Amnesty International has called for a United States air strike on a migrant detention centre in Yemen to be investigated as a possible war crime.
In a report released on Tuesday, the rights group said the strike on April 28, 2025, hit a detention facility in Saada in northwestern Yemen, killing at least 68 detainees and injuring 47.
The detention centre had operated for years as part of a larger prison complex and had previously been visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, who found no evidence the compound was being used for military purposes.
“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.
“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.
Amnesty said survivors interviewed nearly one year after the strike were still suffering serious physical and psychological harm and many were unable to afford treatment.
The organisation spoke to six Ethiopian men wounded in the attack. It said five were unable to work because of their injuries while most now depended on financial support from relatives.
Four remain in Yemen, and two have returned to Ethiopia. One survivor, identified as Jirata, 30, said he lost one of his legs in the strike and had a metal rod inserted in the other.
Credit: aljazeera.com
