Human Rights Organizations Condemn Sana’a Massacre

‎99 Human Rights Organizations from 14 Arab Countries Condemn Saudi Attack on Funeral Ceremony in Sana’a, Yemen, and Demand the Immediate Lifting of the Saudi Embargo and the Medical Evacuation of the Wounded for Treatment Abroad August 13, 2016.

We the undersigned coalition of human rights organizations, strongly condemn and denounce the recent horrific massacre of hundreds of mourning civilians in Sana’a committed on Saturday, August 10th by the air forces of the Saudi-led alliance in Yemen. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the wounded injured a speedy recovery. This massacre can be described as nothing short of a war crime and a crime against humanity. Yet it is merely one episode in a series of nearly 300 instances of large-scale attacks on civilians by the Saudi alliance in Yemen since March of 2015.

Aside from claiming the lives of thousands of innocent Yemeni civilians, these attacks have wrought disastrous material destruction on communities across the country. They have destroyed houses, schools, neighborhoods, health clinics, hospitals, water facilities, markets, weddings halls, farms, bridges, tombs, historical sites, and government buildings. In some cases, entire neighborhoods and cities have been laid to ruin.

This loss of life and destruction has been well documented by the reports of a myriad of Yemeni and international human rights organizations. Saturday’s massacre, as well as past atrocities in Yemen, did not occur in a vacuum. Saudi aggression is enabled by both the reprehensible silence and the complicity in financial and political interests from influential figures in international organizations and sovereign governments. Their double standards regarding human rights, which are incompatible with both their legal and moral duties, are essential to enabling the leaders of the Saudi-led aggression in Yemen to pursue their interests with impunity. We also express our ever-present concern for the overlap in the interests of the international arms dealing…‎‏