A/HRC/27/44 request to suspend all executions in those cases. The Office instructed the relevant bodies to suspend all executions and also asked the Supreme Court to form a committee to review those cases and to make recommendations. 30. While the Penal Law prohibits the death penalty for minors, courts still sentence to death minors or adults who committed crimes while under 18 years old. The practice is attributed, among other factors, to the difficulty in determining the age of offenders in the absence of birth certificates. 31. The death penalty was addressed during the National Dialogue Conference: the Working Group on Rights and Freedoms recommended that: “No laws shall authorize the imposition of the death penalty, with the exception of the offences under the categories of Hodoud (religiously ordained crimes) and Qisas (death in retribution).” This recommendation will be taken into consideration by the Constitution Drafting Commission when amending the relevant laws.9 D. Enforced disappearances, fair trial and prison conditions 32. Despite Cabinet decision No. 180 (2012) to release all those detained in relation to their participation in the 2011 events, 16 individuals have remained in custody.10 At the time of drafting the present report, the detainees’ families did not have any information on the whereabouts of their relatives. 33. With regard to the case of the Presidential Mosque bombing,11 in which several people including former President Saleh, were injured or died, President Hadi issued a decree on 4 June 2013 to release 19 of the 22 detainees held in connection with the case. The Attorney General decided to release 17 of them, who were freed on 6 June 2013, and undertook to speedily conclude the investigation of the remaining five detainees. In January 2014, the five detainees started a hunger strike protesting against the length of their detention without trial. OHCHR visited the five detainees in the Central Prison of Sana’a on 5 January 2014. They affirmed that the last court session on their case had been held on 5 March 2013, when the chief of the Criminal Specialized Court referred the case to the Supreme Judiciary Council and assigned a new judge to the case. 34. In April 2014, OHCHR visited the Al Dhale’a Central Prison, where it received 14 complaints from detainees whose trial had been overdue since November 2013. The prison management stated that the cases had not been processed owing to various security challenges and the fact that judges had gone on strike. 35. During the reporting period, OHCHR received complaints regarding arbitrary detentions by the National Security Office and the Political Security Office. OHCHR also received several reports of detention by the National Security Office of nationals of Yemen returning from Saudi Arabia upon their arrival at Sana’a airport. 36. OHCHR conducted several visits to prisons12 and found that conditions remained very poor, particularly with regard to hygiene and sanitation facilities. Detainees, most of 9 10 11 12 During its 2013 review, Yemen accepted the universal periodic review recommendation on a review of its death penalty legislation, to bring it into compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly to ensure that the death penalty did not apply to minors. The review also recommended reducing the number of crimes that are punishable by the death penalty, excluding the death penalty for crimes concerning drugs (A/HRC/WG.6/18/L.6, paras. 115.54–55). According to sources, one of the demonstrators arrested in 2011 was released in July 2013. See A/HRC/24/34, para. 21. Aden, Al Dhale’a and Sana’a Central Prisons. 9