Abdel-Elah Haidar, a Yemeni journalist whose reporting critically examined Islamic groups and terrorism, was arrested on 16 August 2010 when forces from the National Security Agency raided his home and detained him incommunicado in an undisclosed location, later identified as the basement of the National Security Services building and then the Political Security Prison (‘Intelligence’). He was charged with alleged connections to Al-Qaeda and brought before the extraordinary State Security Court on 19 September 2010, a tribunal that denies defendants basic fair-trial guarantees. Despite his staunch denial of the accusations, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment, followed by a two-year probation and travel restrictions. During his detention, Abdel-Elah Haidar endured ill-treatment, including being struck with gun butts, sustaining chest injuries, bruises and even losing a tooth, and was confined in unsanitary conditions such as a filthy toilet for five days. Although he was reportedly due for release under a presidential pardon in February 2011, international intervention (allegedly at the insistence of then-US President Barack) prevented his release. In protest, he began a hunger strike on 14 February 2012 to demand his freedom and highlight the fabricated nature of the charges against him. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights condemned his detention as a blatant assault on freedom of expression, called on Yemeni authorities to release him immediately, drop all politically motivated charges and ensure the protection of all journalists and defenders from judicial harassment in accordance with international human rights standards.