Armies of Liberation

from Jafariya News the largest Shia news website in the world.

Sayyed Assam Al-Imad, Chief of Supreme Shiia Council in Yemen, has revealed to Iranian news agency IRNA the crimes that were committed against Shiias in the country and the Yemeni government-imposed complete media darkness over this.

According to Sayyed Al-Imad, elements of ousted Saddam regime that fled from Iraq are working in the Yemeni military, and that they began their work as military advisors in the army one year back.

He added that these military men advised Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to kill Shiias in the country as did Saddam in Iraq. He said the Yemeni government acting upon this advice issued orders to tear and burn all Shiia books including Nahj-ol Balagha – a compilation of sermons and sayings of holy Prophet (p)’s cousin and son-in-law and caliph of Muslims Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (p) – and As-Sahifah As-Sajjadiyah – a collection of supplications of holy Prophet (p)’s fourth infallible descendant Al-Imam Ali bin Al-Hussein Zain-ol Abideen (p) which is also known as Psalms of Aal-i-Muhammad (p).

Then they go on to quote extensively my World Press.org article, (Yemen 11) without using my name. It was funny I started reading and thinking : oh good somebody else is finally figuring it out. Then I realize its me. So I sent them Yemen 12 and all the footnotes for both. And good regards from the American conservatives. Update: They published the footnotes as a letter to the editor. Good. I want somebody bigger than me to steal the story. Im very happy they did that.

Hopefully they’ll get up to speed on the al-Qaeda sponsored Ba’athist training camps in Yemen for terrorists to back to Iraq and target Shia civilians and US troops.

Perfect together: Yemen and North Korea are to sign a memo of understanding to improve trade between the two countries.

I figured I’d put this here and hope somebody will steal it and use it. Maybe one of those lefty journalists. I have to update it though and include the newest research. But anyone who “borrows” this list has to know that the Yemenis are a nice people who want a real democracy not that pathetic shell that covers up the tyranny now.

islamists: http://www.iric.org/f3t5.asp

144 terrorist bank accounts: http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2005/vol2/html/42395.htm

reformer arrested: http://www.yobserver.com/news_6746.php
much more, click here (Read on …)

Update: My response to the article was published by the Yemen Times here. I appreciate the opportunity they gave me to reply.

Update 2: Apparently the article was snuck past the editors. The Yemen Times published a beautiful article about my journalistic standards with an apology and its here.

Original post: Full page article trashing me in the Yemen Times. This is the headline: Jane Novak a docile pupil of a monkey monk

This is the article that irked the regime at Front Page, also about six other places. This I think is the most complete version. )

I already got the first message, from Robert at Jihad Watch:
“Yes, this is bigger than anything I’ve seen for awhile. Congratulations!”

More BS propaganda from the King of Spin:

Just when former Amb Hasani starts talking about al-Qaeda in the top leadership of Yemeni government and security forces, just as the Iraqi generals hired by the Yemeni military come to light, just as intelligence reports surface of Yemeni al-Qaeda sponsored training camps for Ba’athists to go fight our guys in Iraq, Saleh pulls out these three Iraqi guys. Who were in jail already for two years. Now he’s going to try them (and convict them) and call it cooperation in the WOT.

While all the other Saddam people in Yemen continue their work.

WT: Sanaa, Yemen, May. 29 (UPI) — Yemeni judicial sources said Sunday three Iraqi intelligence officers from the former Saddam Hussein regime are to be tried in a terrorism court.

A court official said the three men will be tried next week on charges of involvement in plotting to blow up the American and British embassies in Sanaa.

On condition of anonymity, he said the former intelligence officers were accused of forming “an armed gang aimed at destabilizing the security of the country and planning terrorism acts against foreign targets.”

The source said Yemeni authorities arrested the three Iraqis two years ago and found plans for their attacks, official documents issued by the former Iraqi regime and explosives.

The official did not say why the suspects had been held without trial for the past two years.

In theory, Saleh pardoned the al-Houthi rebels. These two clerics were charged with not fighting with them but “affiliation” to them. One recieved the death penalty, the other eight years in jail. These guys lawyers quit the case to protest the fact that they weren’t allowed access to the “evidence.”

So Saleh is going to kill him using the tools of the state, and back off the world by calling them linked to Iran and fabricating evidence. The best of all red herrings for the west is Iran. But there’s no actual evidence: no available documents, no wire taps, no money trail. He just says “Iran” and the world swallows it. This is the same court that sentenced the judge Lugman to 10 years in jail for denouncing the violence in Sa’ada. That they called “sedition.” Yemeni human rights groups and his lawyers have all immediately denounced this death penalty verdict as politically motivated and unjust. I’ll take their assesment over Saleh’s and his cronies anyday.

Saleh is the head of the judiciary and its his personal tool. The state is the enemy of the people, especially people who criticize it. I don’t know how the people inside Yemen stay rational in the face of such infuriating injustice.

YO: A preacher has received the death sentence and another been given an eight-year jail term for collaborating with the rebel leader Hussein Al-Houthi, killed last year, and maintaining contacts with a foreign country.

more press reports below, the world takes Saleh at his word, the word of a tyrant, a thief, a murderer: (Read on …)

I need this here: Study Guides

PM, al-bab, rescue, gov.uk

The Eritrean Center for Strategic Studies points out some kind of web in this 2002 report: The trio states of Sana’a axis, namely Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen, maintain strong ties, one way on another, with terrorism, either through state terrorism or by providing all sorts of support to the elements that have strong connections with Al-Qa’ida organization led by Osama Bin Ladin.

So I have to check this out later and now its only a link dump. Highlights on the Yemen section:

The Yemeni regime pretends that it combats terrorism, hypocritically acts as the town crier calling on its Yemeni terrorists to “announce repentance, abandon evildoing” on the one hand, and sheltering, training, arming and supporting Eritrean terrorist element on the other.

The tribal base (Hashed), the tribal branch (Senhan) and the village (Al-Ahmer) — this is the triangle of Hashed-Senhan-Al-Ahmer which has an iron grip on the political, military, security and economic situation in Yemen, through the “General Popular Conference” led by the head of the state, General Ali Abdella Salih, and the “Yemeni Alliance for Reform” (Al-Islah party) chaired by Sheik Abdella Bin Hussein Al-Ahmer.

Both domestic and external Yemeni events for several years now indicate that the ruling “General Popular Conference” party in Sana’a had been penetrated by the Al-Qa’ida organization. As a proof, the member of the Central Committee for the party of President Ali Abdella Salih and the head of the political security apparatus, Abdul Salam Ali Abdul-Rahman had been identified by both the Arab and western intelligence circles to be an active member of Al-Qa’ida organization, implicated in various terrorist operations before his capture and arrest in September 2002.

by some new mysterious newspaper. YT:

The above-mentioned newspaper had published on its back page a host of unseemly accusations against honor and conduct of the journalist Hujaira, chairwoman of Yemeni Female Media Forum.

The journalists gathered at the headquarters of the YJS have emphasized their rejection and denunciation of those means targeting bearers of free and honest pens, confirming their limitless solidarity with journalist Hujaira.

Targeting her honor? That’s nasty. Especially, I think, in Yemen. It’s not New York. There seems to be no limits to the lows that the sleezy dirtbag Yemeni government will go to in targeting the couragous and upstanding journalists there. (Read on …)

Adding some detail to the 5/8 post, Where have all the murdering bastards gone?

Sanaa, 25 May (AKI) - Yemen is home to training camps for exiled members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, reports the Iranian agency Mehr, citing high-ranking sources from the Yemeni government. One government member confirmed that the camps are run by subversive elements from Yemen’s secret services. Several former Iraqi troops sought refuge in the Arab country after the fall of Saddam, writes Mehr, where they obtained political and financial support.

The revelations have been partly confirmed by the former Yemeni ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdullah al-Hasani, who recently requested political asylum in London. A former commander of Yemen’s navy, al-Hasani has already talked about many officers from the army, police and secret services being members of groups linked to al-Qaeda, the terror network headed by Osama bin Laden.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the al-Qaeda supporters in our security forces and the Republican Guard have also provided political support and military training to the Iraqi Baathists,” al-Hasani told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Watan.

Yemen is a key partner in the “war on terror” and is trying to rid itself of its reputation as a haven for Islamic militants, but it is also a very poor, tribal society, where the government struggles to maintain control over all its territory. It is also trying to quell a rebellion by Shiites in the north of the country. (no)

So regarding these training camps, where do the graduates go? Back to Iraq? To target our troops and Iraqi kids?

I’m sorry. I can’t believe it. I can’t keep up with the propaganda spin. I’m dizzy. “However, (Saleh) laid down the condition that the leaders and their followers repent their racist thoughts.” YO They should repent? their racist thoughts?

Also, a visit to Yemen from the North Korean Foreign Trade Minister? I thought the only thing North Korea had to trade was illegal weapons. Time to buy some more scuds from Kim Jung Il? Ansar al-Sunna running low on morters? al-Qaeda in Gaza needing a restock? Used up all the bombs in Sa’ada? (In 2002, the US intercepted a Yemeni ship containing North Korean scud missiles, conventional warheads, and nitric acid.)

update; an older article on the murder of the socialist leader (link dump): Jarallah immediately blasted the verdict as unfair, saying the killing was part of a “holy war” against apostates and infidels. “I killed a man who did not want Islamic law to be in use,”

sorry, the links at al-Sahwa expire and I’m going to need this article in the future:

21/5/2005

Huge blast rocks YSP headquarters in Hodiedah

Al-Sahwa net- A massive explosion on Saturday rocked the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) headquarters in Hodiedah city, well-informed sources reported. (Read on …)

In 2004, the US Treasury designated Zindani as a “Major Terrorist” for his active support of al-Qaeda. Zindani, according to the US, influences and supports “many terrorist causes.” He is also noted as a contact for Ansar al-Islam, the terrorist group which contains the faction Ansar al-Sunna operating in Iraq. Ansar al-Sunna has claimed responsibility for the beheading of 12 Nepalese hostages and for the explosion at a US military base in Mosel, Iraq which resulted in the deaths of 22 people with 60 more injured.

(Sa’ada before the jihad.)

Sa’ada After

YT: “Government and security forces would assault villages looking for “Houthi” suspects and demanded that all males are to come out and give themselves up. Because of the excess and harsh treatment of those who are apprehended, all the males vacated the villages, even though most of them have nothing to do with the “Houthis” or the “Faithful Youth” Movement of the late Hussein Badr Eddine Al-Houthi.

YT: “The prisons are packed in Sa’ada with hundreds - some say thousands of suspected “Houthis”, most of whom do not have any clear charges against them or even have any links with the “Houthis”. Some just happen to be from the same village or neighborhood, where there might have been one or two “Faithful Youth” members, or are just relatives of a suspected “Houthi””

YT: When these “rebels” were overwhelmed by the Government security and military forces, they were killed and their bodies were burned or dragged on official and unofficial vehicles around the city.” Eyewitness accounts tally 19 bodies burned and no count could be obtained on the dragged bodies.

US State Dept

In 2003, U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) agents in New York conducted an investigation of a company suspected of being involved in the smuggling and distribution of pseudoephedrine. The investigation disclosed that employees at the business were sending a large number of negotiable checks to Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa. Analysis of the documents seized as a result of search warrants and bank records revealed that the suspects had also wire transferred money to an individual with suspected ties to the al-Qaida organization. ICE agents also initiated an investigation pursuant to an outbound seizure of suspected hawala-generated funds seized en route to Yemen, concealed in jars of honey. The investigation disclosed that the courier and the reputed owner/broker of the funds were actively involved in a hawala network.

This is President Saleh’s website, where only one person bothered to post anything to the forum in two years. If you don’t have the patience to wait 15 minutes for it to load, this is the intro to the webpage:

In 1978, no one wanted to be President of the Arab Republic of Yemen. International diplomats bet he won’t last a week.
HE PROVED THEM WRONG.

big time. Since the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990, there was a presidental election in 1998. Saleh won a five year term with 96% of the vote. The term was extended to seven years. 2006 is the next election.

NM: “The country is a presidential republic where despite democratic structures there is no fair chance for the opposition.”

19/5/2005 Opposition wants Saleh out of presidential race
Al-Sahwa net- The opposition parties would contest the Yemeni presidential elections slated for next year only if President Salah is out of the presidential race, said Mohammed Qhatan, the Islah political department chairman.

Addressing a political seminar, titled “Yemen after 15 years of democracy” Al-Jazeerah center for human rights studies held Wednesday in memory of the 15th anniversary of Yemeni re-unification, Qahatan said, “Opposition parties would strongly participate in the forthcoming presidential elections in case the PGC adopted sound democratic approach. Indeed, it’s feasible to nominate a person, who assumed power for 30 years, for the presidency then ask the opposition parties to get involved in the electoral process”.

(Read on …)

Main headlines

- Battles continue in Saada

or associated with the Jooooooows, the Kuwaitis, or the Bahrainis. For a while it was Hezbollah, like just to say Iran would be enough to condemn this guy forever. This week its monarchist. But sorry, he’s not a monarchist either. (Read on …)

YT: After 11 years since that tragic showdown, no balance of power, no hope of political relief from a quasi totalitarian order, with a lot of lip service to democratic political ideals and even contempt for our long cherished values. The future has never been more uncertain than it is now, as we are unable to truly predict what is in store for the nation, when the government has no clear definitive ideas itself of where we are going and when will the interests of the people of Yemen take precedence above all interests?

(2003)
thats odd, they trash all the other leaders around the region, but Saleh they praise.

And offer him a deal. These were the conditions:
-withdraw from internatinal agreements re the WOT
-stop hunting al-Qaeda
-no foreign forces inYemen
-terminate military cooperation with the US
-don’t extradite Muslims
-”Quoranic” schools and charities left alone
-control the instiutions of moral and ethical pervesions
-foreigners must abide by customs and traditions

al-Qeada has taken “this strategic decision after deep study and to achieve legal goals represented by the conditions.” At the same time, it praised the stands of the president, describing him as the only Arab and Muslim leader who is not an agent for the West or the East

Then Hittar said some items were non-negotiable, but some were. The al-Qaeda activity against Western interests has calmed down since then, and the state sponsored jihad against the socialists, reformers, secularists, and Shiites has heated up.

via Dan Darling, full article to follow (Read on …)

Since the issuance of this article by the Yemen Times, al-Wazeer has been released. The kidnappers have not been sought, much less apprehended, by Yemeni authorities.

YT: The Popular Forces Unionist Party (PFUP), held the security authorities accountable for the release of Nabil al-Wazeer, one of the relatives of Ibrahim al-Wazeer, president of the party who has just returned from abroad.

(Read on …)

Just laying the groundwork, the propaganda :

However, the establishment of Al-Haq and the Public Powers Union parties was against the constitution, which prohibits establishing any parties based on religious or sectarian ideologies. The two aforementioned parties proved they were established on discriminative regional and sectarian bases as all their founders and members restricted to certain families, and both parties’ policies are based on prohibited divisive ideologies. The latest events of Saada have proved the two parties have established military wings and have supported the rebel, Hussein Al-Hothi, and his father, Badr Al-Deen Al-Hothi.

This newspaper uncovered the two parties’ conspiracy six months before the authorities did, mentioning as well that the establishment of the two parties was contrary to the constitution. We believe it is time now to take firm action and disband these parties, along with any other parties that are based on religious or racist thought. The constitution decrees Yemeni a Muslim nation and no political party should be permitted to exploit its faith by claiming a religious identity.

Watch as these parties calling for democratic reform are soon attacked while the weapons supplier to Ansar al-Islam (bomber of US troops and Iraqi kids) and the main buddy of bin Laden, Zindani walks free and unmolested in Yemen as a leader in the Islah party. IFP The next step in the assault on the Zaidi people will use the law as a weapon against these parties.

2002: In 2002, when then the idea was circulated inYemen for “strikes against US interests” in retaliation for US support of Israel, the parties reacted: the al-Haq party opposed this slogan and the concept. Al-Haq and the PFU instead called for a boycott of American products. Islah, in a statement issued by Zindani, on the other hand, urged the prompt opening of training camps to train Yemenis to go fight in Palestine.

That Islah party really should split in two: the actual reformers and the al-Qaeda.

Rantburg:

Many people believe that Yemeni military officers bear responsibility for the distribution of weapons in the country. Arms can flow legally into Yemen for the legitimate purpose of supplying the army.

Yemen is noted by Israeli intelligence as one of the chief suppliers of weapons to Palestinian insurgents in Gaza. Additionally, Yemen, they contend, also supplies extra weapons and explosives to Palestinian Authority officers. “The weapons are smuggled by private gangs but with full knowledge of the authorities of these countries,” an Israeli military source said. “There’s no secret here.” Prince Mohammed bin Nasser bin Abdul-Aziz, said in 2003 that Saudi authorities captured Yemeni arms smugglers “on an hourly basis.” The Jamestown Organization reports, “Yemen will likely remain a potential supply source for weapons to interested parties for some time to come, including al-Qaeda.”

1994
With powerful bases in northern and southern Yemen, the Islamists are likely to become the major political force in Yemeni politics. This has prompted fear by Sa’udia and some Gulf states. The Islah party is known to have contacts with Usama Ben-Laden, the Sa’udi millionaire Islamist, now living in exile in Sudan.

Since achieving military victory, the Islamists are now poised to incorporate their agenda in the makeup of the post-war Yemen. The spiritual leader of the Al­Islah party (Islamist), Shaikh Abdul-Majid Zindani. is also a member of the Yemeni Presidential Council.

2002: Mr. Zindani also is a friend and mentor to another Bucailleism devotee of Yemeni descent: Osama bin Laden. The world’s most wanted man has regularly sought Mr. Zindani’s guidance on whether planned terrorist actions are in accord with Islam, says Yossef Bodansky, biographer of Mr. bin Laden and staff director of a U.S. congressional task force on terrorism. “Zindani is one of the people closest to bin Laden,” says Mr. Bodansky, who attributes the book’s findings to interviews with various intelligence agencies, current and former terrorists and others.

Mr. Zindani, who stepped down as secretary general of the Commission on Scientific Signs in 1995, is now a leading figure in a Yemeni opposition party that advocates an Islamic state.

2004: The Treasury Department today announced that Shaykh Abd-al-Majid AL-ZINDANI, a loyalist to Usama bin Laden and supporter of al-Qaeda, has been designated by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the authority of Executive Order 13224 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His name will be submitted to the UN Security Council’s 1267 Committee’s consolidated list because of his support to bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

“With this action, the international community’s drumbeat against terrorist financiers continues to grow louder and the financial noose around al-Qaeda continues to grow tighter,” said Juan Zarate, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime.

The U.S. has credible evidence that AL-ZINDANI, a Yemeni national, supports designated terrorists and terrorist organizations.

AL-ZINDANI has a long history of working with bin Laden, notably serving as one of his spiritual leaders. In this leadership capacity, he has been able to influence and support many terrorist causes, including actively recruiting for al-Qaeda training camps. Most recently, he played a key role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda and other terrorists.

AL-ZINDANI also served as a contact for Ansar al-Islam (Al), a Kurdish-based terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda, which is included in the UN 1267 sanctions Committee list.

AL-ZINDANI is the founder and leader of the Al Iman University in Sanaa, Yemen, which has over 5,000 enrollees. Al Iman students are suspected of being responsible, and were arrested, for recent terrorist attacks, including the assassination of three American missionaries and the assassination of the number two leader for the Yemeni Socialist party, Jarallah Omar. Notably, John Walker Lindh was also a student at Al Iman University before he joined the Taliban.

2005: remains a prominent business man and political leader in Yemen

Update: Kohlman: In the aftermath of the Soviet-Afghan jihad, Zindani encouraged refugee Arab-Afghan fighters loyal to al Qaeda to resettle and continue their training in the mountainous regions of Yemen. There he started his own religious university, the very same institution where future American Taliban John Walker Lindh was to study before traveling on to Pakistan. Moreover, in 1994, according to a Jordanian criminal indictment, Shaykh az-Zindani gave $10,000 on behalf of Osama bin Laden to help finance a radical Islamic terrorist cell in Jordan that committed several fatal bombings.

Per Stefania
The Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran ( SMCCDI ) website is back online SMCCDI.

Good job Stefania.

MCN: Yemeni tribesmen seized six drug traffickers as they tried to smuggle four tons of drugs into Saudi Arabia, reports said Thursday. (Read on …)

I never thought I would agree with an Iranian Mullah but I have to agree with this:

Montazeri, one of Iran’s highest ranking theologians, believes “the new wave of attacks against the Shiite minority in Yemen is a consequence of the increased presence of Wahabis in the leadership of the country.” ——— The (Yemeni) Shiite rebels are not linked to al-Qaeda however, as they are reported to detest al-Qaeda more than they hate the Yemeni state.

It sounds more legit coming from Sistani: ‘brutal massacres’ by the (Yemeni) Government and a ‘sort of genocide of the Shia’a’.

(Yemen 11) Ayatollah Sistani and the War in Yemen at World Press. org

Now if I recall correctly, when we had that picture posted here, Gordon won the caption contest with: “Your client is guilty, can’t you see, he’s in jail!”

attack the opposition and reform minded, democracy advocates like the jounalist/reformer Abdul Mohsin.

17/5/2005 PFU blames authorities for assault on its premises:

AL-Sahwa net-The popular Forces’ Union (PFU) party blamed Yemeni authorities for trespassing on its headquarters and robbing the computer sets belonging to its mouthpiece, “Al-Shoura” newspaper (al-Khaiwani’s paper). A statement, issued by the PFU and a copy of which was obtained by Al-Sahwa net, said that the assault coincided with President Saleh’s strong-worded attack on the party.

It also recalled the adduction of Nabeel Al-Wazeer, member of the party’s secretariat general, and the threats of outlawing the party.

The PFU statement urged the political parties and the non-governmental organizations to “firmly stand against such violations, and to support the democratic option as a precondition for building the country’s future and maintaining its security and stability”. During his meeting with Yemeni clerics last Saturday, President Saleh accused the PFU and Al-Haq parties of plotting to lead a coup d` `etat against what he termed as “the revolution and the republican system”.

All the reformers and opposition are getting harrassed, threatened and arrested in advance of the election.
Did I mention that Salah won 96% of the vote in 1999?

(Read on …)

A reference on the officially sanctioned and thriving gun running trade in Yemen:

MENLIsraeli military intelligence sources said Egypt, Libya and Yemen have become the leading suppliers of weapons to insurgency groups in the Gaza Strip. The sources said the three Arab League states also supply Palestinian Authority officers with extra weapons and explosives.

“The weapons are smuggled by private gangs but with full knowledge of the authorities of these countries,” a military source said. “There’s no secret here.”

The sources said arms dealers purchase AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket and missile components, ammunition and explosives in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. From these countries, the supplies are shipped to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and then smuggled over the border into the Gaza Strip or Israel.

And not just to the Palestinians either.

related: bin Laden linked al-Qaeda in Gaza

Misc Links: PBS, MIPT, North Korean scuds, khat , drugs, honey

A visit from the North Korean Foreign Trade Minister? I thought the only thing North Korea had to trade was illegal weapons.

Consider the source: Saleh, the king of propaganda.

What follows is pure specuation, unlike everything else I’ve written is well documented, but I have to say I’m highly skeptical of this story: Yemeni Officials on Terrorist Hit List and Yemen says Qaeda suspects planned to kill officials. IFPBS?

If Saleh want to crack down on Terrorism, he could arrest Zandani and close the 143 known al-Qaeda bank account as requested by the UN. (see post immediately below.)

al-sahwa, 16/5/2005 : For this part, Abdul Aziz Al-Samawi, a lawyer for the prime suspect, Anwar Jilani, denied all such charges brought against his client . “ Those ( the charges) are only security obsessions usually fabricated by Arab security services,” he argued. “The suspects’ age and the size of their bodies are enough to disprove the prosecution’s allegations,” remarked.

Its great PR for Saleh though, round up a few teen-agers just as he’s about to make his next move against the Zaidis. Make the West think he’s helping in the WOT just as he starts targeting the Zaidi parties and papers. Once I do more research, I’ll update this post. But I dont see why the grown ups in al-Qaeda would target their very good buddies in the Yemeni govt and disrupt the web of money and corruption that is functioning so well for them unless its a few low level stooges meant to deflect attention.

Update: Cao got it two days ago: The timing of this seems extremely bizarre. Is the corrupt Yemeni government putting on a show for the sake of Americans….

Update: again I forgot to say this article was also published in Yemen in Arabic by that editor al-Khaiwani we made the petition for. For the regular readers this is a/k/a Yemen 12. (also at BNNand Townhall in the foreign policy section and the national security section. Also at Middle East Transparent, Front Page Magazine, Religion Journal. Then again at Townhall, this time in the email alert. It was fun getting myown article . Also at World Press.org This is why its good not to get paid: better distribution. )

Yemen: al-Qaeda in Broad Daylight

So did you hear the one about Yemen? They are “reforming” the press law. The proposed law now includes the death penalty for journalists. How about this one? To unify the country, the government is confiscating Shia religious material. How about this? This ally in the War on Terror is perpetuating an al-Qaeda jihad.

Recent public statements about Yemen paint a dire picture. Ayatollah al-Sistani and the religious establishment in Najaf, Iraq said there is a “brutal massacre” of Shiites going on. The defecting Yemeni Ambassador has stated that high ranking members of the Yemeni government and military are affiliated with al-Qaeda. Putting together the massacre with the al-Qaeda, it’s like another 9/11 unfolding slowly in the mountains and cities of Yemen.

The Yemeni Ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdullah al-Hasani, is attempting to defect to the UK. He says that members of Al-Qaeda are in the highest ranks of Yemen’s military and security forces. Al-Hasani says that it is very likely that President Ali Abdullah Saleh “knew in advance of the Cole explosion” which killed 17 US servicemen. Indeed, Freedom House in 2003 reported that Saleh refused to even investigate the Cole bombing until the US threatened military action. Also in 2003, al-Qaeda praised President Saleh as the only Arab and Muslim leader who is not an agent for the West or the East.
(Read on …)

House of David:

Yemen is divided between the self-styled “normative” sort of Muslim - i.e. radicalising Sunnis - and a faction of the other sort who are usually first to die when the former sort take charge. Yemen’s minority Muslims, as far as I can tell, are a remnant from the early days of Shi’ism: the Jarudiyya sect of Zaydis….

Zaydi law shares with the Hanafi branch of Sunnism a high respect for al-Baqir and adherence to the legal precepts of Kufa as of the late Umayyad era. Also, their support for rebellion, if domesticated, would allow for a more democratic form of politics than is traditional to more monarchical forms of Shi’ism such as, e.g., the ‘Abbasids (if you count them) and Fatimids.

The Zaydis ended up in Yemen and there ran an Imamate, a sort of caliphate, until a revolution upended their rule in the 1960s. Apparently the Zaydis are now considered “un-Islamic” and slated for destruction.

This would be a shame for those who prefer their Islam pluralistic. It would be tragic for historians; because the Zaydis probably have an extensive and ancient literature, mostly independent of other Shi’a and Sunni movements, and I doubt it’s all been published yet.

He goes into a lot more detail at his full post. (Read on …)

Now its a coup attempt? Man, can this guy spin murder and turn around the whole jihad to blame it on the victims. Yemeni President Saleh:

He said those involved in the rebellion were “militias,” the “armed wing of the Al-Haq and Union of Popular Forces parties,” a reference to two Zaidi-led Islamist opposition parties.

It was a few hundred guys and an old man in the mountains. Now its the parties????????? Did I tell you? I told you targeting the civic leaders was coming next after the slaughter of the villagers, trashing the libraries, closing the schools, dragging the burnt bodies through the streets, the mass arrests, and so one. (Read on …)

There’s a whole thing also with the students:

On the other hand, the National Authority for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms (HOOD) denounced such illegal practices by security forces, which hindered the pace of the demonstration and prevented different media means from covering the event. It also strongly denounced beating and attacking students who are struggling for their rights.

HOOD condemned the arbitrary procedures imposed on Abdurrahman al-Mauz’e (aka the dental student) concerning his 1-year suspension for writing journalistic articles one year ago.

Norwegian Diplomat Kidnapped and Killed This is from the year 2000, and I’m throwing it here for future reference: (Read on …)

Update: Ok Now it makes sense. He’s a reformer.

Two Yemeni writers yesterday announced they have established a pro-democratic reform movement called “Leave” that calls for a peaceful change of government.

A security official said one of the founders had been arrested on drunk driving charges. Abdul Rahim Mohammed Seif Mohsen and Rashad Salem Ali described “Leave” as a peaceful, nonpartisan, independent popular movement.

“It’s a movement that calls for comprehensive political reforms in the country through a peaceful change of the existing regime,” they said in a statement. They said the movement asks the government to: “Leave power for the sake of the people’s best interests.”

The statement urged Yemenis to demand constitutional changes that guarantee democracy and freedom, saying the changes should be realized through local and presidential elections planned for next year.

A security official said Mohsen was arrested on Wednesday after being stopped on a Sana’a street for a traffic violation. The policeman discovered that Mohsen was drunk and arrested him, the official said on condition of anonymity. Ali said the charges had been “fabricated.”

Original Post:

There’s lots of Houdinis in Yemen.

Al-Sahwa net, 5/12/05 The Political Security Organization (PSO) on Thursday denied its elements had arrested Abdul Rahim Mohsen, a press writer, who mysteriously disappeared (poof) on Wednesday.

“We didn’t detain Mohsen and the PSO has nothing to do with his disappearance,” a PSO security source told Al-Sahwa net.

On the other hand, Hamadi Al-Bukari, member of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate’s (YJS) board, unveiled Mohsen was still being held at the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) prison without any charges being leveled against him.

Bukari, who visited Mohsen in captivity, affirmed elements working for the CID Wednesday rounded up the writer while strolling in Al-Adl street. He quoted security at that department as confirming Mohsen’s arrest had nothing to do with his opinion pieces.

If not insulting the president, what then, he had pamphlets? Did he chant something? Denounce the violence?

And how long is he going to be in jail before they even fabricate some charges against him?

Did I mention that the new proposed “reformed” press law falls under the penal code, thus can include the death penalty for journalists?

Update: He speaks to the YT:

“While I was driving my car at 5 pm last Thursday in al-Asbahi zone to take part in a condolence service at the house of a friend of mine, three armed men came suddenly and took me to the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s prison with no reason except that they are given instructions to capture me.”

He added that his captors attempted to invent charges that are groundless and far from reality against him, and they threw a wine bottle into his car and accused him of being a drunkard.

related: American Journalism Review

Saleh Pardons al-Houthi (Who is going to pardon Saleh?)

Can’t find him, can’t kill him, so pardon him. There’s no actual charges on al-Houthi beyond chanting slogans. Maybe it was the interview al-Houthi gave where he said the army was using gas against the people in Sa’ada and running over their bodies with tanks. Maybe it was Sistani and the Ambassador making a racket in the press.

So what does this mean:
Stop bombing peoples houses?
Release the thousands of people who were rounded up arbitrarily and are held without charges?
Reopen the religious schools?
Restock the religous libraries that were trashed?
Stop threatening sermon speakers in mosques?
Is this another its officially over but not really over ploy?
And the big question: for how long?

SANAA, May 12 (al-Reuters) - Yemen’s president has pardoned a leader of a rebellion in which more than 170 people (?) have been killed in the past two months, a state run Web site said on Thursday. (Read on …)

Naser Hamoud Naji, mother, Saada, Nishour Valley

I have eight sons and daughters and I am pregnant. The army killed my husband’s brother and injured my husband in his arm. The soldiers inspected our house and they were saying very bad words to us, they scared my children. We fled from our houses to Nishour Mountain to get shelter. The war planes bombed the area and destroyed our house and burned our farm.

Aisha Ahmed, 14 years, female, Saada

I am in the ninth grade . I was in school when they started shooting. I saw the girls of 7 to 15 years student were crying because they were frightened, scared. The teachers called the fathers to come and get their daughter from the school, but they could not because of fire shooting. Even the school was targeted by tanks.

Mohammed Hussain, mother

We are starving and thirsty because we can not get out of our houses, every one who gets out of the house will be killed. Our neighbor’s house was demolished by a missile. Two families were in the house. All of them were killed.

This is The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace latest Arab Reform Bulletin

Shiites in the Arab World
Egypt: Constitution Amended, Demands for Reform Spread
Iraq: New Cabinet and Constitutional Committee
Palestine: Municipal Elections Ongoing
Lebanon: Legislative Elections
Saudi Arabia: Municipal Elections End
Kuwait: Women’s Vote on Hold
Bahrain: Legal Reform
Qatar: New Associations Law
Tunisia: Human Rights Developments
Algeria: Amnesty for Human Rights Abuses
Upcoming Political Events
Views from the Arab Media

The Arabic edition of this issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin will be available by May 25 at http://www.alwatan.com.kw

Update: So Carnegie’s editor-in-chief says the bulletin is only about political reform.

So there is nothing to say about Yemen. My apologies to Carnegie for assuming it was an oversight.

She’d consider an article from me about Yemeni reform. Too bad I don’t write fiction.

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies on the other hand is current with the Ambassadors story but not Sa’ada.