Armies of Liberation

(For a long time, I thought there was only one lawyer in Yemen.)

Allaw:
“I also disagree with those who say that poverty is one of the main reasons for violence. Gulf countries are a case in point—they are very rich countries and they have violent acts too. I think the main and real reason behind violence is political autocracy and repression.”

“The biggest lie that we all live is that we are in a democratic country (in Yemen) and that we apply the institutions in our lives.”

Hittar says dialog. (Read on …)

Reprive, the question is for how long.

Married at 11, a mother of two by 14 when she was convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to death, raped and became pregnant in prison, death sentence postponed until the baby turns two. The execution is scheduled for next month. This is Saleh’s justice system. He is the chief executive officer. (Read on …)

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s former ambassador to Syria said on Friday he is seeking political asylum in Britain to protest against what he said was his own government’s discrimination of its southern citizens.

Tensions have existed between the conservative north and Marxist south since the two merged in 1990 to found the Yemeni state. Hostility between the two worsened after the south attempted to secede power during the 1994 civil war.

“Territories were occupied and their riches plundered … and people were driven away from their land,” Ahmed Abdullah al-Hasani told Al Arabiya television.

“We asked for political asylum in Britain on a number of grounds,” Hasani told the Arab satellite station by telephone. He did not elaborate.

Southerners still complain that north Yemen, home to the country’s capital Sanaa, is economically more privileged and that northerners are treated preferentially in the jobs market. The Sanaa government denies that.

In Sanaa, a Foreign Ministry source said Hasani’s term as ambassador to Syria ended two months ago and that the ambassador had told officials he was going to London for medical tests.

Hasani was relieved of his post as navy commander after 17 U.S. soldiers were killed in the 2000 suicide bombing against the U.S. destroyer Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

The British government refuses to comment on individual political asylum cases.

Abdo al-Naqeeb, a spokesman for the London-based Southern Democratic Assembly, which has criticised the Yemeni government’s policy in southern Yemen and is supporting Hasani, said the former ambassador had applied for asylum on Thursday.

“It’s too early to say if the application will be successful,” he told Reuters. “At the moment he has just filled in his application form and is talking to his solicitors.”

“But we’re hopeful,” he said, adding that another former Yemeni ambassador was recently granted asylum in Britain.

link and anotherand another.

World Press just posted my article on Bangladesh. They picked this from the article as the tag line: “Lately Bangladesh has gained notoriety for the spread of Islamic extremism, but jihadis don’t spring from the ground like mushrooms.”

Theres a proposed new press law in Yemen. This one include websites as well.

YT: Among the taboos and prohibitions that journalists cannot go beyond are; that they can not “criticize the head of the state” as well as “publishing or exchanging anything that directly and personally prejudices monarchs and heads of brotherly and friendly states.” “This draft law released the journalist as an individual from jail, but on the other hand put freedom of speech in a real cage,” Ali al-Jaradi of al-Nass Weekly summarized the demerits of the draft law.

UPdate: proposed law includes Death Penalty for Journalists. Saleh will call it reform. (Read on …)

More filing cabinet stuff. Just ignore me now. I may have a normal post soon.

YT: The North Sana’a Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence of a Muslim extremist convicted of assassinating prominent socialist politician Jarallah Omar and overturned the jail sentences of other five of his accomplices on Saturday.—

Ali was also convicted on charges stemming from his involvement in a plot that killed three Americans at a Southern Baptist missionary hospital in Jibla, two days after Omar’s assassination. He was also found guilty of forming a terror cell to buy weapons with the intention of killing other local intellectuals, writers and journalists, members of the al-Buhra religious sect and missionaries. —

Mohammed al-Mikhlafy, the advocate representing the late politician, was critical of the court’s decision to acquit the alleged accomplices in Omar’s killing.

“The court has now given the chance to the acquitted defendants to kill the remaining socialists and Westerners,” he said. “The court has dealt with the case as a personal criminal act, ignoring its political implications.” These are not just and fair verdicts; they are meant to satisfy the government’s intention to let this terrorist cell free-handed and give them a green light to target the socialist party.”—

In their meeting April 9, the Opposition Joint Meeting Coalition, including the socialists and Islah threatened to internationalize the inquiry into Omar’s assassination if the judiciary fails to investigate the murder properly, disclosing facts to the public. The socialists have always asked for interrogations of all the people whose names were mentioned during the investigations with the assassin, including prominent leaders of the Islah like Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, Mohammed al-Anisi and others, which the prosecution refused to carry out.

The socialist party, which is expected to officially comment on the verdict soon, have already accused some influential figures, including clerics, of cooperating with the terrorist group of Ali to assassin Omar and other socialist leaders and intellectuals. It demanded that the religious fatwa passed during the civil war of 1994 against the socialists should be abolished and that springs of extremism and terrorism should be dried.—

Human Rights Watch urged, in a letter addressed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh in August 2003, that government of Yemen should undertake “a full, independent, and impartial investigation” into the assassination of Omar. “There are serious and widespread allegations about possible involvement in this killing by government security officials and prominent Salafi political figures. These allegations need to be addressed in a transparent and serious manner, and dismissed or acted upon. We therefore call on you to authorize a special investigation, to be conducted in a thorough and impartial manner, into all aspects of this crime, and to make the results public,” the letter said.– (Read on …)

I’m saving this article here because the Yemen Observer links expire:

YO
Expelled students raise storm of protest
By Amira Al-Sharif& Mohammed Al-Attab
Apr 25, 2005 - Vol.VIII Issue 16
SANA’A - Eight hundred Sana’a University students gathered before the dentistry faculty Monday chanting “Dr. Saleh [Baserah], where is freedom, where is justice?” and “Enough, enough, enough of the dictator.”

Faculty of dentistry student Abdul-Rahman Al-Muzai said that “these students have gathered in my support to demand that the dean’s decision to suspend my studies be repealed.” (Read on …)

about Yemen is partialy incorrect, Cairo Magazine,

and was written by the person who also maintains this blog

Tharwa has a new webpage.

YT Yemeni prime minister Abdul Qadir Bajamal said last Saturday that around 330,000 children are being educated in underground schools uncontrolled by the government.

“With the teachers, we will confront the reactionary and backward culture in Marran and the Al-Muzamat mountains,” Bajamal said, referring to the area where security forces quashed a two-week uprising last week by followers of the former MP and radical preacher Hussein al-Houthi. He vowed to eliminate those schools that are thought to be dominated by religious parties that promote the extremist interpretation of Islam

“We are not against religious education. We are free people, but we are against extremism, fanaticism, tribalism and sectarianism,” Bajamal said.

Interesting how in Yemen they close the Shiite schools but never the Whabbi ones. Every one else in the world calls the Zaidi “a moderate Shiite sect.” I guess pluralism is another unicorn inYemen.

YO: Deputy Minister of Endowments & Guidance Yehya Al-Najar meanwhile said that the cabinet would take hard action to combat this problem.

“A decision has already been made to close down 4,000 religious schools all over the county,” Al-Najar said.

“The threat of these schools targets all categories of the country because the schools are based on blaspheming others and damaging the national unity.”

He mentioned that as an alternative to the unauthorized schools, the government has opened 1,050 centers for Quranic studies. He said that the authorities bore full responsibility for setting up such schools.

OK so the Shiites are blaspheming, so now they have to go to Sunni schools? (Read on …)

YT: Chief Magistrate of the Capital’s Court of Appeal Judge Hamoud al-Hirdi apologized to lawyers Mohammad Naji Allaw and Jamal al-Ja’abi for the attacks against them by his guards while they were attending the trial of journalist Abdulkareem al-Khaiwani at the beginning of March.

Related/Overdue: Headlines from al-Shoura, the paper of America’s favorite Yemeni Journalist and Editor, al-Khaiwani:

- Hunting down war continues in Saada

- Leadership from JMP: Threats of dissolving the parties of al-Itihad and al-Haq, a coup against democracy and constitution

- The International Union of Journalists requests from the president not to punish journalists

- Seizure of peasant lands in Abyan

Read the rest, including a nice article on empowering women in Yemen: (Read on …)

Yemen News Agency: SANA’A, April 21 (Saba) - Yemen is now preparing a statement to debunk the claims of the Shiite establishment that the government’s recent anti-rebel assault in Saada was an oppression of Shiits.

According to the 26 September weekly, the Association of Religious Scholars would discredit the “fabrications” of the Najaf-based establishment that “a recent government action against a deviant group of vandals” was a sort of a war against followers of the Shiit sect.

Many political sources considered the statement of the Shiite establishment on the Saada events “an outrageous intrusion into
Yemen’s internal affairs”.

One source said “the establishment should have turned its concern to the regrettable events in its own country, Iraq.”

Related: Jamestown:

In making ‘links’ between Iran and the Zaydi insurgency there is a tendency to integrate Shi’ite movements within a vertical command structure (with Tehran at the top) that does not accurately reflect historical, social, linguistic, ethnic and even religious differences between the branches of Shi’ite Islam…..

A more important threat remains from Yemen’s Sunni extremists….

Yemen’s experiment with democracy is withering as Salih, president since 1978, attempts to create dynastic rule at the head of a one-party state….

Salih has established a pattern of playing off Islamists against Socialists, with the intention of eliminating both as potential opponents of the GPC. While Salih grooms his son as his successor, Yemen threatens to become a replica of the hereditary Ba’athist presidencies of Iraq and Syria.

Amnesty is worried: al Haram (07/2004)

Last week Amnesty International called on the Yemeni government to investigate the killing of civilians caught up in the clashes. In a letter to the minister of the interior, the organisation states that innocent Yemenis are said to have been killed by heavy artillery fire and missile attacks. It cited an incident reported by witnesses that a helicopter gunship attacked civilian targets and a number of people were killed.

More links, this is my filing cabinet you know: Targeted for radical views

from Arthurs Iraqi Correspondent:

“Most of us read, heard and saw the medias report of the April 9th demonstrations in Baghdad. Most of the U.S. media portrayed it as a massive anti American demonstration in the streets of Iraq. I noticed, however, from Iraqi Arabic newspapers that most the demonstrations were against terrorism & calling for Saddams trial & hanging (all these signs were in Arabic). I called my father in Baghdad to confirm this and he confirmed it.

My father then confirmed that Al Sadr had asked his followers to demonstrate for the withdrawal of foreign troops, he also said that this group was very small and almost insignificant compared to the rest who were calling for Saddam’s trial & hanging and those against terrorism. My father said the Iraqi media reported the number like this ‘about 200,000 demonstrators of which 8,000-10,000 were Al-Sadr & Sunni supporters’ (strange bed fellows).

He also said that when he listened to the Iraqi elected officials (on live T.V.) in the assembly, that every one (every one including those Sunnis initially opposed to the elections), every man and woman assembly member, reiterated the importance of foreign and specifically U.S. troops staying in Iraq till Iraq is ready to take over its own security. Most of them expressed their thanks for the troops being there and freeing Iraqis from Saddam. This I did not read, hear or see in any U.S. mainstream media outlet.”

Not surprisng.

MOER: Making Our Economy Right

Lasting economic growth is attained with economic freedom that means restricting the government to the simple tasks of maintaining law and order and tthe courts of justice. The complex issues of allocating resources, planning projects, marketing products, serving consumer demands are all best left to the free market system where free individuals determine and fullfil their economic priorities and wants.

MEMRI

“”I have no weapon other than my pen, which the law has shattered, so I am left with no alternative but to surrender…” (Read on …)

al-Sahwa

The weekly Al-Shoura newspaper, organ of the Popular Forces Unionist Party, returned Wednesday to newsstands after authorities closed it down for seven months.

In an unexpected move, the paper tackled a number of issues, including Sa’ada events, and the country’s dynastic rule, which had already caused the mass circulation to be outlawed and its chief editor, Abdul Kareem Al-Khawiani, imprisoned.

The weekly also ran an article highlighting the wretched incarceration conditions the Yemeni detainees in Sana’a central prison were now enduring.

“We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor
safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation
in the other.” –Thomas Jefferson

Federalist

in Saudi Arabia is here.

Bangladeshis have much to be proud of. They achieved independence and a pluralistic state after a hard-fought war. Nearly twenty years later they took to the streets dissatisfied with military rule and stood united for democracy. Devastating annual floods covering a third of the country does not deter their commitment to democracy and modernity. Lately Bangladesh has gained notoriety for the spread of extremism, but jihadis don’t spring from the ground like mushrooms.

Also at Middle East Transparent and Blogger News Network.

Update: Also at Townhall, Foreign Policy April 12. “The Conservative Movement Starts Here.”
(Townhall motto.)

And Tech Central Station April 14. “Where Free Markets Meet Technology.” (TCS motto.) They put a picture of a scary looking guy. Now it seems like a whole different article. They should have put a picture of two cute kids to give it the mood I wanted.

And Pakistan in The Daily Times.

And World Press.org

Finally, there’s a rift on this issue.

WaPo: Hoping to keep the matter from clouding the summit at Bush’s Texas ranch, Israeli diplomats were quick to assure Washington that no building was imminent under a blueprint for 3,500 new homes between the Maale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem.

But that did not stop Bush from taking an apparent swipe at the plan. “The ‘road map’ is important. And the road map calls for no
expansion of the settlements,” he said in Washington on Tuesday,
referring to a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace plan.—-

no. new. settlements.
no. expansion.
Thats what it says.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni signaled that Israel was
ready to press ahead with its settlement plans. “The U.S. is refraining from supporting Israel’s plans for future building (in settlements), but that does not mean that Israel should not strengthen them (the settlements),” she told Army Radio.—-

Israeli political sources said Bush, aware Sharon still has to
overcome fierce opposition in the pro-settler camp to his Gaza plan,
was unlikely to hold Sharon’s feet to the fire at their April 11
summit.

(AP): Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel’s
plan to expand Maaleh Adumim was “at odds with American policy” and
could threaten peace with the Palestinians.

An Israeli defense official recently acknowledged that the expansion
plan was liable to be bogged down for years by legal challenges. He
also said, without elaborating, that six months ago, the United
States halted joint work with Israel on demarcation of existing
settlements’ lines.

I guess “refraining from support” and being “at odds with” is close to “opposing” the new settlement plans.

He said aides had told the pope that thousands of young people were in St. Peter’s Square on Friday evening. Navarro-Valls said the pope appeared to be referring to them when he seemed to say: ”’I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you.”’