ICER Action Alert: HOSTAGE TAKERS ‘ala Sinai’ IN YEMEN

ICER  Action Alert:

November 1, 2012,     Volume 2012,   Number 16, ICER Alert 16

HOSTAGE TAKERS ‘ala Sinai’ IN YEMEN

The situation of refugees escaping the harsh reality in the Horn of Africa in particular Eritrea where the rule of law has given way to outright brigandry, extortion and most disturbingly to arbitrary detention has a taken a turn to the worst.  It is reported that in Yemen few gang operated hostage holding campus where refugees are tortured for ransom are mushrooming. According to some who passed through these torture camps local Sheiks and the seafarers who helped the cross the Red Sea are working hand in glove with the gangs. The camps are located in remote areas of Yemen and few near the border of Saudi Arabia. The source indicates that there are about 15 camps run by a group of gangs equipped with automatic guns, pick-up vehicles and motor cycles. One of the bases is located in a wooded area some 30 Km away from Mokha. The other most notorious one is across the border from Saudi Arabia near a small town called Haradh.

So far the ransom money required for the release of the victims is about SR 1500. It is unlikely that the ransom money asked by hostage takers will remain that minimum when compared with ransom asked for hostages in Sinai. It is to be recalled that in 2008, the ransom money asked by the Bedouin gangs in Sinai was in the range of 3-8,000. Today the average sum required for the release of an individual hostage in Sinai is 35,000 USD. Relatives in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Ethiopia are contacted often employing the Sinai method, which is, torturing hostages live in order to convey the message that they mean business. At Hardah, the money exchange center ‘Asendaq’ operates as hub for this illegal activity.

The following names and telephone numbers are used to kidnap and extort money:
1)  734529834  -  owned by Abdelmalik
2)  736233322  -   Abdu Yahya’s telephone number

The following numbers are also used in the illegal activity
1)  713938043  -  Yahya       -     2)  736352534
3)  734153500                           4)  736328919
5)  715166006                           6)  713803011
7)  734284151

•    In Yemen after spending over a year in prison 81 of the 228 Eritrean refugees mostly of Afar extraction has been recognized by the UNHCR as legitimate asylum seekers. According to the source the remaining 137 will be interviewed after the Moslem Holiday on whether they merit protection by UNHCR. The sad part is that they are still in prison pending decision by Yemeni authorities
•    Ten young Eritreans among them two women are stranded in Sierra Leon West Africa as virtual captives of West African human smugglers. The men and women started their journey from Khartoum in the hope of being smuggled to Europe with the help of an Eritrean human smuggler by the name Temesgen Kidane. The criminal Temesgen vanished in thin air after handing them over to Sierra Leon gangs. According to an interview conducted by Meron Estifanos, an activist and member of ICER each person is claimed to have paid 25,000 USD.

Once again the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees (ICER) warns Eritreans and other refugees from the region to avoid taking the perilous journey of migration. We urge the Eritrean youth to create his/her own space at home so as to ensure that mass exodus would be the thing of the past. 

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