URGENT ACTION

JOURNALIST DENIED URGENT HEALTH CARE
The health condition of Tawfiq al-Mansouri, one of the four Yemeni journalists detained since 2015 and sentenced to death in April 2020 before the Huthi-run Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a, Yemen, is severely deteriorating as he has been denied life-saving health care by the Huthi de facto authorities. Amnesty International calls on the Huthi de facto authorities to immediately grant him access to health care. Tawfiq al-Mansouri and the three other journalists- Akram al Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, and Hareth Hamid - detained alongside him, must be released and their convictions and death sentences quashed without delay.

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Ansarullah Spokesperson
Mohamed Abdelsalam
Email: mdabdalsalam@gmail.com
Twitter: @abdusalamsalah

Dear Mohamed Abdelsalam,

The health of Tawfiq al-Mansouri, one of the four journalists arbitrarily detained by the Huthi de facto authorities in 2015, is in a critical condition and requires urgent health care. Tawfiq al-Mansouri suffers from chronic illnesses including diabetes, asthma, kidney failure, and heart problems, which have worsened amid appalling detention conditions.

His brother told Amnesty International that he received worrying information on 27 July 2022 from the family of another detainee confirming that Tawfiq al-Mansouri’s health condition has significantly deteriorated. Tawfiq al-Mansouri he has been denied transfer to a hospital for treatment since 2020 and his family has not been allowed to bring him any medication. The denial of urgent medical treatment is considered an act of cruelty that violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.

In April 2020, the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a sentenced Tawfiq al-Mansouri, along with Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, and Hareth Hamid, to death after an unfair trial. According to their lawyer, the appeal session took place on 31 July 2022 and has been postponed to 21 August 2022.

We urge the Huthi de facto authorities to immediately grant Tawfiq al-Mansouri access to medical treatment. We further call on the Huthis to quash the death sentences of Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri and order their immediate and unconditional release. Pending their overdue release, the authorities must ensure the journalists are protected from torture and other ill-treatment and are provided with urgent medical care and granted access to their families and lawyers.

Yours sincerely,

Additional information
The four journalists, Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri, were detained among a group of 10 journalists in 2015. Huthi forces raided Qasr al-Ahlam hotel in Sana’a on 9 June 2015 and arrested the four journalists among a group of nine, along with Hisham Tarmoom, Hasan Anab, Haytham al-Shihab, Hisham al-Yousefi, and Essam Balgheeth. According to an eyewitness, on 28 August 2015 the 10th journalist, Salah al-Qaedi was arrested at his home. The remaining six journalists have since been released.
During their detention, the four journalists have been subjected to a range of grave human rights abuses as well as violations of their right to a fair trial. Since 2015, they were arbitrarily detained for over three years without charge or trial, subjected to forcible disappearances, intermittent incommunicado detention and solitary confinement, beatings, and denied visits from their families and lawyers. Despite suffering from serious illnesses, the journalists continue to be denied access to medical treatment. Moreover, it is Amnesty International’s understanding that they are additionally being subjected to severe beatings and other harsh treatment, as well as denied access to medical treatment despite urgent health-related concerns.
All parties to the conflict in Yemen, including the Huthi forces, the Yemeni government, the Saudi-led coalition, and UAE-backed Yemeni forces have carried out serious human rights violations and abuses, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, harassment, torture and other ill-treatment, and unfair trials.
In areas under Huthi control, journalists, human rights defenders, and members of the Baha’i community have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, as well as incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance. Amnesty International published a report in May 2021 titled ‘Yemen: Released and exiled: Torture, unfair trials and forcible exiles of Yemenis under Huthi rule’ which investigates human rights violations committed by Huthi forces and documents the lived experiences of civilians released as part of political deals in 2020. Detainees in Huthi prisons are subjected to brutal and inhumane conditions inside Huthi prisons and face severe overcrowding, insufficient food and clean drinking water, and poor sanitation.
According to Reporters Without Borders, 14 journalists are currently detained in Yemen on the basis of their work, and two journalists have been killed in 2022.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Arabic and English

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 26 September 2022
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PRONOUN: Akram al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid, Tawfiq al-Mansouri (All he/him/his)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde31/5654/2022/en/

Additional TARGET

Dr Yassin Saeed Noman Ahmed  
Embassy of the Republic of Yemen
57 Cromwell Road SW7 2ED
Fax 020 7589 3350
admin@yemenembassy.co.uk