A year after the United States air strike on a migrant detention centre in Sa’ada, north-western Yemen, human rights group Amnesty International calls for the attack to be investigated as a possible war crime.
A report released by Amnesty on Tuesday (28 April) stated that on 28 April 2025, a US air strike killed sixty-eight civilians, leaving forty-seven injured with “severe physical and psychological trauma”. The organisation conducted an internal investigation, finding that the air strike was an indiscriminate attack on civilians, and should therefore be investigated as a potential war crime.
At the time of the attack, the detention centre had been running for years as part of a larger prison complex, with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations finding no evidence that the site was used for any military operations.
“The Trump administration’s approach to its air strikes in Yemen from March to May 2025 should have set off alarm bells in the USA and around the world,” said Nadia Dar, director of Amnesty International USA, in the report.
“Instead, the US administration has systematically weakened safeguards … while simultaneously displaying a dangerous disregard for the lives of civilians endangered by armed conflicts,” she added.
A year after the attack, the US has failed to release assessments on civilian harm, disclose any investigative findings regarding the attack, or address claims for accountability, as called for by Amnesty and survivors of the strike.
In accordance with international law, if harm to civilians is incurred in an attack violating international humanitarian law, victims and their families warrant full reparation.
Amnesty urged the US to facilitate transparent, independent investigations into the strike and offer reparations for civilians harmed in military attacks, while implementing appropriate congressional oversight for future military operations.
Source: commonspace.eu with Al Jazeera and Amnesty International
