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Yemen: Barriers to Implementation

Yemen is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 51 Yemen’s Penal Code provides reduced sentences for crimes committed by persons under 18, including capital offenses. Yemen’s very low birth registration rate makes it difficult for many juvenile offenders to prove their age at the time of the offense, and in these situations courts sometimes sentence to death persons under age 18 at the time of the crime.52 In February 2007, Yemen executed Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma'amari for a crime allegedly committed when he was 16. At least 18 other juvenile offenders are believed to be on death row.53

Yemeni Legislation and Practice

Yemen retains the death penalty for a wide variety of offenses, among them murder of a Muslim, arson or explosion, endangering transport and communications, apostasy, robbery, prostitution, adultery, and homosexuality.54 In 1994 Yemen amended its Penal Code to require reduced sentences for crimes committed by persons under 18, including a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment for those who commit capital offenses.55 However, Yemen lacks adequate mechanisms for determining ages of defendants who lack birth certificates, including adequate forensic facilities with staff trained in conducting age determinations.56

The Case of Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma’amari

Since 1993, Yemen is only known to have executed one juvenile offender, Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma'amari, in February 2007. A court in Rawna sentenced al-Ma'amari to death on October 19, 2002 for the murder of a relative in an argument when he was 16.57 Al-Ma’amari alleged that police tortured him until he confessed to the murder, and told the court that he was under 18 at the time of the murder. Although the judge ordered a medical examination that resulted in an October 10, 2001 finding that he was under age 17, the court nevertheless imposed a death sentence. Al-Ma’amari had no legal assistance during the trial.

The Taiz Court of Appeal rejected al-Ma'amari's appeal on May 23, 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s sentence on February 27, 2006.




51 Yemen ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child on May 1, 1991, and acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on February 9, 1987.

52 UNICEF’s 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in Yemen found only 22 percent of births of children under age five were registered. UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey: Monitoring the Situation of Children and women, Yemen 2006, Key Findings, (Draft), on file with Human Rights Watch.

53 UNICEF Yemen say they have been informed by the Ministry of the Interior (Prison Authority) that "no children under 18" were currently on death row. However, according to Penal Reform International, officials in Yemen’s judiciary stated publicly in 2007 that there were 18 juveniles on death row, although nongovernmental organizations believe this number does not include some cases of children wrongly identified as adults. Nor would it include persons who are now adults but who were under 18 at the time of the crime. A Ministry of Interior official confirmed to Human Rights Watch that at least one juvenile offender, Walid Haykel, is currently on death row in Sana`a prison for a crime he committed at age 15.  Email communication to Human Rights Watch from Judith Léveillée, chief child protection, HIV and AIDS, UNICEF Yemen, September 1, 2008; and Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Tahar Boumedra, Middle East and North Africa regional director, Penal Reform International, Amman, August 19, 2008, and Mohammad al-Wadiee, director of the Juvenile Directorate, Prison Authority, Ministry of Interior, Sana`a, September 3, 2008.

54 Yemeni Penal Code, arts. 124, 141, 226, 227, 228, 234, 249, 259, 263, 264, 280, 306.

55 Yemeni Penal Code, art. 31.

56 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Tahar Boumedra, Amman, August 19, 2008.

57 See “Yemen: Death sentence/fear of imminent execution: Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma'amari,” Amnesty International Urgent Action, AI Index: MDE 31/003/2006; and “Yemen: Further information on death sentence/fear of imminent execution: Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma'amari, Amnesty International Urgent Action, AI Index: MDE 31/018/2007, September 18, 2007, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE31/018/2007/en/dom-MDE310182007en.html (accessed May 20, 2008).