Fresh call for inquiry into mass graves

An inquiry must be launched to identify 33 corpses found in a “mass grave” in the al-Areesh suburb of Aden in December, as well as other such graves and circumstances leading to the deaths, according to a committee representing victims' families in southern Yemen. “I’ve already asked for a practical investigation to identify those corpses and the circumstances that led to their assassination,” said committee chairman, Ayman Mohammed Nasser. Nasser is also the owner, director and chief editor of the Aden-based Attariq weekly, which has been reporting on the discovery. “An international committee should also be formed to find out the destiny of those thousands of missing people during the period from 1967 to 1990,” he said. The Aden-based committee has lists of names of individuals who went missing in Aden and other governorates between 1967 and 1990. Some were the victims of tribal conflict, others of illegal arrests, disappearances and extra-judicial killings. A diplomatic source from Yemen confirmed on Wednesday that “a few” bodies had been found buried at a site that was being prepared for development, but declined to give any detail. “There is going to be an inquiry into the matter, which will be in the hands of the relevant body,” he said. The corpses were first discovered on 10 December in a “mass grave” on the border of the Central Security Forces camp, known as the al-Solban camp, by a local resident who was digging to construct a house, according to Nasser. A witness at the scene, Nasser said the corpses were wearing military uniforms. The area was a former military camp belonging to the Ministry of State Security, the intelligence and state security headquarters in southern Yemen, which was ruled by the Socialist Party before unification of Yemen in 1990. The camp was also used as a prison following a violent conflict between various factions of the Socialist Party in 1986, according to Nasser. He said the graves were similar to trenches with three corpses in each, indicating that the killing and burying had taken place on different dates. Health experts confirmed that the victims had been executed by bullet wounds to the head or chest. Earlier media reports suggested that the dead were victims of a conflict between factions of the Socialist Party in January 1986. But the committee believes they were assassinated afterwards “as a matter of revenge”, said Nasser. Secrecy about the find has raised suspicions. The Yemen Observer reported in December that orders were issued to stop searching for more bodies, following widespread media coverage. Scarves found on some of the bodies suggested that some civilians were killed, it reported. “The recently uncovered mass grave was top-confidential,” said Nasser. “Nobody knew anything about it. It is believed that those corpses do not belong to the victims of the 1986 clashes. They seem to be something special for unknown reasons.” “This fact leads me to repeat, now and then, my call for an international investigation.” Yemeni human rights activists believe that many other such graves remain uncovered. Nasser said he was aware of another such grave in Aden, which contained 16 corpses, but which has yet to be officially excavated. He claimed the victims were executed following a coup in June 1978 when former president of South Yemen, Salem Rubaya Ali, was ousted from power and assassinated.