Background

In January, the government proposed changes to the Constitution under which President Saleh, in power since 1978, would have been able to stand for re-election on an unlimited basis. The proposals sparked widespread protests, including a large demonstration in Sana’a, the capital, on 22 January. The next day, there were further protests after Tawakkol Karman, head of the NGO Women Journalists Without Chains, was arrested; she was quickly released on bail and in October was one of three women jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The demonstrations were met with violence by the security forces but grew and spread to Aden and other cities, with some demonstrators calling for the President and his government to be replaced.

In response, on 2 February, President Saleh said he would stand down when his existing presidential term ended in 2013 and hold discussions with the Joint Meeting Parties, a coalition of six opposition parties, but this fuelled rather than halted the protests. The next day, when students and activists belonging to Youth of the Revolution demonstrated, the security forces began using lethal force against the protesters in Sana’a and elsewhere.

Several people were killed in mid-February during mass protests in various cities. Sit-in protests and protest camps of tents sprung up near Sana’a University and in Ta’izz in what were soon called al-Taghyeer (change) squares. On 23 February, nine ruling party members of parliament resigned in protest against the violence used by government forces against protesters.

On 28 February, President Saleh reportedly proposed to form a national unity government including members of the opposition. The opposition demanded that he leave office first, proposing a transition plan under which he would do so before the end of 2011. President Saleh rejected this and the crisis deepened dramatically on 18 March, when government snipers fired on the “Change Square” protest camp in Sana’a, killing at least 52 protesters; a number of government ministers and officials resigned in protest and the general commanding the army’s First Brigade said he and his men would now support the protesters. President Saleh dismissed the cabinet, announced a caretaker government, and imposed a 30-day state of emergency, which the parliament approved on 23 March. This suspended the Constitution, tightened media censorship and extended security forces’ powers of arrest and detention and to ban street protests.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) intervened to mediate between President Saleh and his opponents. On 23 April, President Saleh said he would accept a GCC proposal to relinquish the presidency within 30 days and allow a national unity government to be formed and under which he and his associates would be given immunity against prosecution. However, he then repeatedly refused to sign the agreement as his forces increasingly clashed with armed members of tribes who came out in opposition to him and with armed Islamists believed to be linked to al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, who seized control of parts of Abyan province.

On 3 June, an attack on the presidential palace seriously injured President Saleh and killed and wounded others. The President was evacuated to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, leaving the Vice President in charge. The opposition formed an alliance in August, the National Council for the Revolutionary Forces, but this quickly became divided. An uneasy stalemate developed and there were continuing armed clashes; a fact-finding team sent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights pointed to serious human rights violations and called for an international investigation and accountability.

President Saleh returned to Yemen on 23 September, prompting mass demonstrations by his supporters and his opponents.

On 21 October, the UN Security Council condemned the continuing violence in Yemen and urged President Saleh to hand over power in accordance with the GCC agreement. On 23 November he signed the agreement, handing power to the Vice President to appoint a new Prime Minister heading a “government of national reconciliation” and to hold presidential elections within 90 days. In return, President Saleh and his aides were to be given immunity for crimes committed during his rule. Within two weeks, a Prime Minister from the opposition was appointed and a national government was formed representing the ruling party and members of the opposition. Protests continued denouncing the reported immunity agreement.

2011 also saw armed clashes in the north and the south, leading to forcible displacement of civilians. In the north, Sa’dah province effectively came under the control of Huthi rebels in late March and later in the year they reportedly took control of parts of other provinces. In the southern province of Abyan, government forces clashed with armed Islamist militants. Armed clashes also took place in Sana’a and Ta’izz between security forces and armed tribes and soldiers who had defected, who had announced they were seeking to protect protesters. Many were killed during the clashes, including some as a result of heavy shelling by government forces.

An already dire humanitarian situation deteriorated to crisis point as Yemenis struggled with acute shortages of water and other necessities, burgeoning unemployment and living costs, and cuts to power and oil supplies.

Excessive use of force

In the face of peaceful anti-government protests, as well as during clashes in some parts of the country, the security forces resorted to excessive and disproportionate force, including lethal force. They used live ammunition, tear gas, batons, electric stun guns and polluted water spray. Snipers on rooftops and gunmen at street level repeatedly fired at peaceful protesters. Security forces also attacked protesters when they were at their most vulnerable, late at night and during prayer. Armed men in plain clothes known as “baltaji“ (“thugs”) attacked anti-government protesters with batons and firearms, often in the presence of the security forces and with their acquiescence. They and the security forces attacked protesters with almost total impunity; the authorities announced investigations into some killings but they were not independent and their outcomes were unclear.

• In Aden on 25 February, security forces fired on protesters from armoured vehicles and attacked houses in which they suspected protesters had taken shelter, killing some 12 people, two of them in their homes, and reportedly prevented the injured from being taken to hospital.
• On 4 March at Harf Sufyan in the northern ‘Amran governorate, soldiers at a military post fired at protesters as they sought to leave the area in cars, reportedly killing two and wounding others.
• In central Sana’a on 18 March, snipers believed to be from the security forces fired into the protest camp from the tops of buildings after Friday prayers, and security forces at street level also opened fire in what quickly became known as “Bloody Friday”. At least 52 protesters were shot dead; hundreds more were wounded. The President issued a public apology but denied that the police were responsible. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, an official investigation resulted in 78 people being charged in connection with the 18 March events, but it was unclear whether these included members of the security forces. The authorities offered compensation to some of the victims’ families.
• In Ta’izz, the security forces fired into a protest camp and makeshift field hospital on 29 May, reportedly killing at least a dozen people, before bulldozing and burning the camp.
• In Aden on 24 June, soldiers backed by tanks shot dead Dr Jiyab Ali al-Sa’adi, son of one of the leaders of the Southern Movement, when he reportedly urged them not to fire on mourners at the funeral of Ahmed al-Darwish, who had died in custody in June 2010, reportedly after torture.
• Between 18 and 22 September in Sana’a, security forces used snipers and fired rocket-propelled grenades at protesters demanding the resignation of President Saleh, killing tens of people and injuring hundreds.

Arbitrary arrests, detentions and enforced disappearances

Hundreds of people were arbitrarily arrested and detained in connection with the protests, adding to the number of those in detention, some of whom had been held long before the protests began. In June-July, a UN delegation that gained access to a prison in Sana’a run by Political Security found both Yemenis and foreign nationals there who had been detained without charge or trial or brought before a judge for months and even years.

• Abdul Hakim Ahmed al-Hatami, Nabil Mowqahu and Mohammed al-Zubayri were arrested in a Sana’a street on 23 November and held incommunicado for nine days before being moved to a police station. Abdul Hakim Ahmed al-Hatami was made to sign a pledge not to participate in further protests and was released on 7 December. Nabil Mowqahu and Mohammed al-Zubayri were released days later.
• Hassan Ba’oom, aged 71 and a leading member of the Southern Movement, was arrested on 20 February while receiving treatment at a hospital in Aden. He was held incommunicado until 7 December, when he was released without charge.

Counter-terror and security

Both Yemeni government and US forces undertook security operations against suspected al-Qa’ida members, particularly in Abyan province, using air strikes and other means, some of which resulted in deaths and injuries to civilians.

• In June, US drones and/or jets were reported to have carried out two attacks in Abyan in which several civilians were among those killed and injured.
• On 30 September, an attack reportedly by a US drone and fighter jet in al-Jawf province killed four people, including US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged al-Qa’ida member accused of responsibility for an attempt to blow up a civilian airliner over the US city of Detroit in December 2009.

Government fighter jets attacked the southern city of Zinjibar in May after it was seized by Islamist militants, who took over banks and a government compound and reportedly committed human rights abuses. On 11 September, the authorities announced that the army had regained most of the city after more than three months of fighting in which 230 soldiers and 50 members of local tribes were said to have been killed.

Freedom of expression

The government tightened controls on freedom of expression and targeted journalists and media seen as critics of President Saleh. Journalists and other media workers were killed, attacked, harassed, threatened and imprisoned during the unrest, and restrictive press laws and repressive actions by the security forces severely undermined press freedom and other expression. Several foreign journalists were attacked or expelled from Yemen. Dozens of publications were reported to have been seized and websites hacked or suspended. Several journalists employed by state-run media were sacked after they joined anti-government protests.

• In February, BBC reporter Abdullah Ghorab and cameraman Mohammed Omran were assaulted by supporters of a government official while reporting on the protests against President Saleh.
• One journalist was reported to have been killed when government forces attacked protesters in Sana’a on 18 March, and others were injured, arrested, threatened or had their equipment seized.
• The authorities closed the local bureau of Al Jazeera TV station on 24 March and withdrew its reporters’ permits following its coverage of the “Bloody Friday” killings of protesters.
• In May, the Sana’a offices of both the state news agency Saba and Suhail TV, owned by a leading government opponent, were badly damaged during armed clashes between forces supporting and opposed to President Saleh. The Ministry of Communication was also reported to have disrupted some services of Sabafone, a telecommunications network belonging to the owner of Suhail TV.
• Abdul Ilah Haydar Shayi’, a freelance journalist specializing in counter-terrorism who was arrested in August 2010, remained in prison although President Saleh reportedly issued an order for his release on 1 February. He was initially detained incommunicado, during which he was said to have been severely beaten, then tried before the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a and sentenced to five years in prison in January 2011. He appeared to be a prisoner of conscience.

Torture and other ill-treatment

There were new reports of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees by the security forces. The most commonly reported methods were beatings, electric shocks, burning with cigarettes and suspension by the limbs, often for long periods.

• In February, detainees at the Political Security prison in Sana’a, including alleged al-Qa’ida members or supporters, were reported to have been beaten by guards and held in solitary confinement after going on hunger strike to protest against their prolonged detention without charge or trial, ill-treatment and denial of adequate medical care. At least 10 detainees were said to have required hospital treatment as a result of the beatings.
• Mustafa Abdu Yahya al-Nahari was reported to have been repeatedly kicked, beaten, and whipped by Central Security officials, who held him at an unknown place for a week after they arrested him at his home on 14 November. He was kept blindfolded throughout, interrogated about the protests and made to sign a document without knowing what it contained, then released by being left, still blindfolded, in a street.

Cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments

During the period that Islamist militants controlled Zinjibar, they applied a strict interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law) there, and in September were reported to have amputated the hands of two men accused of theft, one of whom died as a result.

Women’s rights

Women and girls continued to face severe discrimination in law and in practice; this was particularly pronounced in rural areas. However, women played a major and sometimes leading role in the anti-government protests, leading President Saleh on 15 April to publicly condemn as “un-Islamic” the mixing of women and men in protests; in response, thousands of women demonstrated in defiance of what they saw as an attempt by the President ­to curtail their rights to freedom of expression and to participate in public affairs. Women activists and journalists were targeted by the security forces and pro-government supporters, harassed, arrested and in some cases beaten for participating in the protests. Some were also threatened via their family, with male relatives being told to assert control and curtail their activism.

• Tawakkol Karman’s brother was reported to have received a phone call after her arrest in January telling him to confine her to her home or “those who weaken the whip of obedience would be killed”.
• On 9 October, government supporters attacked women, injuring dozens, as they held a march in Ta’izz to celebrate the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Tawakkol Karman.

Refugees and asylum-seekers

Yemen continued to host more than 200,000 African refugees, mostly from Somalia, with a new influx from August sparked by drought, conflict and political insecurity. They experienced harsh conditions, exacerbated by Yemen’s growing political, economic and humanitarian crisis, and many staged protests outside the offices of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

• In July, UNHCR closed its offices in Sana’a for several days after hundreds of Eritrean and other refugees, who had camped outside the offices to demand resettlement because of the volatile situation in Sana’a, clashed with police.

Death penalty

At least 29 people were sentenced to death and at least 41 were executed; the real numbers may have been considerably higher. Hundreds of people remained under sentence of death.

• Yasser Ismail and four of his male relatives, all aged in their twenties, were at risk of execution after their sentences, imposed in 2006 after they were convicted of murder, were confirmed by both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.
• Ahmed Omar al-Abbadi al-Markashi was at risk of execution after his death sentence was confirmed by the Appeal Court in June. A security guard at the Sana’a home of Hisham Bashraheel, chief editor of al-Ayyam newspaper, he was convicted of murder in June 2010 in connection with an incident in 2008 when one of several armed men who fired shots at the editor’s house was killed when his security guards returned fire. His trial was unfair.