Parliament discusses prisoner abuse

Minister of Justice Ghazi al-Aghbari has denied the General and Human Rights Committee report’s allegations after visiting the prisons of Ibb, Dhamar and al-Baidha. 

During the Parliament session al-Aghbari denied the prosecution’s incompliance for those under investigation and detention, ensuring that police and detective stations have been checked as well. The Minister said that the judiciary tried some police and detective stations’ managers for violating prisoners. He also mentioned that a prosecuted member was held accountable last month for detaining a suspect for a week over the legal period.

In response to the issue of continuing the detention of prisoners who have finished serving their prison terms, the minister explained that some convicts are imprisoned for fraud, theft and breach of trust charges, and they can not be freed at the end of their terms without paying their liabilities because otherwise their release will be an encouragement to commit again such crimes.   
 
He said that this type of prisoners are not classified among those who are released because they are insolvent or unable to pay their debts, and whose debts are thus paid by the government. He assured that there are no prisoners being held without charges, except those who are being investigated.
 
In a session that was not attended by the Minister of Human Rights, a member from the General People’s Congress (GPC) noted that that some narcotic and weapon traffickers’ prisoners are living a luxurious life while at the same time he explained that he knows a convicted who spent 18 years in prison for stealing a motor bike. The GPC member demanded trials for rights abusers, adding that there are photographs proving the torture of a person in Sana’a Province Investigation Center.
 
The Minister of Justice replied that the judiciary tried some police and detective stations’ managers over violation charges. He also reminded about the prosecution member held accountable for detaining a suspect for a week over the legal period.

MP Abdulkarim Jadban, member of the Justice and Endowment Committee, said that he participated in prisons’ visits in which he reported seeing infringements of prisoners’ rights. He declared that a female convicted was raped by a security officer.
 
MP Jadban added that some convicted women were raped in prisons, which he did not name, whereas MP Abdo Bishr said that some prisoners in Sana’a were tortured. MP Dogaish demanded that the Health and Rights Committees be allowed to visit the convicts in security prisons. These claims were brought during the Parliament discussions of the Freedom Committee report. The Minister of Justice complained about the judges’ deficiency, declaring the intention of forming specialized courts in a number of governorates. 

The report said that the male and female convicts at Ibb standby prison together with the people interned at the psychiatric clinic total 1,242 people, whereas the number in Dhamar is 680, 388 convicts in Rada’ and 125 in al-Baidha.  

The report said that there are 63 investigation cases before the prosecution, and it critiqued the crowded and dirty detention centers as well as the needlessly long investigation periods. 

The grievances of some convicts in Ibb prison about the bad treatment during investigations at police and security centers were also mentioned by the report.

It demanded that security authorities be obliged to abide by the law and constitution in arrest and evidence taking procedures as well as referring the suspects to the relevant authorities at the legal and constitutional periods. It also asked the Ministry of Interior to focus on awareness campaigns in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Rights, regarding their legal and constitutional tasks.  

The Committee assured the importance of obligating prosecution to abide by the determined detention periods, and not to resort to extensions except in extreme cases, stipulating that they should not be due to the attorney generals’ negligence. The report called for measures to reward and punish prosecutors and courts in order to prevent infringements. 

The Committee focused on the importance of conducting a study about the increase in murder cases in order to deal with the causes that lead to them. It also called for the establishment of juvenile delinquent centers in governorates where there are no independent centers. 

The Joint Meeting Parties bloc (JMP) is still boycotting the parliament, now in the sixteenth day, in protest at the ruling party’s tabling the elections law draft.

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