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IX. The Egypt-Yemen “Exchange Renditions”: The Abduction of Gen.  Ahmad Salem `Ubaid

On February 9, 2004, Yemeni President `Ali `Abdullah Saleh came to Cairo for a three-day state visit to discuss, among other matters, “security cooperation” with Egyptian President Mubarak.130 Within days of the Yemeni President’s arrival, the news that Saleh had made a deal with Mubarak to hand over members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad members in jail in Sanaa had leaked to the Arabic press.131

According to the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat, a Yemeni delegation was sent to Cairo to facilitate the exchange of prisoners immediately after President Saleh’s departure:

A Yemeni security delegation will visit Cairo next week as part of cooperation between Cairo and Sanaa to resolve all security issues. The delegation will also provide Egyptian officials with all details of the movements of some fundamentalist leaders who have been residing in Yemen since the first half of the 1990s. The visit follows Yemeni President `Ali `Abdullah Saleh's statement a few days ago that this issue has been resolved.

Informed Egyptian sources said that they expect Yemen to take measures soon to hand a number of fugitive fundamentalists over to Egypt.132

At that point, the names of the Egyptian militants who were to be sent to Cairo were not known. And the fact that `Ubaid was to be traded for them was not publicly known until after his disappearance on February 18.

Former Brigadier General `Ubaid held various senior government posts for the government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) prior to its 1991 unification with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen). He had served as information minister, deputy defense minister, and after unification was Yemen’s ambassador to Ethiopia before he was forced to flee the country after backing the southern separatists when civil war broke out in 1994.133

Although he had been identified as a “political asylum seeker” in Cairo, it is unclear whether `Ubaid had formally requested political asylum. Nonetheless, his reasons for leaving Yemen were common knowledge. According to one lawyer familiar with the case:

In a general sense, everyone knew that he had fled Yemen for political reasons… He wasn’t forced to leave, but everyone knew he would be in trouble if he went back. He was in the opposition.134

As detailed above, Egyptian state security officials were waiting outside `Ubaid’s Cairo apartment on February 18, the day he disappeared. After `Ubaid left his apartment on his way to Cairo’s Yemeni club, he was grabbed by a group of men and put in a car. Then he was taken to State Security.135

Concerned about his disappearance and suspecting that he may have been kidnapped, members of `Ubaid’s family called the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP), and asked for help. According to Muhammad Zari`i, the organization’s director:

After he was detained, his brother and daughter called us. They called and said that he went out, and he just disappeared. Two days later, he called them, and asked about his medicines. They of course asked where are you, and he said, I am with the gama’a [a family code word for security]. He told them not to worry. They asked where they should send the medicines, and he said don’t worry, they will handle it.136

His family had cause for concern: It was unthinkable that `Ubaid would leave Cairo of his own accord, without notifying his family. It was equally unthinkable that he would voluntarily go back to Sanaa. He had been living Egypt for more than a decade, and traveled regularly outside of Egypt to countries other than Yemen.

The family first got word of his disappearance when `Ubaid called his son, Nashwan, at home, saying that he would be late.

On that day, my father called home and said that he was [with] a friend who had had a diabetic attack and said that he would be late. We noticed that the telephone number did not appear on the telephone.

I then called other friends who confirmed that my father did not show up at the club on that day. I informed the Egyptian related authorities and the Yemeni Embassy in Cairo. Four days later, my father called back asking for the names of the medicines he is taking. When we asked about his whereabouts, he replied by saying he was with “good friends.” Once again the telephone number was not shown on our telephone.137

Both his family and his lawyer in Yemen immediately suspected that he had been taken back to Sanaa. According to Dr. Muhammad al-Mikhlafi, director of the Yemeni Observatory, an independent human rights group, and lawyer for `Ubaid:

When he disappeared we were concerned right away he would be sent to Yemen. We knew the Egyptian government had been asking for the return of several Egyptians who were stopped in Yemen, and the Yemeni government was hesitant to hand them over. When we heard news that Yemen had finally agreed to send those men to Egypt, we said there must be a political deal, and a Yemeni dissident will “disappear” in Cairo. When Brigadier General `Ubaid disappeared, we knew he must be on his way to Sanaa.138

Initial attempts to determine `Ubaid’s whereabouts, or get the government to admit that it was holding him, were unsuccessful:

We sent requests to the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor General. There was no reply whatsoever, either positive or negative. All of our faxes where about declaring his whereabouts: where is he? … We tried to look up his name at the airports, but they refused to give us any information.139

The first public disclosure of `Ubaid’s return to Yemen came in the form of a news bulletin. The Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan on March 6, 2004, reported that `Ubaid had been returned to Yemen in exchange for six Islamists. The Yemeni embassy denied any knowledge of the incident.140

Although it later became clear that the Egyptian government was responsible for `Ubaid’s initial detention, and held him for a full week before turning him over to the Yemeni government, it nonetheless publicly denied any involvement in the case.141 As late as May 6, 2004, less than two weeks before `Ubaid’s eventual release, the Egyptian government claimed to know nothing about `Ubaid’s whereabouts, claiming in a letter to the court trying `Ubaid’s case in Cairo that “efforts continue to investigate the conditions surrounding (`Ubaid’s) disappearance.”142 A copy of `Ubaid’s passport obtained by Human Rights Watch, made after his removal from Cairo, shows no exit stamp from Egypt, indicating that he did not leave Egypt by any normal means.

The Yemeni government also initially denied any knowledge of `Ubaid’s whereabouts. On March 22, during a meeting with a senior party official, Yemeni President `Ali `Abdullah Saleh claimed to have no idea where `Ubaid might be, and disputed news reports about his rendition to Sanaa. Claiming to be concerned over `Ubaid’s fate, President Saleh also promised to contact the Egyptian government to ask after `Ubaid.143 

The Yemeni government also ignored or responded disingenuously to requests for information about `Ubaid’s whereabouts made by his lawyers and his family in Yemen.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights, acting on a request from `Ubaid’s lawyer, contacted both the Yemeni interior ministry and foreign ministry on April 10, asking both bodies for any information they had about `Ubaid’s fate. The interior ministry failed to respond; the foreign ministry replied a week later with a claim that they were “following the issue with the embassy in Cairo.”144

`Ubaid was released on May 18. It was only after his release that the details of his ordeal became known.

As noted above, `Ubaid was held under reasonably good conditions in Cairo before being flown to Yemen. While in Cairo, he stayed in a furnished room with a desk, television, and carpets on the floor. It was a far cry from what awaited him in Sanaa. The sixty-two year old `Ubaid was also supplied with various medications for his ailments, which included a heart ailment, diabetes, and glaucoma.

When the time came to send him back, `Ubaid was blindfolded and put in a car by State Security Investigations agents. They began to drive, and after a while, he heard the sound of airplanes taking off and landing. It was then that he knew for certain that he was being taken back to Yemen.

Once `Ubaid was on the plane, his blindfold was removed. He was surprised to find someone from the Yemeni embassy on the plane, a man named Hussain.

“Why am I here?” `Ubaid asked.

“You are going to meet your friend,” Hussain replied, referring to Yemeni President `Ali `Abdullah Saleh, and repeating the joke made by Egyptian State Security a few days before.145

`Ubaid was then flown to Sanaa ; the only other men on the plane besides the Yemeni embassy official were Yemeni security agents.

After he arrived in Sanaa, `Ubaid was blindfolded and put into a waiting car. He was then driven to the location where he would be held, completely cut off from the outside world, for the next three months.

General `Ubaid knows nothing about the location of the room that he was taken to, other than that it is below ground; he remembers being led, still blindfolded, down a flight of stairs. The small room in which he was held was insect-infested, filthy, and dark. Much of the food he was given was rotten, and the drinking water was foul-smelling. `Ubaid asked for basic toiletries during his stay in the makeshift prison cell; his captors refused. The Yemeni government also withheld `Ubaid’s heart medication from him, despite the fact that a full supply had been given to him by the Egyptian government during his brief detention in Cairo.

According to his lawyer in Cairo, the source of `Ubaid’s suffering was the uncertainty over what would happen next:

He felt that his life was over. The real torture he experienced was the torture of not knowing what was going to happen. He didn’t know if he was going to be tortured. He didn’t know if he was going to be executed. He didn’t know if he was going to be interrogated. He was dying to have someone come and tell him what was going to happen to him.146

`Ubaid was held under these conditions for three months. Although `Ubaid was not tortured, he was not given access to an attorney, nor were his family members allowed to know his whereabouts or even told that he was in fact in custody.

On May 19, 2004, the government-controlled Al-Thawra newspaper announced that `Ubaid had been released. The announcement stated that he had been “extradited” from Egypt, suggesting a legal procedure that in fact had not taken place. The newspaper also said that `Ubaid was released “following questioning about the charges against him.”147 As far as is known, `Ubaid has not been charged with any crime by the Yemeni authorities.

Since his release, `Ubaid has returned to his family home outside Sanaa; he is barred from meeting with the media, and has yet to speak publicly about his ordeal. According to his lawyer in Yemen:

He is not allowed to speak to the media or even me, his lawyer, since his release. Can you believe that? I’m not only his lawyer, but I’m also his friend. Still, he can’t talk to me. I don’t blame him. He’s someone who saw the Grim Reaper, and it must be still haunting him.148

Although the Yemeni government has promised not to harm him provided that he does not attempt to leave the country, observers familiar with his case believe that his safety is at risk for as long as he remains in Yemen.149

The Egyptian government has attempted to use `Ubaid’s release to wash its own hands of the matter; it submitted an Al-Jazeera news report on `Ubaid’s release to argue that the case brought by HRAAP should be dismissed. On May 27, the Ministry of Interior wrote to the court, “We are honored to inform you that Al-Jazeera Arabic satellite channel has broadcasted information about the return of [`Ubaid] to his house in Aden following his release by Yemeni authorities.”150 In response to `Ubaid’s release, HRAAP is now asking that the Egyptian government publicly explain its role in the `Ubaid’s forced return to Sanaa. 

`Ubaid’s return has broader implications. To the extent that his vigilante-style abduction and return to Yemen signals a change of policy by the Egyptian and Yemeni governments, other Yemenis in exile in Cairo are also at risk. “There are many other Yemeni dissidents in Cairo who could face the same fate,” said Dr. al-Mikhlafi. “They are very scared at the moment, and still cannot believe what happened. They too could disappear one day, depending on the relations between Cairo and Sanaa.”151



[130] BBC Monitoring Middle East, “Yemeni leader to visit Egypt 9 February to discuss ties, terrorism,” February 8, 2004.

[131] BBC Monitoring Middle East, “Yemen to hand over militants to Egypt: report,” February 14, 2004. Translated text of `Abdu Zayna, “Yemeni security delegation visits Egypt to brief officials on movements of fundamentalists; Cairo expects to receive new group of fugitives,” Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 13 February 2004.

[132] Ibid.

[133] HRAAP defense memo, submitted to the court October 19, 2004. Page 3; “`Ubaid Disappears in Cairo,” Al-Thawri, February 26, 2004.

[134] Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Zari`i, Director, HRAAP, Cairo, November 2004.

[135] Human Rights Watch interviews, Cairo, November and December 2004.

[136] Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Zari`i, Director, HRAAP, Cairo, November 2004.

[137] Muhammad bin Sallam, “Ubeid’s fate shrouded with mystery,’ Yemen Times, April 22-25, 2004.

[138] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Muhammad al-Mikhlafi, director of the Yemeni Observatory, and lawyer for `Ubaid, December 18, 2004.

[139] Human Rights Watch interview with HRAAP, Cairo, November 2004.

[140] Ashraf al-Fiqqi, “The Yemeni Embassy Denies, while Al-Watan Sources Reveal the Secret of his Disappearance: Egyptian Authorities Hands Over a Southern Leader In Accordance with Security Cooperation Agreement between the Two Countries,” Al-Watan, March 6, 2004.

[141] Human Rights Watch interview with HRAAP, Cairo, November 2004.

[142] Letter from Egyptian Ministry of Interior, Department of Legal Affairs, May 6, 2004, on file with Human Rights Watch.

[143] Al-Tagammu` newspaper, March 22, 2004; copy on file with Human Rights Watch.

[144] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Muhammad al-Mikhlafi, December 2004; photocopies of the letters sent by the human rights ministry to the interior and foreign affairs ministries on file with Human Rights Watch.

[145] Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad, Zari`i, HRAAP, Cairo, Egypt, November 2004.

[146] Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Zari`i, HRAAP, Cairo, Egypt, November 2004.

[147] Al-Thawra, May 19, 2004.

[148] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Muhammad al-Mikhlafi, December 18, 2004.

[149] Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Zari`i, HRAAP, Cairo, November 2004.

[150] Letter from Egyptian Ministry of Interior, May 27, 2004; on file with Human Rights Watch.

[151] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Muhammad al-Mikhlafi, director of the Yemeni Observatory, and lawyer for Obeid, December 18, 2004.


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