Nine prisoners killed in attack on al-Hazm prison in Yemen
Abdulqadir al-Murtada, head of Yemen’s National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, said a prison in the city of al-Hazm in al-Jawf province, where a number of prisoners were being held, came under attack last night. He said nine prisoners from recent incidents were killed in the attack.
Al-Murtada said a list of the names of the victims will be published soon. He blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack.
In a separate statement, the human rights centre Ain al-Insaniyah strongly condemned the attack. The organisation said targeting detention centres and people deprived of their freedom amounts to a dangerous violation of international humanitarian law.
According to the statement, attacking prisoners and the place where they are held, regardless of any justification, is a clear violation of international conventions and those responsible must be held accountable. The centre also called for an independent investigation into how the incident happened and the circumstances surrounding it.
The Ain al-Insaniyah Center for Rights and Development is a human rights organisation active in Yemen that monitors cases of human rights and humanitarian law violations. The city of al-Hazm is the capital of al-Jawf province in northern Yemen, a province that has repeatedly been the scene of clashes and attacks in recent years.
