The Association of Mothers of Abductees, a Yemeni association, has expressed deep concerns about the absence of the issue of abductees and detainees in the Riyadh agreement, signed on Tuesday between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council. 

It has expressed the disappointment of  mothers who’ve been waiting for years to hear about their disappeared children" the association said in a public statement.

The association pointed out the occurrence of a hunger strike in Bir Ahmed prison happening contemporaneously to the signing of the Riyah agreement. Many of forcibly detained and disappeared children of these mothers are thought to be held in Bir Ahmed prison. This is the second time in a month the detainees are hunger striking in demand of basic prisoner rights. These include that those with valid release orders from the courts after public prosecutors investigated their cases. 

“This issue should not have been overlooked by signatories to the agreement. We sent an official letter to the President last week requesting that the freedom and dignity of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons be a top priority for the dialogue" the association has stated.

In its letter, the Association also called on the President Hadi to "close all secret prisons and informal detention facilities in order to build security and social peace and to establish a state of law and order."

In its statement, the association called on the government, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General to reveal the fate of the forcibly disappeared persons as a first step in the next phase, and to release all detainees, abductees and forcibly disappeared, as the hearts of their mothers deserve peace and tranquility.