months. During the first eight months of his detention, his family was allowed to visit him regularly—until he was forcibly disappeared again.
The victim’s father told Mwatana:
“After a long period of not knowing anything about my son, someone informed me that he was being held by coalition forces in what’s known as ‘Tini Prison’ in Seiyun. Saudi forces are present in that prison. After many attempts, I was finally allowed to visit him, and when I saw him, I was shocked by his condition. The signs of torture were visibly clear on his body.”
He continued:
“My son told me that after his arrest, he was held for one day at the Shibam District Security Center, then blindfolded and taken to Tini Prison in Seiyun, where he was severely tortured by Saudi officers and soldiers. During interrogation, he was brutally beaten and kicked in the stomach and other parts of his body. They stripped him naked, beat him, and electrocuted him until he lost consciousness, then revived him only to torture him again. His hands were tied and he was hung using a winch, while being viciously beaten with sticks and batons until his body bled. He said they brought barrels of water and dunked his head in them until he passed out.”
The father added:
“My son said he was forced to run naked in the prison yard, chased by a soldier who burned him with a flame-throwing device, until he smelled of his burning skin. He suffered severe burns on his neck, chest, and back. Then, he lost consciousness and collapsed in the yard, remaining in a coma for nearly a week. During that time, he was fed only by dripping water and juice into his mouth, as he was unable to move or open his mouth due to the extent of the torture. On one occasion, the guards took him from his cell to the yard and placed his head near the scorching hot exhaust pipe of a military vehicle, causing burns to his eyes and permanent damage to his right eye.”
Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana for Human Rights, stated, “This day serves as a reminder to the international community that torture remains a persistent reality in Yemen—not a relic of the past. Hundreds of civilians are being held in official and unofficial detention centers, where they are subjected to systematic torture and ill-treatment used as tools of repression and as part of a broader pattern of violations against human dignity, in the complete absence of accountability.”
She added, “The continuation of these violations since the outbreak of the armed conflict in late 2014 constitutes a crime against humanity under international law. The violations documented by Mwatana are not isolated or individual incidents, but rather reflect an organized pattern of systematic abuse that has turned detention centers into sites of humiliation and degradation.”
Radhya continued, “Behind every case of torture, there is a person, a family, and stories of pain that never end. These victims do not only carry the scars on their bodies—they live with a harsh memory that shapes their daily lives, affects how they see themselves, and impairs their ability to trust others. Silence in the face of such violations is not only a betrayal of the harmed individuals, but a betrayal of the values that are supposed to protect us all. When victims find no one to listen, no one to advocate for their rights, personal suffering becomes a collective wound in the conscience of society.”
Mwatana for Human Rights called on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to respect their legal obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including treaties and conventions prohibiting torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment—foremost among them the Convention Against Torture.
Mwatana stressed the need to reinforce the rule of law as a cornerstone of human rights protection, and demanded the immediate cessation of all forms of torture and ill-treatment in both official and unofficial detention facilities.
The organization also called for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared, and for the protection of detainees from torture and ill-treatment. It urged the launch of independent and transparent investigations into all allegations of torture against civilians, including those documented by Mwatana since the outbreak of the armed conflict in September 2014, ensuring that all those responsible are held accountable and brought to justice, and that victims are provided with effective and fair redress.
Mwatana further stressed the importance of improving detention conditions, ensuring that all facilities are subject to judicial oversight and independent human rights monitoring, and aligned with international standards on the treatment of detainees. It also called for the closure of all unofficial and secret detention sites where gross violations against civilians are committed, and for the release of all those held unlawfully in such facilities.
Finally, Mwatana called on the international community, including the United Nations and influential states, to take more effective action to protect human rights in Yemen by pressuring parties to the conflict to end torture practices and uphold their obligations. It renewed its call for the establishment of a dedicated international investigative mechanism on Yemen through the formation of an independent international commission to investigate torture violations, and for the referral of the Yemen file by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court, to ensure justice and accountability for victims.
