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.

YO: Debate heats up over rising violence among youth
By Zaid Al-Alaya’a
Apr 16, 2005, 15:14

SANA’A - A heated debate took place at Al-Afif Cultural Foundation last Monday regarding the reasons behind the rise of violence among youth. The two participants in the debate were Judge Hamoud Al-Hitar, the head of the Theological Dialogue Committee, and respected human rights lawyer Mohammed Naji Allaw, the head of the Human Rights Defense Committee.

Both figures are known for their radically different profiles and views—Al-Hitar, for his talks with imprisoned extremists in a bid to have them reform and gain freedom, is a voice that is often heard. Allaw, known more for not being allowed to speak to the prisoners he defends, is effectively a voice that is often silenced.

Sparks flew when the two men met.

Judge Al-Hitar talked about how Yemeni society has always a called for peace, and how the majority of people in Yemen hate and condemn violence of all types. From teenage rebellion to religious miseducation, he spoke about what he believes causes violence among youths to appear.

“Yemen has done a detailed and thorough study of all acts of terrorism in Yemen and the result and findings were that every act of terror has an ideology to stand on and act accordingly. The belief could be religious—Christian or Islamic—political, social or anything. But any type of idea can only be dealt with by an idea. As they say, diamond cuts diamond. Any kind of ideological dispute can only be treated with dialogue,” he said.

“This strategy of dialogue has proved effective, and there are a lot of verses in the Holy Quran about different types of dialogue. For instance between God and the angels, prophets and their people, and others. It has been proven throughout history that intellectual dispute cannot be settled by force, as force only makes it worse and stronger.”

Al-Hitar said, “In our dialogue with these people, either Al-Hothi followers or those belonging to Al-Qaeda, to detect the reasons of their belief and extremism, we found that these people know by heart some verses of the Holy Quran and Hadith of the Prophet, but they don’t know the rest. They have been taught some teachings that are not from the real Islam and have got nothing to do with Islam. They judge things and explain Quranic verses according to their whims and moods.”

“Many of these young people were dictated to and filled up with information during the war in Afghanistan against the USSR. We are all aware that a lot of Yemenis went there to fight. Some of the religious leaders went to get personal gains by Islam and the notions that they spread,” said Al-Hitar in an oblique reference to Osama Bin Laden. The judge has previously claimed to be the subject of a death fatwa issued by the Al-Qaeda leader.

To Al-Hitar, one of the main reasons behind the violence of these young people is the policy of the European countries and the USA in dealing with Islamic causes, particularly Palestine.

“All the notions that these people have are very far from all the basic teachings of Islam, which is the religion of peace and security,” he said, likening Islam to Yemen, the country of peace and security.

In his rebuttal in the loosely-structured debate, Mohammed Naji Allaw started by talking about the dialogue strategy. He said, “People haven’t agreed on the results and fruits of this dialogue. Some say it’s good some say it’s a failure as it’s done in the cells of prisons.” He mentioned a popular twist on the name of the Theological Dialogue Committee, which is referred to by some as the committee of dialogue in prison cells.

Allaw agreed with Al-Hitar on some of the reasons for violence, but said, “Describing the reasons for violence is easy. We need to talk about solving and finding solutions for these reasons.”

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

“I don’t think that the dialogue that judge Al-Hitar is doing is a future solution for these people,” said Allaw. “It’s true that this experience is important, but it lacks several things and it’s also contradictory in nature. The schools that judge Al-Hitar talked about that the young people went to… are now considered disbelieving, but once they were considered believers by the governments.”

“One more thing that we have to mention with regard to the nature of the investigations that are done into these people in the political security prisons is that the torture they are being subjected to is shown and proven. The least type of torture is that they are being arrested without evidence. No visits are allowed either by lawyers or their families, and most of the time they know nothing about their whereabouts,” said Allaw.

“Another thing is that all the rights of these prisoners were first violated by officials who have no respect for human beings. I myself don’t believe in violence as a solution for any kind of problem.”

“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,” he said.

To Allaw, the ultimate problem in Yemeni society in particular and the Arab world in general is the absence of values and morality. “They are there, but they are not applied,” said the lawyer.

Al-Hitar defended the dialogue committee when the floor was opened to questions from the audience. When asked how prisoners are treated, he said, “In the committee’s reports we always recommend the release of those who have committed no crimes and nothing was proven against them and they were arrested for no reason. We also ask for free trials for all prisoners applying the international standard of justice, that every defendant is innocent until proven guilty.”

Al-Hitar said there were 420 prisoners accused of supporting or being members of Al-Qaeda; 364 were released and the rest were referred to court. “With regard to Al-Hothi’s followers, we talked with 355 and we reached a certain agreement with some of them and we hope for more and a lot among them will be released,” he added.

When he was asked why dialogue was done in cells, he said, “The circumstances forced us to do that because we didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t convince the authorities to change the place of dialogue out of fear of unexpected things happening.”

Allaw concluded by saying, “Violence is not spread and done among youth, it’s done by all ages. Badruddin Al-Hothi is 82 years old. Violence is continuing because we Muslims live between two jurisprudences: the jurisprudence of justification and the jurisprudence of destruction. Destruction is the acts that happen in the name of jihad, which don’t have any other political belief or ideology but to destroy. Justification is shown in the dialogue of the cells that we have now.”

“I respect judge Al-Hitar, who is betting his name and is going into a severe war with people who are not aware of human rights—those from political security who know only the language of guns and of torture. That’s why violence will continue until the jurisprudence of guns is over,” he said.

“There are some units in the government that are making the violence and feeding it,” said Allaw. “The jurisdictional system is ruled by soldiers. I feel sorry for my colleague Al-Hitar in being involved in this, and I wish him a reward from God for all his efforts.”

“This dialogue he is doing has to be done in public so as to persuade the public of what we are doing. I also stress and I am determined that the main reason behind violence is political corruption, and political repression and oppression.”