URGENT ACTION

ACQUITTED JOURNALIST MUST BE RELEASED
On 25 December 2024, the Aden-based Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal acquitted journalist Ahmad Maher. However, the Specialized Criminal Prosecution has conditioned his release upon providing a guarantor with a “commercial guarantee”, a condition that his family could not meet. On 28 May 2024, Ahmad Maher was sentenced by the Specialized Criminal Court to four years in prison following a grossly unfair trial on charges of disseminating false and misleading news, a crime that is not recognized under international law, and forging identity documents. Ahmad Maher must be immediately released. 

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

Major General Aidros Alzubidi
President of the Southern Transitional Council
X: @AirdrosAlzubidi

Dear Major General Aidros Alzubidi,

While we welcome the acquittal of journalist Ahmad Maher, 29, by the Aden-based Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal, we are concerned to learn that he is yet to be released after the Specialized Criminal Prosecution demanded a guarantor with a “commercial guarantee”, a condition his family could not meet. On 28 May, the Aden-based Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced journalist Ahmad Maher to four years in prison following a grossly unfair trial on charges of disseminating false and misleading news, a crime that is not recognized under international law, and forging identity documents.

Ahmad Maher has spent more than two years in detention during which he was subjected to a litany of human rights violations including torture and other ill-treatment. While detained, he has been denied the right to adequate defence, to access a lawyer of his choosing, to presumption of innocence and not to self-incriminate, rendering his detention arbitrary.

On 6 August 2022, security forces of Dar Sa’ad police station affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) de facto authorities stormed Ahmad Maher’s house in Dar Sa’ad neighbourhood without a warrant, beat him with the butts of their rifles and assaulted other family members. Following his arrest, he was detained at Dar Sa’ad police station for over a month, during which he was denied family visits and access to a lawyer. According to a relative, Ahmad Maher was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment daily, including through beatings, water boarding, electric shocks and mock executions. In addition, he was threatened with harm to his family, including his wife and baby girl, to force him to “confess” to involvement in an attack on Dar Sa’ad police station which took place in March 2022. During a hearing before the Aden-based SCC on 6 March 2023, Ahmad Maher told the judge that he was subjected to torture and that his “confession” was extracted under duress, but the judge failed to order an investigation. Authorities have denied Ahmad Maher access to healthcare, including for injuries sustained to his naval area as a result of torture.

In December 2022, Ahmad Maher’s trial began before the Aden-based SCC on charges of disseminating false and misleading news and forging identity documents. He was tried together with a group of other detainees charged with carrying out an attack on Dar Sa’ad police station in March 2022, although, according to his lawyer, the prosecution has failed to present any evidence indicating his involvement in the attack. His trial hearings were repeatedly postponed, and he was denied access to his lawyer throughout his detention until he was finally acquitted in a hearing by the Aden-based SCC of appeal on 25 December 2024.

We urge the Southern Transitional Council de facto authorities to immediately release Ahmad Maher and to open an investigation into his allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in order to hold those responsible for such violations accountable.

Yours sincerely,
Additional information

On 4 September 2022, Dar Sa’ad police station released a video which was shared on social media and national media news outlets featuring Ahmad Maher. In the video, which Amnesty International analysed, Ahmad Maher appears to “confess” to criminal offences including the forgery of identity documents for members of the military and his knowledge of assassination schemes against two STC military generals. According to his lawyer, the video, which violates his right to presumption of innocence, was not requested by the prosecution and was not recorded in their presence. A few days after the video was made public, a member of the criminal prosecution interrogated Ahmad Maher in Dar Sa’ad police station in the presence of members of Dar Sa’ad security forces who all were, according to Ahmad Maher’s relative, involved in his torture. During questioning by the prosecution, Ahmad Maher retracted his “confession”, stating that he was forced to make it under duress, and asked for referral to medical treatment. The prosecution requested the director of the police station to refer Ahmad Maher for treatment, but the request was refused. On 15 September 2022, Ahmad Maher was transferred to Bir Ahmad prison where he remains to date. 
All parties to the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated grave human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment and unfair trials. In November 2023, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen reported that STC affiliated forces are detaining, subjecting to enforced disappearance, or threatening journalists and activists who publicly criticize them and are forcing them to sign or deliver “confessions”. The Panel also documented that STC-affiliated forces are systematically torturing detainees in formal and secret prisons. 
In July 2018, Amnesty International published a report on enforced disappearances and detention violations committed by UAE-backed security forces, including the Security Belt forces in southern Yemen. Many arrests appeared to be based on unfounded suspicions and personal vendettas. Among those targeted were former fighters who fought in the 2015 battles to rout the Huthis from the south and who were later seen as a threat; sympathizers and members of the Hadi-aligned Islah party, Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood branch; as well as activists and critics of the coalition. 

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Arabic and English.
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 31 March 2025.
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: Ahmad Maher (he/him).

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde31/8177/2024/en/.

Additional targets

His Excellency Dr Yassin Saeed Noman Ahmed
Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Yemen
57 Cromwell Road SW7 2ED
020 7584 6607
Fax 020 7589 3350
admin@yemenembassy.co.uk
Monday-Friday 09.30-16.00
Salutation: Your Excellency