A large number of Somali refugees in Yemen are being detained in Yemeni police stations without evidence, according to UNCHR and complaints by more than one Somali communities to Yemen Observer.

Several others have also been detained in unknown places for many days now without their relatives knowing about them, according to families of the detainees.

Yousef Bariy Hassan, a manager of one Somali community, has been detained for 15 days, said Afrah Adam, one Somali refugees.”

I have no idea why they [the police] took him. He did nothing wrong; he was just in an internet café,” Adam added, pointing that there are as many as 500 or more Somalis detained and that police stations stopped relatives of detainees from seeing them.

In a relative respect, a 35-year-old Somali woman, wishing to remain anonymous, said that two Yemeni young people broke into her apartment and threatened to kill her but the apartment owner intervened.” after I shouted, ‘Hussein’,[ the owner living upstairs] he came down and stopped them but the next day they again threatened me and my daughter to kill us,” the woman said, adding that after 15 days of the incident, a man driving a car in the street tried to kidnapped her at 10 pm.

In a similar context, that Somali women went to buy Gas along with a 12-year-old Somali girl but they were denied and beaten.” The guy said shouted at us and started beating the poor girl. The police came and did nothing because the witnesses said they saw nothing, then they [the police] demanded YR 3 thousand from us but we had only one thousand!,” the Somali women said.

This random captures for Somalis came amid possible threats of Somali Mujahedeen to bolster Yemen-based al-Qaeda group. Deputy Interior Minister and head of the National Committee for Refugees, Ali Mothana Hassan, said no Somali refugees, who have links with Somali Mujahideen, have been captured so far. “our security forces, however, will deal seriously with al-Mujahedeen threat and will not let Yemen to be a battle field for terrorism,” responded Hassan to questions posed by Yemen Observer.

Richard Andrew Knight, external Relations Officer at UNHCR said:” UNHCR

urges the all governments and the global public not to make generalizations

particularly in light of all of the thus far unfounded media allegations

linking Somalis to terrorists.” Knight said that UNHCR are receiving increasing report about Somalis being harassed by both the government and the public. “Furthermore, there has been a significant rise in the number of refugees being detained in the recent period. We are in contact with both the government and refugee

communities in order to address this issue.” Knight added.

The number of Somalis refugees in Yemen has reached to 161,468, of whom 48,482 are females, according to UNHCR. The Yemeni government, however, said the number is approximately 700,000 Somali.