The team of the Abductees’ Mothers Association in Aden Governorate met with Presidential Leadership Council member Major General Mahmoud Al-Subaihi and the Head of the Prisons Department, Naser Al-Subaihi, following a protest held this morning in front of Ma’ashiq Palace. During the protest, the Association submitted a list of names of forcibly disappeared individuals and called on Major General Al-Subaihi to give the issue of abductees and the forcibly disappeared the highest priority and to make serious efforts to uncover their fate in light of the new presidential directives.
In the meeting, Major General Al-Subaihi welcomed the team and acknowledged the efforts made by the association in support of abductees and the forcibly disappeared. He affirmed his interest in and follow-up on the detainees’ file.
The association team explained that it approached Major General Al-Subaihi after reaching out to several relevant authorities, noting that he himself endured the experience of enforced disappearance and was held incommunicado for years. It stated that the time has come for him, together with the internationally recognized government and relevant actors, to work toward ending the suffering of abductees and the forcibly disappeared, alleviating the hardship of their families, reuniting them, and pursuing and holding accountable all those involved in acts of enforced disappearance and torture against civilians.
During the protest, the mothers of the forcibly disappeared renewed their appeal to the internationally recognized government and to the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take practical steps to implement the presidential directives, reveal the fate of the disappeared, secure their return, and close secret detention facilities. They called for making the file of the forcibly disappeared a top national priority, on par with other pressing issues currently addressed to restore stability in Yemen. The mothers also expressed grave concerns about the fate of their sons amid reports that a number of secret prisons have been found empty and that some of the disappeared have appeared in city streets, circumstances that require urgent action and clear results.
The Association reaffirmed its commitment to continuing its peaceful advocacy and to upholding its children’s right to freedom and dignity until their release by all parties, without condition or restriction.
