Applicable law
97. International human rights law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of life.114 Law enforcement officials (whether police, military or other members of State security forces) must only use lethal force where it is a proportionate response to the legitimate objective to be achieved and is strictly necessary.115 Firearms are to be used only: in self-defence or in defence of others against imminent threat of death or serious injury; to prevent a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life; or to arrest a person posing such a threat who is resisting efforts to stop the threat, or to prevent that person’s escape.116 Even in these circumstances, firearms are only to be used when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives, with lethal use of force only employed when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.117 The State is also responsible for violations committed by non-State actors (e.g. militias, armed groups) operating in support of or as agents of State authorities.
118 States also have a positive obligation of due diligence to protect the right to life from threats posed by others, including for instance, putting in place effective criminal justice response systems.119
98. During periods of armed conflict, the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life needs to be interpreted and applied having regard to the rules of international humanitarian law. A
113 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, arts. 1 and 5.
114 ICCPR, art. 6(1).
115 Specialised standards have been developed in the area of use of force by law enforcement officials:
see Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/169 (17 December 1979) and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, adopted by the 8th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (1990).
116 See Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, principle 9.
117 Ibid.
118 See Principles in the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, Recommended by ECOSOC resolution 1989/65, principle 2.
119 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 36: Article 6: the right to life (2019) paras. 19-20.
use of lethal force consistent with international humanitarian law will, in general, not be considered “arbitrary”. Conversely, use of lethal force inconsistent with international humanitarian law (e.g., targeting civilians) will also violate international human rights law.120 99. Under international humanitarian law, it is unlawful to murder civilians and any persons not taking (or who have ceased taking) an active part in hostilities, including members of armed forces who have surrendered or are otherwise hors de combat.121 Murder of such persons constitutes a war crime.122 Murder may also constitute a crime against humanity, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.123
Factual findings
100. The loss of life brought about by attacks violating international humanitarian law also represents a violation of international human rights law’s prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life. However, even away from the battlefield, individuals continue to be killed unlawfully at the hands of parties to the conflict. During this reporting period, the Group of Experts investigated six killings by groups affiliated with different parties to the conflict, revealing a pattern of unlawful uses of lethal force by actors during security or law enforcement operations. The Group also continued to investigate allegations of deaths in custody.
101. Amongst these cases, on Friday 7 June 2019, at around noon, members of the Security Belt forces shot dead five men and injured six other men who were worshipping at Al-Taweed mosque in Mathad village in Al-Azariq district, Al-Dhale’e Governorate during Friday prayers. According to an eye-witness, the armed men entered the mosque and started accusing the worshippers of being affiliated to the Houthis. They shot dead two worshippers inside the mosque who challenged them, and injured several others when they opened fired inside the mosque. They then selected six men from the mosque and took them outside to where their vehicle, a pick-up truck with the emblem of the Security Belt forces on it with a mounted weapon, was parked. The men were accused of being Houthi and from the Hashemite family. The general perception in Yemen is that the Hashemites are pro-Houthi.
Three of them were summarily executed, including the village imam and a soldier from the 33rd brigade of the Government of Yemen armed forces in Al-Dhale’e, though it is unclear if the forces knew of the man’s affiliation. The other three men were then taken on the vehicle and driven outside the village to Qa’atabah, to the STC headquarters, where they were detained for two days. They were then released reportedly due to pressure from village notables.
102. Several official documents and letters obtained by the Group, dated from June, July and September 2019, show that the criminal investigation department of Al Dhale’e Governorate undertook a police investigation. Medical autopsies on the five bodies were undertaken. The reports detailed the entry and exit points of the bullets showing that the men were each shot at least two or more times. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the accused, naming eight individuals whose occupation was listed as “military”.124 Requests were made by the Director-General of the Al-Dhale’e Police to the Commander of the Security Belt forces in the Al-Dhale’e Governorate to hand over the accused, naming one of the men as being in charge of the military vehicle affiliated with the Security Belt forces along with the other individuals.125 This same named individual is also referred to in official documents
120 Ibid. para.64. Note the Human Rights Committee’s broad approach in regarding practices inconsistent with international humanitarian law which entail a risk to lives including targeting of civilians, civilian objects and objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, indiscriminate attacks, failure to apply the principles of precaution and proportionality, and the use of human shields as violating art. 6. Ibid. Incidents examined under Chapter V(A) above could also be examined through the lens of international human rights law.
121 Additional Protocol II, art. 4(2)(a) and Common art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions. See also ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian law, rule 89.
122 Rome Statute, art. 8(2)(c)(i).
123 Rome Statute, art. 7(1)(a).
124 Confidential sources and documents on file.
125 Confidential sources and documents on file.
from September 2019, which note he has been subsequently appointed as the head of a battalion in 12th Storm Brigade.126 Appeals were made by the police in Al-Dhale’e and Aden to the President of the STC asking for his intervention to ensure the accused were brought to justice.127 In March 2020, the families of the victims, frustrated by the lack of progress, submitted a complaint to the Attorney-General. In August 2020, the file was reportedly referred to Aden.128 At the time of writing, the Group understands that the accused have still not been arrested.
103. In early January 2020, Special Security Forces of the Government of Yemen converted Al-Aram secondary school near the village of Al-Khubar, Haban district, Shabwa Governorate, into military barracks. On 1 February, dozens of students demonstrated against the requisition of their school. In response, the following day, hundreds of Special Security Forces, referred to by witnesses as “al-Islah militants”, raided Al-Khubar, searching for the students and arrested two brothers aged 14 and 16 years, detaining them on the basis of their alleged ties to the Shabwah Elite Forces affiliated with the STC. Later in the afternoon, when a group of men from the village approached the school to negotiate their release, Special Security Forces guarding the facility opened fire with AK-47s, killing two men from the group.
104. In another example, at 11 a.m. on 6 April 2020, a 19-year-old man, who was a student at Al-Mimlah Technical Institute, was driving home with his female colleague. Two armed men, allegedly from STC forces, stopped the car at a security checkpoint in Al-Mualla district near the beach promenade, in front of Coral Hotel in Aden Governorate. After they checked the man’s identification, they asked the victim to hand over his phone. When he refused, they aimed their weapons at him and assaulted him. The victim attempted to escape, and the soldiers opened fire, killing him.
105. During its previous mandate, the Group of Experts investigated cases of alleged deaths in custody relating to ill-treatment by the Houthis in detention places in Sana’a between 2015 and 2016.129 This year, the Group received credible reports of two women who died in their cell in a detention facility outside Sana’a in 2019, after violent beatings from the guards for resisting attempts to rape them.130 It also received an allegation that a boy was tortured to death in one of the police stations in Sana’a.
106. There are additional cases in which the Group of Experts has verified unlawful killings but has not been able to determine the affiliation of the perpetrator. An example is the killing of a man in Aden Governorate on 28 August 2019. The victim had been on a minibus which was stopped at gunpoint, at Jawlat Al-Karra Intersection on the Aden-Ta‘izz highway, Dar Sad district, by a group of armed men with military pickups. The armed men started checking passengers’ identification documents and verbally abused them, accusing them of being affiliated with the Security Belt forces. All adult male passengers were ordered to get off the minibus. After the search, the victim, who was wearing military pants, together with two other civilians, were not allowed to get back into the minibus. The victim was taken to a gas station located some 50 m from the Jawlat Al-Karra Intersection. After removing his clothes, the armed men took him to a rural area less than 1km away from the Jawlat Al-Karra Intersection, close to Dar Sad Police Station. His body was found the next morning, riddled with bullets.
107. In another case, the Group of Experts verified that on 18 March 2020, two male staff of the Emirates Red Crescent were abducted as they were leaving a gym club in Al-Drain neighbourhood, Al-Mansoura district in Aden. The victims were separated. One was placed in his car and the other in the perpetrator’s car and they were taken to an unknown location.
The next day they were found dead by the Kabuta police and representatives of the criminal investigation department at a deserted building in Kabuta city in north-east Aden. This
126 Documents on file.
127 Documents on file.
128 Confidential source on file.
129 A/HRC/42/CRP.1, para. 423.
130 Confidential source on file.
happened in the context of recurring threat messages received by aid workers of this organisation.
108. In the most recent case verified, a male photojournalist, 34 years old, was killed on 2 June 2020 by unidentified armed men close to his house in Dar Saad district, close to Aden.
He had worked for various international press agencies covering the war in southern governorates. His work was praised internationally, in particular by other journalists, for the French Press Agency documentary “The Battle of Aden”. It was reported that before Ramadan 2020 he had received various death threats. On 3 June 2020, the STC made a public statement condemning his death and announced that a thorough investigation would be conducted.
Legal findings
109. The Group of Experts concludes that these killings amount to arbitrary deprivation of life under international human rights law. Depending on the level of nexus with the conflict, some of these killings may also amount to the violation of murder of civilians under international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes.