News - Yemen: A rights group has released a report on the crimes committed by the Saudi-Emirati occupation in Yemen's southern provinces during 2024, documenting 1,385 crimes and violations, including 188 assassinations. The report also recorded 704 victims of abduction, detention, enforced disappearance, and rape, during which seven civilians were killed.

At a press conference in Sana’a to announce the center’s annual report, Zaid Al-Gharsi, head of Neda'a Al-Karama for Rights and Developments and director of the Cultural and Media Affairs Department at the Presidential Office, revealed that a total of 2,312 victims were affected by these crimes and violations.

The report documented crimes committed by the Saudi-Emirati occupation and its affiliated armed groups and factions, including violations of the right to life. Among the recorded cases were 188 assassinations, resulting in 122 fatalities and 66 survivors, as well as 90 cases of extrajudicial killings carried out at security checkpoints, markets, and streets over personal disputes. Additionally, two executions and 33 cases where victims’ bodies were mutilated, including beheadings, were recorded. Furthermore, 29 civilians were injured in areas where these killings took place.

The report highlighted the detonation of two car bombs in Abyan province, killing 29 people and injuring more than 60 others, as well as 10 incidents of vehicular manslaughter targeting civilians, resulting in two deaths and eight injuries, including women and children.

A total of 406 public protests, including demonstrations, sit-ins, and civil disobedience movements against the occupation, were also documented.

The report detailed serious crimes such as abduction, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and rape, with 704 recorded cases, including seven deaths. Additionally, 69 homes were raided by force, with random gunfire killing five people in front of their families, injuring six others, and leading to the abduction of 137 individuals.

Furthermore, over 28 incidents of armed raids on commercial establishments were documented, alongside 74 cases of armed robbery involving homes, public property, and government institutions such as parks and natural reserves. These incidents resulted in one death and three injuries.

The report also recorded 21 cases of highway robbery targeting travelers, leading to 14 fatalities and 16 injuries, as well as 32 roadblocks disrupting oil, gas, and transport routes between provinces.

Other violations included restrictions on freedom of speech, crackdowns on protests, secret detention facilities, torture, and the collapse of essential services and economic conditions.

Journalists and activists were also targeted, with 19 cases of arrest, abduction, enforced disappearance, and torture documented. Employee protests demanding salaries, especially among teachers, were suppressed, and pro-Gaza demonstrations were forcibly dispersed.

The report noted 18 secret prisons and 27 other facilities where detainees suffer physical and psychological torture under dire conditions. Due to these inhumane practices, detainees often sustain permanent disabilities or psychological trauma, and at least 23 individuals died due to torture in these prisons.

The case of detainee Ali Ashal was highlighted, as his fate remains unknown despite numerous protests demanding his release.

The report also condemned the corruption of the so-called Presidential Leadership Council and the Southern Transitional Council, accusing them of laundering billions and smuggling wealth abroad while collaborating with the occupation in supporting terrorist groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda. These groups reportedly carry out assassinations, killings, bombings, kidnappings, and the intimidation of travelers.

Children’s rights violations were also recorded, including the militarization of schools, preventing fishermen from working, plundering natural resources, and destroying coral reefs in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. Additionally, illegal extortion fees were imposed on traders and transport companies, sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands per truck.

The report highlighted how occupation factions destabilized security in the southern provinces through internal conflicts, inciting tribal disputes and revenge killings. More than 116 armed clashes were documented, leading to 112 deaths and 133 injuries, including civilians. In 75 other clashes, the number of casualties is still being verified. Shabwah province had the highest number of tribal conflicts.

Additionally, crimes against the judiciary were recorded, including attacks on court judges in Aden and Hadramaut, raids on government buildings by armed factions, and the looting or occupation of public offices.

The report also detailed cases of forced displacement based on sectarian and regional discrimination, theft of Yemen’s oil and gas resources, depositing revenues in Saudi banks, and the looting of historical Yemeni artifacts.

Neda'a Al-Karama Center urged the expulsion of foreign occupiers from all Yemeni territories, particularly in light of their exposed conspiracies against the Yemeni people. It called for the prosecution of Saudi-Emirati coalition leaders and affiliated factions before international courts for their violations of international humanitarian law.

The report also demanded the immediate disclosure of all detainees and missing persons, the closure of secret prisons, and the protection of citizens’ rights to protest peacefully.

National and international organizations were urged to visit detention centers in the southern provinces to assess detainees' conditions.

The media was called upon to intensify coverage of occupation crimes in Yemen.

In this regard, Al-Gharsi emphasized that the conflict in Yemen is an international conflict rather than a civil war, as the United Nations classifies it. He asserted that international humanitarian law must be applied to the coalition due to its direct control over southern provinces.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Dr. Ali Al-Yafei praised the Neda'a Al-Karama Center’s efforts in documenting Saudi-Emirati occupation crimes, condemning mercenaries who sold out their country.

He criticized the occupation’s attempts to divide Yemen along racial and regional lines, which Yemenis, particularly those in the south, reject.

Dr. Al-Yafei also accused the occupiers of erasing Yemeni identity, particularly in Socotra, and promoting immoral activities under the guise of tourism, comparing them to cultural degradation in Gulf festivals.

He reaffirmed the revolutionary leadership and government’s commitment to liberating all Yemeni territories from occupation, calling for intensified efforts to achieve this national goal, especially after Yemen’s role in the Gaza victory.

Deputy Minister of Justice and Human Rights Judge Ibrahim Al-Shami stated that the crimes against the Yemeni people will not go unpunished, and all perpetrators will be held accountable.

He highlighted that the coalition has established secret prisons in Hadramaut, Shabwa, Abyan, Lahj, Mokha, and Al-Khokha, turning these provinces into crime hubs, lawlessness, and human rights violations.

In 2015, Saudi and Emirati forces entered the city of Aden from Bir Ali, citing the need to repel the "Ansarullah" intervention and "secure international navigation". It didn't take long after the arrival of these forces for the new British-style experiment to take shape.

Since then, Aden and other southern governorates have grappled with pervasive security issues, including daily crimes and instability. Forces aligned with the US-Saudi aggression and Saudi-Emirati occupation maintained control, contributing to a climate of chaos. 

The region witnesses frequent abductions, bombings, and factional clashes as various groups vie for power. Additionally, there has been a troubling increase in targeted assassinations, affecting military personnel, security leaders, religious figures, and social leaders across southern Yemen.