Discrimination recorded against Yemenis in Guantanamo Bay

International human rights activists accuse the American government of exercising discrimination against Yemenis by keeping most of them incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay prison while most other foreign nationals have been returned to their respective home countries. 

Of the 107 incarcerated Yemenis, only thirteen have been returned. According to the latest statistics, only thirteen Saudi men remain in Guantanamo after the release of 117, and some 270 individuals still languish in the notorious prison.

“This is obviously discriminatory against Yemeni citizens, and it is a crime that so many innocent young men have been kept from their families for six years now,” said Clive Smith, chairman of the Reprieve organization. Reprieve is holding a conference in Sana’a this week to demand the release of all men who remain in Guantanamo. The Yemeni National Organization for Defending Liberties and Rights (HOOD) is cooperating to organize the conference. 

“All the European prisoners are home from Guantanamo. More than 90% of the Saudis are home. Now Yemeni citizens make up more than one third of all the prisoners in Guantanamo,”  

Smith told the Yemen Observer as he arrived in Sana’a. The conference will be held January 9-10th, with the participation of American lawyers, government officials, and family members of the detainees. 

Clive Smith, a British-American lawyer, founded Reprieve in 1999 to combat the death penalty and other violations of human rights in the U.S. and Britain. The organization undertook Guantanamo as one of its main causes in 2004, and since then has filed 128 lawsuits on behalf of Guantamano prisoners who claim they have been tortured.  “As an American citizen I can only apologize for the terrible injustice caused by the Bush administration,” said Mr. Smith.  

When asked about the purpose of the conference, he said, “We want to work with the Yemeni government and the Yemeni people to help bring their loved ones back home as soon as possible.  This is the main, and only, purpose of the Yemen conference.” 

Representatives from mosques, ex-prisoners, relatives of Yemeni and Gulf detainees, members of Parliament and government officials will participate in the conference on Wednesday. 

American lawyer David Remes, who represents about 15 Yemeni detainees, appealed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh to exert more effort for the release of Yemenis from the American-operated prison in Cuba. “We beg President Saleh to do what the leaders of every other Arab country have been able to do: free his citizens from Guantanamo. We hope he will hear our pleas.  He is the one with the power to make things happen. If President Saleh hears our pleas, our visit to Yemen will be a great success,” said Mr. Remes, a member of the American law firm Covington and Burling. 

“We, the American lawyers, are well aware of the responsibility of our government for the painful situation we face.  We are doing, and we will continue to do, everything in our power to achieve justice from our own government for our Yemeni clients,” he said.  

“Citizens of every other Arab country have been returning to their homes in large numbers.  Very few Yemenis have been returned.  It is a sad fact that Yemenis are now the largest group of prisoners in Guantanamo,” he added.  

“We travel to Yemen to meet with the suffering families of our clients at Guantanamo.  We bring the families news of their loved ones from whom they have been tragically separated for many years,” said Remes. This is his seventh visit to Yemen since 2005.  

Remes added that another purpose of his and other lawyers’ visits to Yemen is to learn of news from their clients’ families and bring them back to Guantanamo. “Births and deaths, graduations and marriages, all proud accomplishments. To have the trust of the families in this matter is an honor, and also humbling,” he said.  

In an exclusive interview with the Yemen Observer, Remes added, on behalf of the conference, “We love Yemen. The country is beautiful and the people are welcoming and warm. We are deeply grateful to the people for their hospitality, and we thank the government and its ministers for their assistance.”  

The families of the detainees here in Yemen, undoubtedly appreciative of the efforts exerted by these lawyers, still remain estranged from their loved sons and cannot hide their frustration in having no concrete results. “We appreciate all the efforts exerted by the American lawyers and human rights activists, but we are very sad to see them only going back and forth without results,” said relatives who will participate in the conference.  

Related Content

•  Al-Qaeda statement denies official reports
•  Dutch police detains two Yemenis on US flight
•  Mysterious fate of Sa’dah deputy security director
•  Government and Houthis sign schedule for implementing 22 points
•  Final qualifying stage for Yemen poet, Al-Aqeeq channel
•  Economic Media Center demands traders maintain reasonable prices
•  SCER mandates education to review voters tables for 2010
•  More than million children out of school, government report
•  Intensifying al-Qaeda attacks are government’s biggest challenge, President Saleh
•  Abyan al-Qaeda attacks security raising death toll to 23 troops