Amnesty International called for an investigation of a US air strike on a migrant detention center in Sa’ada, north-western Yemen on 28 April adding that the strike which killed and injured dozens of migrants was a “violation of international humanitarian law “
“A satellite imagery analysis, the US attacks carried out on Sa’ada prison compound struck the migrant detention center and another building on the site”, Amnesty said.
The organization also analyzed satellite imagery and video footage of “horrific scenes showing migrants’ bodies strewn across rubble” and rescuers trying to pull badly wounded survivors from the debris.
“The US attacked a well-known detention facility where the Houthis have been detaining migrants who had no means to take shelter. The major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the rules on distinction and precautions,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The US must conduct a prompt, independent and transparent investigation into this air strike and into any other air strikes that have resulted in civilian casualties as well as those where the rules of international humanitarian law may have been violated.”
Under international humanitarian law attacking forces have an obligation to do everything feasible to distinguish between military and civilian targets, to verify whether their intended target is a military objective and to cancel an attack if there is doubt.
When attacking a military objective, parties to a conflict must also take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians in the vicinity. If civilian harm is found to have occurred, victims and their families should receive full reparation for violations of international humanitarian law.
Furthermore, if investigations find that there were direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks striking military targets and civilians without distinction and which killed or injured civilians, they should be investigated and treated as violations of international law and potential war crimes.
Amnesty International could not independently verify the death toll, nor speak to survivors or medical workers, due to the Houthis’ ongoing crackdown on civic space.
Despite this, Amnesty International was able to speak, on condition of anonymity, with three individuals working with African migrant and refugee communities who said that all the migrant detainees held at this detention center were Ethiopian, with the exception of one Eritrean.
One witness said he saw 25 injured migrants in the Republican hospital and nine in Al Talh General hospital in Sa’ada: “They suffered from different fractures and bruises. Some were in critical condition and two had amputated legs… The morgue in the Republican hospital was overwhelmed and there was no place left for tens of corpses that were still left outside the morgue for the second day.”
Another witness who visited both hospitals and spoke to dozens of the injured Ethiopian migrants said:
“They told me they were sleeping when they were hit with the first missile at around 4 a.m. in the morning (…) .They said they woke up to find dismembered bodies around them. You could see the shock and horror on their faces. Some were still unable to speak because of the trauma.”