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For Immediate Release
December, 23 2016, 09:15am EDT
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
American Dad Missing in Yemen Due in Court on Death Penalty Case
A court in Yemen will hear calls on Tuesday (27th) for a death sentence against an American father-of-three, who disappeared inside the country's prison system over a year ago.
US citizen Sharif Mobley, 32, from New Jersey, was sentenced to ten years in prison in Yemen in December 2015 over a shooting. His lawyer has not had any access to him since that trial, and his family have unsuccessfully requested 'signs of life' from the Yemeni authorities.
A court in Yemen will hear calls on Tuesday (27th) for a death sentence against an American father-of-three, who disappeared inside the country's prison system over a year ago.
US citizen Sharif Mobley, 32, from New Jersey, was sentenced to ten years in prison in Yemen in December 2015 over a shooting. His lawyer has not had any access to him since that trial, and his family have unsuccessfully requested 'signs of life' from the Yemeni authorities.
Despite serious concerns about his safety, Mobley's sentence has been appealed and a harsher punishment demanded.
The first in a series of appeal hearings is set for Tuesday. Should he lose, Mobley could face the death penalty. International human rights group Reprieve is helping Mobley's lawyer to lodge a cross-appeal.
The case dates back to 2010, when Mobley was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from outside his house in Yemen's capital Sana'a, shot in the leg and held incommunicado for months.
Logs released under a US Freedom of Information request revealed that two US agents interrogated Mobley while he was in secret detention.
Since mid-2010, he has faced charges relating to the death of a Yemeni police officer in the course of an alleged escape attempt from hospital, where Mobley was being detained.
Following a trial in which he was denied access to his lawyer and eventual conviction in 2015, Mobley again disappeared into Yemen's prison system.
Commenting, Katie Taylor, Deputy Director of Reprieve's Abuses in Counter-terrorism Team, said:
"Since Sharif Mobley's arrest, Yemeni authorities have subjected him to a litany of abuses. He was separated from the prison population and disappeared, denied legal access, and was frequently not brought to hearings in his case despite judge's orders. The Yemeni authorities must end these abuses and ensure that his trial is fair. The US government has not done enough to protect its citizen and must do more."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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"Today's vote represents a glimmer of hope for the 22 million Americans desperately trying to hold onto affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," said one campaigner.
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US Senate Republicans are under renewed pressure to restore the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits after 17 GOP members of the House of Representatives helped Democrats pass legislation to extend the recently expired ACA subsidies by three years.
The 230-196 vote—in which five Republicans did not participate—came after GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Michael Lawler (NY), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.), and Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.) broke with their party's leadership last month and signed a Democratic discharge petition that allowed the bill's backers to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Joining those four Republicans and all House Democrats on Thursday were GOP Reps. Mike Carey (Ohio), Monica De La Cruz (Texas), Andrew Garbarino (NY), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), David Joyce (Ohio), Thomas Kean Jr. (NJ), Nick LaLota (NY), Max Miller (Ohio), Zachary Nunn (Iowa), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), David Valadao (Calif.), Derrick Van Orden (Wis.), and Rob Wittman (Va.).
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Senators also celebrated the development and called for a vote in their GOP-controlled chamber.
"Finally after we pushed this for a year!" said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), noting that 17 House Republicans helped advance the bill. "The Senate must vote on it ASAP to lower costs for tens of millions of Americans."
Over 20 million Americans face soaring premiums because of the lapsed subsidies, and some people are forgoing health insurance coverage because of the new rates—which have surged alongside other rising costs tied to President Donald Trump's agenda.
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While similarly welcoming the House passage, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin also called out the majority of Republicans in the chamber who opposed the bill, arguing that they "have once again chosen to abandon working families."
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As the Associated Press reported:
A small group of senators from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that for any plan to find support in his chamber, it will need to have income limits to ensure that the financial aid is focused on those who most need the help. He and other Republicans also want to ensure that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.
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Wright also stressed that "with open enrollment ending in most states in just six days, families are being forced to make impossible choices in real time. Doing nothing is a choice to price out and push millions to lose coverage, rack up debt, and go without care. The Senate must now do its job and deliver the relief American families urgently need."
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) president Lee Saunders also took aim at the Senate on Thursday, saying that "the cost-of-living crisis is an unaffordable and unsustainable reality for millions of people, and it's getting worse."
"Thankfully, pro-worker lawmakers in the House voted today to restore the Affordable Care Act premium credits—a lifeline helping tens of millions of families afford healthcare," he said. "These tax credits also help keep costs lower for everyone else on health insurance—supporting them should be a no-brainer. We call on the Senate to act quickly and restore these tax credits. Working families are counting on them."
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President Donald Trump's withdrawal of the United States from dozens of international treaties and organizations and his administration's cuts to climate research and emergency response come as the frequency, lethality, and cost of major extreme weather disasters grow, according to an analysis published Thursday.
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This analysis also came as California observed the one-year anniversary of wildfires that killed 31 people and caused billions of dollars in damages, making them among the most expensive wildfires on record.
The new research is the first update of Climate Central's US Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database, which was launched last October. The resource will help fill an information void caused by the Trump administration's move in May ending updates to the government's own database that tracked climate disasters causing more than $1 billion in damage.
After the US admin cancelled the $B Climate + Weather Disaster dataset, @climatecentral.org hired the scientists who ran it and set it back up. Now the 2025 numbers are in: it's 3rd highest year on record and highest year w/o land-falling hurricanes. More: www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv...
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— Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) January 8, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Key findings of Climate Central's update include:
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"This trend of increasingly deadly and expensive disasters is occurring as the Trump administration continues to defund and cut staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s foremost science agency whose mission includes tracking and studying weather and climate, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that prepares for, responds to, and helps communities recover from disasters," the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) said Thursday in response to the new research.
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Basav Sen, a climate leader at the Institute for Policy Studies, on Thursday noted that the US is "the world’s largest cumulative greenhouse gas emitter, and the largest producer and exporter of oil and gas today."
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Addressing the Iranian people, he added: "You must stand up for your right to freedom. There is nothing like freedom. You are a brave people. It’s a shame what’s happening to your country."
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported on Thursday that Iranian security forces have killed at least 45 protesters since demonstrations against the regime began in late December. Wednesday was the bloodiest day yet, with 13 people reportedly killed.
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The rial has lost 95% of its value since 2018, when Trump withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement with Iran, which included sanctions relief.
Last Friday, just one day before he bombed Venezuela as part of an operation to overthrow its leader Nicolás Maduro and seize the nation's oil reserves, Trump wrote on Truth Social that "if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go."
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