The assassination of the Dean of the College of Education in Al-Dhalea Governorate, Khaled Abdo Al-Hamidi, bears the fingerprints of Emirati militias
International Investigation Commission Must be Formed to Investigate the Assassinations
Impunity for the perpetrators means the more assassinations
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in UK (AOHR UK) condemned the assassination of the Dean of the College of Education in Al-Dhalea Governorate, Khaled Abdo Al-Hamidi, on December 5, 2020, where two unidentified gunmen shot him before running away on a motorcycle. His body was left in front of the educational complex in the governorate at the center of the city.
AOHR UK added that the way in which the assassination was carried out, clearly indicates the involvement of militias supported by the UAE, especially since the city of Al Dhalea and other areas in the governorate are under the control of security and military forces affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
This incident is not the first of its kind, rather it is a new episode added to the systematic assassinations committed in Yemen, since assassinations in the city of Al-Dhalea, targeting primarily leaders and members of the Yemeni Reform Party (the Islah Party), as well as social and political figures are ongoing. Although such cowardly acts are mostly reported against unidentified persons, the involvement and direction of the UAE is clear.
On July 28, 2019, gunmen assassinated Jamil Bates, member of the same party, after they intercepted his way near Falhoum Station in the center of Seiyun city in Hadramout governorate.
On September 15, 2020, Ahmed bin Ahmed Ali, head of the local branch of the Islah party, was assassinated in Al-Dhalea governorate, south of the country. On August 30, 2020, gunmen shot Awad Fadak, leader of Islah party in Aden, while driving his car in the city of Aden.
On July 28, 2019, gunmen assassinated Jamil Bates, member of Islah party, after they intercepted his way near Falhoum Station in the center of Seiyun city in Hadramout governorate.
Over the past two years, the city of Aden has witnessed extrajudicial killings of leaders in the Islah party, clerics and security leaders in the city. This has started roughly with the assassination of the imam of the Mercy Mosque, Sheikh Aref Al-Subaihi, who was killed in the Mansoura district on January 24, 2018. On February 11, 2018, Colonel Fahmy Al-Hakami, an officer in the Criminal Investigation Department, was assassinated. Colonel Hadi Rashid Saleh, deputy security director of Bir Fadl, was also assassinated by gunmen in the Mansoura district, in addition to a number of other prominent figures, all of whom were opponents of the UAE’s policies in Yemen.
AOHR UK held the UAE authorities responsible for these heinous crimes carried out by a mercenary squad whose mission is to assassinate political and religious figures close to the Yemeni Islah party, according to a report published on the American “BuzzFeed” website in October 2018.
AOHR UK stressed that the No-State in Yemen, backed by the practices of the UAE regime, contributed to the increase in insecurity and encouraged the proliferation of militias and parallel authorities, which helped assassinations become systematic.
AOHR UK called on the international community to form an independent international investigation committee into the assassination crimes, especially into assassinations of opponents of the UAE agendas in Yemen, and to ensure that the perpetrators do not escape punishment.
AOHR UK calls on the UN General Assembly and the relevant institutions to take all necessary measures to stop the killings in Yemen, which continue for the sixth consecutive year, causing the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
