Armies of Liberation

Lafif Lakhdar has dedicated his entire life to defend the oppressed and the dispossessed; he has been a tireless activist for the emancipation and freedom of people in the large Arab world. He argued for a modern Islam where women are equal to men and non-Muslims to Muslims. He has always believed that human beings, if liberated from obscurantism, tyranny, and ignorance, are capable of growing wings and soar in the sky with the birds.

Ghannouchi ‘s attack on the prominent free thinker Lafif Lakhdar is an attack on all of us who believe in freedom and democracy, and who whish for a better and brighter future for our region, and more peace and justice for the world. We stand in solidarity with Lafif, and call on every one of you, to do all you can, each according to her / his position and situation, to help bringing Ghannouchi to justice.

Related Links at MET

We in the LLIDC, are from different countries, cultures, religions, gender, and professions; and welcome you, particularly those who can contribute furthering this cause with the French authorities and the British legal system, to join us.

huh?

Described by an acquaintance as urbane, polite and fluent in English, Hayel Saeed was born into one of Yemen’s most prominent business clans, owners of a family-held global conglomerate based in the Yemeni capital of Taiz and named for its founding patriarch: the Hayel Saeed Anam Group of Companies, or HSA.

From Yemen, the HSA group boasts a far-flung business empire, including a Yemen-based Islamic bank, and a host of business subsidiaries, affiliates and regional trading offices in places ranging from the United Kingdom to Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and China.

Abdul Rahman Hayel Saeed sits on the HSA board of directors, and ranks high in the management — he is currently running HSA’s regional office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In MIGA, Hayel Saeed holds a prominent spot, as one of four co-founders who back in 1984 delegated power of attorney to the terrorist-linked Nasreddin, giving him authority to run the company.

Swiss registry documents show that Hayel Saeed has never resigned from MIGA, nor revoked that power of attorney. Queried about this link to MIGA, neither Hayel Saeed nor the HSA Group’s chairman of the board, Ali Mohamed Saeed, has made any response.

HSA is unquestionably a company involved in legitimate business. But given the involvement of Abdul Rahman Hayel Saeed, it is striking that between 1996 and 2003, while the United Nations ran its Oil-for-Food relief program in Iraq, the HSA Group — via U.N.-approved Oil-for-Food contracts — sold at least $400 million worth of goods to Saddam.

One of the big questions is whether any of the money skimmed from Oil-for-Food also slopped into terrorist-financing ventures such as MIGA.

(Read on …)

AD: But (Saleh) appears to have thought it useful to pose as a bastion against Iranian influence, just as he did earlier with regard to al-Qaida. While many Yemenis balked at what they saw as their president’s resort to sectarian incitement, they were equally aghast at his boast that a punitive military assault against Hussein al-Houthi would resolve everything. The campaign turned into fiasco, making a mockery of the state and a hero of the dissident cleric.

Houthi’s followers had not, after all, initiated any violence, and he had not declared any rebellion. His dissent was verbal and his reasoning religious, and his views about the president were by no means unique.

Indeed, Saleh may have moved against him because he felt he was opening the floodgates to public denunciation of his regime and thus bringing its demise closer. Some regime insiders go further, suggesting that Houthi was brought to centre-stage as part of the fierce rivalry for power and influence between the president’s cousin Ali Muhsin, who commands the northwestern military sector, and his son Ahmad. Ali Muhsin was in charge of planning and carrying out the operation ordered by the president, which was conducted in a manner that risks dragging Yemen into sectarian and tribal conflict. As a reputed Zaidi convert to Wahhabism, Ali Muhsin is considered hostile to all forms of Shiism.

Cotillion member Steal the Bandwagon:

She writes deliberately the words on the page, not knowing that her thoughts, the insignificant musings of a teenager will resonate so loudly with generations to come. Her message? “In spite of everything that has happened, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” In the midst of hate, Anne Frank wrote her diary.

The comparisons are hard not to make. The small voice of a teenager compared with the giant powerful voice of a dictator. The voice of hope compared to the voice of death. In the end, these voices both made giant impacts of our history.

Read the rest at Jodi’s

SANA’A- The Political Parties Committee has announced that it has warned the People’s Forces Union, the Liberation Front Party, and the Yemeni Coalition Party not to delay presenting their final accounts and notified them to register their accounts at the committee registry, as required by the political parties law.

Mohammed Abdulmalik Al-Motwakel, secretary general of the People’s Forces Union, said that the party had not received any such warnings, and described the committee’s comments as a political attack by the authorities on the party. He said it was a reaction to the party’s position over the government’s financial and administrative reform program and its stance on events in Saada.

As for the reason why the party did not present its final accounts to the committee, he asked: “How can they expect us to submit the final accounts while our headquarters are still occupied and all our documents, including accounts and deeds, are being held?”

“Throughout the past fifteen years,” he added, “the government has committed itself to paying party allowances, but the Union has not received one rial,” Al-Motwakel said.

Al-Motwakel said the warnings were just threats to absolve the Union. He said that if the party were absolved, it would justify the emergence of a new union leadership outside the country.

He said that instead of the party newspaper, (al-Shoura) the new leadership would establish a TV channel or radio station. “The government would be giving us every reason to do so.”

heh imagine what al-Khaiwani could do with a TV station

SANAA, Yemen (UPI) – Arab legislators meeting in Yemen lamented that constitutions in their countries are merely “ink on paper” in view of rampant violations of human rights.

In a statement released Thursday at the end of their two-day meeting in Sanaa, the Arab parliamentarians complained that Arab regimes lacked the basic mechanisms for transparency and accountability which are necessary to secure proper rule….

For his part, Yemeni parliamentarian Abdo Hazifi noted that accountability necessitates social awareness, stressing that “the Yemeni experience is newborn and still limited to theory, not practice.”

Yes in practice, the political system in Yemen is more a monarchy, a kleptocracy, a dictatorship. But for certain not a democracy.

Another repressive law Hassan Mujali, the attorney for the chamber, told al-Sahwa.net that the law violated Yemeni businessmen’s rights, and was unconstitutional and modeled on a similar law issued in the former southern Yemen in 1969. “The law’s articles violate privacy under the pretext of searching for evidence to prove tax evasion,” the lawyer said. He appealed to Yemeni businessmen not to abide by the sales tax law.

MM: This revival involved a great deal of soul-searching, inspired by a deep sense of peril arising from the increasing popularity of salafism in Yemen. Badr al-Din al-Huthi was at the heart of this revival. As long ago as 1979, he began to write rebuttals and refutations of anti-Shi’ah literature produced by salafis. He took a keen interest in refuting the intense anti-Zaydi writings of Yemen’s foremost and most outspoken salafi scholar, Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi’i (d. 2001). Wadi’i lived in Saudi Arabia for fifteen years, where he studied under a number of prominent salafi scholars, such as Nassir al-Din al-Albani, before he was deported to Yemen in the early 1980s for alleged links with the armed group that seized the Haram in Makkah in 1979. Upon his return to Yemen, he set about establishing salafi centres and madrasahs throughout northern Yemen, all with financial support from Saudi sources. His fiery anti-Shi’ah rhetoric reached its zenith with statements expressing an intent to destroy the tombs of the Zaydi imams and their domes in Yemen.

Mu’ayyidi and other prominent Zaydi ulama argued that conditions in Zaydi political doctrine that restrict legitimate rule to suitable learned descendants of the Prophet (saw) through Ali and Fatimah (ra) are valid under certain historical circumstances that are no longer present. In their re-articulation of the Zaydi principle of ri’aasah (leadership), Mu’ayydi and his associates regarded political leadership as a right vested in the community at large. As such, whoever the citizens elect becomes a legitimate ruler, regardless of whether or not he is a descendant of Ali and Fatimah (ra).

2004: Saleh: “I directly accuse foreign forces and this Houthi is just one element of the foreign forces.” He indicated that al-Houthi’s rebellion is “part if the foreign hirelings, rather than a thinking, sectarianism or a Zeidi sect.” He added it is a foreign intelligence act which harassed “development, investment and undermine national unity.” He said “Evidences have cleared out and will be announced to the public ” 2005: Still waiting for him to produce the evidence. I guess first he had to decide which foreign country to blame it on. He’s already accused the “Jews,” the Bahrainis, the Kuwaitis and now its the Iranians. But no evidence yet. Still waiting.

BOOOORING I thought after they realized they couldn’t bribe me, there might be a new strategy. But no, just another article trashing Jane in Yemen.

lets review: first there was Jane Novak a docile pupil of a monkey monk,then came my response, then an editorial apology, then an oped, then an actual article by me about Yemen (#15)

now we get: Is it true Jane Novak is from Aal-Albait?

no I’m from Brooklyn.

Its getting a little stale. But since I need something for the Cotillion on Tuesday, I’ll do a very minor fisking:

If America had a group of armed insurgents claiming godly rights to power and advantage, that any opponent to those exclusive rights and power were infidels and should be exterminated, what would the reaction of the American people be?

Well actually America does have that. Its called al-Qaeda. The reaction of the moonbats on the left seems to be to want to secure their rights and protect their library privilges. The conservatives advocate a more pro-active and rigorous approach.

And that of the Bush administration or Congress?

Well, Im reasonably certain that if there were a few al-Qaeda in Cleveland, President Bush and Congress would NOT decide to surround the city with military, exclude the journalists, indescrimately bomb the people, cut off food to the citizens, arrest doctors who provide medical treatment, exclude humanitarian organizations, arrest 12 year olds, randomly arrest ten thousand citizens without cause, hold them without trial for a year, drag burnt bodies around Cleveland behind police cars, run over the injured Americans with US tanks, rape women, spray chlorine gas, attack civilians with helicoper gunships, confiscate the computers from the New York Times and arrest Judith Miller when she tried to write about it, arrest members of Amnesty International who try to publicize it, bomb the Democrats headquarters and kidnap Hillary, and then use PBS to publicly denounce everyone in Cleveland as racists who deserve to die. This is whats happening in Yemen to the Shiites under the direction of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. And no, I dont think that’s what Bush and the Congress would do here in the US.

What a moron this guy is, including this:

What, I ask, is more ridiculous than the weak translation of the same reply on the pages of the backwards, racist party’s mouthpiece, “Al-Shoura.”

Obviously someone forgot to tell Olify that al-Khaiwani is famous here in the US. If there was a survey of American conservatives asking for the name of a middle eastern editor, the only one widely known is al-Khaiwani, not just from when the Coalition of the Willing had a half million daily viewers tracking his appeal, but also from the six articles I wrote about him before that. Also the fact that he publishes my pro-democracy articles in al-Shoura in Arabic in Yemen doesn’t hurt his fan base either. So again, the wrong move for the US.

Otherwise Im back to work. I have no more time for Yahya the yo-yo. Weeell, maybe first I’ll cross post this at the other six websites where I have posting privileges. heh Thanks guys. Update: Beth is having open trackbacks. Love those inline trackys.

(Update for anyone coming late to the party. Here’s a little something from the Tides foundation on the al-Haq party mentioned in the article: 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.)

YT: A press release issued by al-Nihar Newspaper affirmed that the newspaper is usually threatened along with its staff by a group of people who are said to be followers of Sheikh Mohammad Ahmad Mansour from al-Ja’ashin and a MP.

Sheikh Mansour sued a legal action against al-Nihar Newspaper over publishing reports harming his reputation and mentioning the oppression and tyranny he practices on his locals. The case was filed to the South Capital Court a few days ago.

The press release emphasized that Sheikh Mansour arrived on Tuesday with a group of armed men to the office of al-Nihar Newspaper and threatened to storm its office and attack its editorial staff.

The press release mentioned the Sheikh’s visit coincided with telephone calls threatening to break into the newspaper’s office and beat its editors.

sold way below market value:

YT: The report showed the prices included in the gas sale agreement are 50% less than the international gas prices and this means Yemeni will suffer a heavy loss.…

Some Oil and Minerals Committee members affirmed that reading and discussing the oil report in this phase is very important and they fear the government may sign an contract of gas sale while the Parliament in vacation, particularly the government announced it will sign a contract for gas sale with Total and another company….

Another heated argument took place when MP Mohammad al-Sha’ef accused the oil report of being incomplete and faulty and this led Hamid al-Ahmar a member at the Oil and Minerals Committee to respond to al-Sha’ef, “this does not concern you”.

In a representative government, not a corrupt brutal dicatatorship, the oil and gas revenue would be going to the schools. Not in Yemen. In Yemen it goes to corrupt officials and businessmen. Yemen has been described as a kleptocracy: everything gets stolen from the people. A generation of children is losing the prospect of any decent future because of corruption in Yemen:

YO: In Toor Al-Baha alone, nearly 75% of schools are in very poor condition, lacking the most basic facilities and equipment. According to the director of the Office of Education in Toor Al-Baha, the county does not have a single school (there are 53 total) that can boast all the necessary facilities needed to properly educate its children. Schools lack necessary equipment in several areas, even furniture. There are no toilets, electricity, clean drinking water or campus wall. Students sometimes have to go to their friends’ houses nearby just to get a drink….

Toor Al-Baha is a typical rural school in the province of Lahj. There are 53 schools in the province, of which only one is a secondary school, and five provide elementary education for girls.

al bawaba President Ali Abdullah Saleh met on Sunday the ambassador of Britain Michael Gifford and the Dutch ambassador and the Chargé d’affaires of the European Commission, according to SABA.

Talks focused on cooperation between Yemen and the European Union and the outcomes of the strategic European-Yemeni dialogue as well as setting up for the next round of dialogue to be held next September. The matter of EU assistance to development and elections in Yemen was talked about. They expressed willingness of EU to support Yemeni political, democratic development process, and to support Supreme Committee for Elections and help it do a good job in the coming local council and presidential elections in 2006.

So what do you call if theres an election without any opposition to the dictator? If the ballets go in the box, Jimmy Carter calls it free and fair. The 2006 election is currently being rigged in Yemen, in keeping with the collusion between the leadership of Islah and the GPC. Through Saleh’s bribery and intimidation the largest opposition party is probably going to endorse this dictator for president. There wont be a true opposition candidate, just a stooge at most. And another seven years of tragedy.

ADNKI: The General People’s Congress is led by Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. It secured a massive majority in parliament in the last elections in 2003. However, international observers sent to monitor the poll said there were irregularities. The Washington-based National Democratic Institute said the election was flawed by political intimidation, underage voting, inappropriate behaviour by the security forces and vote-buying.

Abdula Salam Alhakimi was a member of the mediating team President Saleh sent to Saada to met Hussain al-Houthi last year. He was interviewed by Elaf:

Q You were one the mediating team the president assigned to go sadda and meet Hussain al Houthi. Can you tell us what happened?

A It was not a mediating team. It was a game or play or act. It was an immoral tool to trick Hussain al Houthi and kill him, or at least show how Saleh meaning interpertation.

Q what do you make of the renewed confrontation between the army and Bader al deen al Houthi?

A al Houthi followers either Hussain or his father Bader al deen al
Houthi is a religious and a cultural program groupe never adapted
violance or terorism any time before. I do not think the regime can
get rid of this group through the use of force, what ever that force
might be. They have a foundmental stand against the use violance or
terrorism, but they found themselves surrounded and attaked by army
forces of all kinds: war planes, tanks, artilary, missile luanchers, in
addition to chemical weapons as has been said. They had no way but to
defend themselves by their personal arms which are owned by most Yemeni people and tribes. They were killed in their homes and villages.
There was no acceptable reason for this war. Loses of this war are
very very high. Between army and innocent citizens casualities from this war could reach twenty thousand dead and wounded. Complete villages have been demolished, schools also. Belongings of the people have been stolen ((by the army and militia)) Thousands were arrested some died from tortue.

Solving this proplem could be very easy in my opinion. Withdrawal of the army, freeing prisoners, and rebuild and repair all the damiges. and every thing will end and I am sure of that.

Elaph translated from Arabic.

YT: “Yahia Al-Hothi, member of parliament and a member of PGC, the son of cleric Badredeen Al-Hothi, Who is now in Sweden, tried to shed light on some of the parts of the crisis, and how to resolve it through an interview via the internet. Mohamed Bin Salaam of the Yemen Times carried out the interview, here are the details”

Q: What about the eight conditions that were set by the Authorities as a way out of this crisis ?

A: In dealing with the Authorities we don’t need any conditions, let the Authorities set the conditions they want, as long as they are for our good and for the good of the people ,and if they are compatible with our constitutional rights, though I noticed the incredibility of the Authorities . During our eager efforts to resolve the crisis, we found that we were used as a trap for our people. They used to be ambushed and killed ,as it was the case of the helicopter incident, which we were taking to Maran mountain. At that time my brother Hussien Alhothi agreed to a cease fire. He gave his orders that the helicopter should not be fired at ,as it was carrying the expanded mediation committee, sent by the President. They were, clerics, Mohamed Al-Mansour, Ahmed Al- Shami besides the Sheikhs and brigadier generals. We were at Haidan, when ,to our surprise, we saw three military helicopters shelling the defenders in Jabal Alhakami. Eight men were killed. There are also other incidents. However we are with any true initiative, local or international

Q: One of the conditions states that “ If you have the desire to form a political party you should declare that, with a pledge to observe the constitution, law and order ,or you can join a party you choose… what do you think?

A: We know we can make a party as the constitution guarantees. We had the experience of forming a party before, together with, cultural and social societies, but the authorities had made plots against us, and on all the societies we declared, however small, peaceful and transparent they were. . I believe you remember the security problems we had faced, starting from 1992 up to 1995.. They used to release convicted murderers on condition that they should fight against us. Military campaigns used to patrol our area in Hamdan, Kholan Amir ,and Razih. Many innocent people were imprisoned, because they were members of Al- Hag party. We were forced to abandon the party. Now we have no desire to make a party. We want no clashes with the authorities, or to enter into any quarrels with.

Q: In your opinion, who instigates against you and your kins? In short, who is interested in prohibiting the existence of your missionary activity?

A: First I think the authority was in need of a scape goat, as Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al-Ahmar, the Speaker of the parliament told us. . It found that we were the least expensive. Secondly, There are others who benefit from the wars, and trade on them, on the expense of the people. Those are inside the military and security forces. They exploit the blood shed and the miseries of the people to build their palaces

Thirdly. There are the fanatic expiatory groups, who seek to adopt Taliban barbaric, backward methods of rule. They have their effect on the authority’s mentality. . It adopted their expiatory methods, as it is noticed in their press, although these fanatical groups are seeking to spread terrorism, not only in Yemen, but in the neighboring countries, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt and others. I think you saw the ugly disaster they inflicted within the communities, even here in Europe, as those of the passenger train in Spain. They fear the Easterners here, and consider them as savages. We didn’t practice any hostility against them. Those who lived with us know it, and it is the evidence of history.

Q: What is your visions to end the war, that is going on in Sa’ada for some months?

A: The Authority should treat us as citizens with the full rights that are granted to us by the constitution ,The Sharia law and the Humanitarian charters. It should also abide by the reconciliation that it committed itself to ,and which we carried out, while it chose to go war. I see also the soundness of the suggestion of Mohamed Almaqaleh in Al-Shoura newspaper, issue number 506, in which he said,: “The Authority should stop the war right away and seeks seriously to contain its aftermath or else the international community will inevitably intervene.

Q: It is rumored that, the Islah party’s leadership has asked the President during a meeting with him, a few days ago, to give them a free hand in Sa’ada and Hajah Governorates, to refigure them culturally according to the (Wahabi) creed, as a part of a political deal. What do you say to that ?

A: We don’t find any problem in the presence of any movement whatever their orientation is. The Islah do not need permission from the authorities. They are already in Sa’ada for a long time now, and they are coordinating with the authorities. We welcome them in Sa’ada, but what we really blame the government for, is its double standard treatment. The Islah Party receives subsidies from the government. The government open our mosques for them ,though it knows very well that they are our ancestors’ endowments. An example of this is Al-Iman University site, which was granted to them by the President. This site is a legacy endowment from our grandfather Al-Motahar. We don’t want to exchange swearwords, or use the expiatory expressions, which they often use against us. They do that, encouraged by the government, in order to do us harm.

Q 6 – Did you request asylum in Sweden ?What countries, so far, has offered to grant you asylum?

A: The State here respects individuals. They are sympathizing with us As for the asylum, if I ask it, it is sure to be welcomed. Some countries are ready to help us.

Q7- Have you got any relation with the opposition outside Yemen? If not, do you intend to join any in the future?

A: We are read y to cooperate with all the political movements, whether they are in the Government or in the opposition. As long as this is for the good of the county and the peace and the liberty of our people

Q: What is the outcome of your contacts with the Great Powers?

A: We made a good progress. Many of the International organizations and the International courts that we have contacted understood the immensity of our case. They are now showing concern, and I think you saw the Amnesty International 2005 report.

Carnegie Endowment Includes Yemen (good):

Yemen ’s Ministry of Information is drafting a new media law that, according to the minister, would abolish jail terms for journalists who criticize the president. Critics of the initiative point out that the law might still allow imprisonment on other charges, and say they fear it will introduce other new restrictions as part of a recent government campaign against journalists. The Yemeni government abandoned a previous draft media law in 2003 after strong criticism by press-freedom watchdog groups.

Pretty good, but they missed the point that sections are designated under the penal code and can therefore include the death penalty for journalists, an intimidating prospect especially in Yemen.

Journalists are concerned as they are charged by the Penal Code which range between fines, imprisonment and the death penalty. Mahboob Ali also demanded the removal of such harsh sentences journalists are still to face. “We need the charges of the Penal Code on journalists to be removed too. A journalist can be fined, sentenced to 2 years imprisonment or even death according to the Penal Code. This is more dangerous.”

SANAA, June 18 (AFP) -

An appeals court in Sanaa found 11 al-Qaeda suspects innocent of charges of attempts to carry out attacks in Yemen and abroad for lack of evidence, judicial sources said.

The court declared the 11 men innocent of the charges of forming an armed group to carry out attacks in Yemen and abroad in the trial, which resumed on opened April 26 after opening two months earlier.
(Read on …)

AI

The Sana’a Committee:
“Hundreds of people face the threat of ending in another ‘black hole’ if they are transferred from Guantánamo to their countries. We call on every government, particularly governments in the Gulf region, to guarantee that no detainee is subjected to torture and that all are offered a due legal process that meets international human rights standards,” participants in the one-day meeting in the Yemeni capital Sana’a urged.

(Also the socialists got fatwa-ed because they believe in a secular state.)

YT interview with Dr. Mohammad Haidrah Ali Masdos

there was an unjust policy that oppressed all civilians in the south of Yemen including those who opposed the Yemeni Socialist party and others who remained in the State’s civic and military apparatuses, owning to the war and its tragic consequences that negatively affected the national unity and resulted in an inequality between people.

Besides, thousands of innocent civilians and military personnel were fired from their work even though they were still young,

But after being eliminated following the 1994’s war, they became jobless and were named the party of “Stay at home”, in addition to a terrible increase in the rate of unemployment among youths.

Jobs in the southern parts of Yemen were given to people from North Yemen even at oil companies operating in the south because officials were all from the north parts of Yemen and the southerners were deprived of everything.

Despite that political leaderships of religious extremism came from the north, hunting activities and arbitrary procedures are practiced against people who are originally from the south parts of Yemen, and a clear-cut example is what happened to Abu Hassan al-Mihdar, al-Harithi and Hattat Group in Abyan and the Group of the US Destroyer Cole and others.

The authority tends to practice terrorism upon them, and an intellectual terrorism is practiced against them by the opposition.

Assorted link dump:

list Party (YSP) 2002 released a press statement on Saturday claiming that Jarallah Omar’s assassination was politically motivated….the gunman, was a member of the Islamic opposition Islah Party, and was mosque preacher known for his extremist views and opposition to the government and moderates in his own party

Hezbollah Yemen

Moayad:
AL-MOAYAD also stated, in substance, that he has
supplied al Qaeda with arms and communication equipment in the
past. AL-MOAYAD indicated that he worked directly for a high-ranking
official in the Islah party of Yemen (hereinafter
“Associate 1″) purchasing weapons for al Qaeda.

In response, AL-MOAYAD told CI1, in sum and substance,
that he (AL-MOAYAD) had met with Usama bin Laden on two
occasions and that on each of those occasions, AL-MOAYAD brought
money, arms and recruits.

Zayed
Al-Moayad advised CI1 that Al-Moayad has met Usama bin
Laden several times and has given bin Laden millions of dollars
prior to September 11, 2001.

DOJ: The investigation revealed that Al-Moayad, an official in the Islah political party in Yemen and the Imam - or spiritual leader - of the al-Ihsan Mosque in Sanaa, has substantial and direct ties to Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Saada: Media have no access to information about human and material losses. Yet the thousands of dead and wounded rushed to hospitals in Sa’ada, Hajah and Sana’a reveal their scale. Al-Wahdawi quoted Yahya Badr Al-Din, Member of Parliament and brother to Hussein Al-Houthi as saying: “My brother was never the political leader of an organization that violates law. What will the government gain from killing him?”

GN 2004: The Yemen branch of Al Qaida has submitted an initiative to the government saying it will give up operations against the Western interests in Yemen in return for meeting ten conditions.

DT: Al-Jihad, which attracted many Yemenis who had fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, had chiefly targeted secular figures from once-socialist southern Yemen….In past investigations, Americans working alongside Yemenis have complained of having limited access to suspects.

The Students

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri

connection kidnappers to the cole bombers

Kidnapper via YT:
He emphasized that he kidnapped the foreign tourists to pressure their governments to stop hurting Muslims in Iraq and the Sudan and to block U.S. and UK efforts to impose their hegemony on the whole world and to end their bid to humiliate Muslims….

He acknowledged he had ordered the kidnapping of tourists and that

Somolia

you would think that UPI would take the time to get the name of our ambassador right:

Yemen Foreign Minister Abu Baker Kurbi denied reports of tense Yemeni-U.S. relations following criticism of the activities of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa.

The weekly “September 26″ Thursday quoted Kurbi as saying his ministry was following up the movements of the American ambassador within the framework of diplomatic law and norms, stressing that foreign diplomats’ activities are usually arranged and approved by the ministry.

He noted that certain meetings are held by diplomats on a personal basis, but added that “we are making sure that such encounters do not harm bilateral relations.”

Yemeni Speaker Sheik Abdullah Ahmar recently lashed out at U.S. ambassador Thomas Greisky, accusing him of interfering in Yemen’s domestic affairs for holding meetings with tribal leaders, political party officials and members of civilian organizations without the knowledge of the authorities.

The American people are very lucky to have this guy and all the others who represent the US overseas. This position in Yemen I think is one of the more difficult and dangerous. Ive been meaning to write Ambassador Krajeski to thank him. I’ll make sure to spell his name right.

Misc: YO The Parliamentary Committee of Political Parties sent on Monday a warning letter to three (opposition) political parties to submit their final financial accounts. (Personally I’d rather to see the the financial statement of Saleh’s party, the GPC.)

YO President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and the President of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, held a meeting before the G-77 summit today….They also discussed the situation in the Sudanese region of Darfur region and the Sudanese government’s peace efforts. (I wonder if the Sudanese president placed an order with Saleh for more weapons, tanks, and maybe Russian helicopters. Its cute the way the genocidal dictators stick together like Saleh and al-Bashir.)

YO: “We have to reform ourselves before reforms are imposed on us by others,” warned President Saleh. “We have to prepare ourselves and our nations for the demands of the age, including the demands for women’s participation, respect for human rights and public participation in decision-making.” (I would laugh but Im sure there are people who will only read this statement and think Saleh is democratically oriented, when in reality he is a brutal tyranical dictator who is killing, arresting, and severly repressing his own people. But he is the King of Spin, and very good at it.)

He said that international injustice, double-standard policies, and increasing poverty were the biggest challenges the Arab and Muslim world faces today. (What about domestic justice? Arrests as retribution and an intimidation tactic? What about the double standard between the treatment of the corrupt officials and those who oppose them? What about the poverty caused by an economy perverted by corruption and stealing the revenue and natural resources?)

My very harsh article (Yemen 15) was also published in Yemen in English by the Yemen Times. Wow. She is her brother’s sister, her father’s daughter. I can’t beleive Nadia ran this article. Its very tough. It takes a lot of courage to do that when the Yemeni goverment is so good at targeting anyone who speaks out (arresting people, kidnapping them, kidnapping their little brothers, bombing buildings, defaming them, ect.) Im telling you, the Yemeni journalists are amazing people. Id be honored to stand in their shadow.

Also Nadia is the first female editor in chief in the Middle East. I am not surprised that it is the Yemen Times that made this break through. I was reading the Human Development report and Yemen has the most inequality between men and women. (The govt steals the money and spends it on weapons and terrorists instead of schools.) So Nadia is a real role model. (hmmm so I guess the next article I should tell the US editors about the couragous Nadia too. See post immediately below. But Im sure my friends at the Conservative Woman’s Cotillion with their 30 large websites would all howl with me if the Yemeni govt bothered Miss Nadia. Thirty howling female bloggers, half a million readers, that scares even me. )

Nadia’s editorial today:

History reveals that any acts of violence, especially from the state against citizens who were seen as normal people in the recent past, have lead to greater violence and dismay among the public….

Not everything is politically oriented or at least as seen by the normal people. Unless the state gives a valid explanation as to why such schools that the people have been going to and depending on as means for educating their children, are being termed as harbors for terrorism and consequently closed down, they would see this as an attack against the local communities and their inherited right to believe.

What’s worse is that the Yemeni security forces are very tactless and lack professionalism. In the West, cops are always associated with doughnuts and idiotic dialogues, in the east- such as in Yemen, police are associated with corruption, bullying, idiocy and violence. A recent incident was reported last week in Wisab al-Aali near Ibb governorate when a man accused of murdering his wife and son. Since they could not catch the murderer, the security forces arrested his bull instead. I don’t know if bull is being interrogated as we speak now, but I sure feel sorry for the poor animal.

What happens if people lose confidence in their protectors? A well known proverb says “hamiha haramiha” indicating that the one who protects is the one who robs. Being in the security force means more than just bullying people and attacking those who are not wearing the uniform.

nice

also published Yemen 15. Its here. I am such a dummy. I just realized with this last article that I should be telling the US editors that the couragous editor al-Khaiwani is also publishing my articles in Arabic in Yemen. So I did. This way if the sleezy Yemeni govt does anything to him, the US editors will be mad and all probably run the story. So I wont need 47 bloggers to get 400,000 readers, just 6 editors to get ten million. So you people are off the hook for now. Thank you for your service in the cause of democracy.

In the remote country of Yemen, a heroic democracy movement battles an alliance of al-Qaeda, Saddam’s generals, and a corrupt regime that wields all the tools of the state. The terrorists are operating on the proceeds from gun running and oil sales. The reformers are operating on pure determination.

Throughout Yemeni security forces, military, businesses, and public institutions, an interlinked web of corruption and brutality is stealing Yemen’s resources and attacking any Yemeni who opposes it. And the majority do oppose. All the natural enemies of the jihadiis are under attack in Yemen: reformers, democrats, journalists, socialists, pluralists, Shiites, Sunnis, anti-corruption advocates, human rights workers, and more. As forces unite against them, the Yemeni people unite for democracy.

In 2003 al-Qaeda praised Yemeni President Saleh as the only Arab leader not beholden to the West. It’s clear why. Saleh has refused to freeze 143 UN identified terrorist affiliated bank accounts in Yemen. Some of the millions in those accounts may be proceeds from weapons sales, narco-terrorism, and oil sales. One person who might be able to provide details is Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Saleh’s half brother, prominent military commander, and reputed al-Qaeda loyalist.

Wherever there is a conflict the region, the jihadii side seems to be armed by the Yemeni weapons pipeline, reportedly controlled by top military officials. Yemen has sold tanks and missiles to the genocidal Sudanese government. Yemen provided weapons to Eritrean and Somalian terrorists, according to the Eritrean Center for Strategic Studies. “Its no secret” that weapons smuggling to Palestinian insurgents is sanctioned by the Yemeni government, an Israeli intelligence official said. The Saudis say they catch Yemeni arms dealers “hourly.” (Read on …)

Council on Foreign Relations:

Is Yemen a haven for terrorism?
Yes. Yemen, located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a poor Muslim country with a weak central government, armed tribal groups in outlying areas, and porous borders, which makes it fertile ground for terrorists. Its government has tried to help the United States after September 11, and the State Department calls Yemen “an important partner in the campaign against terrorism, providing assistance in the military, diplomatic, and financial arenas.” But experts say that terrorists live in Yemen, sometimes with government approval; Yemen-based corporations are thought to help fund Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network; and Yemenis affiliated with al-Qaeda have targeted U.S. interests in Yemen, including the October 2000 bombing of the navy destroyer U.S.S. Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden. U.S. officials say more al-Qaeda attacks against American interests may now be brewing in Yemen.

How big an al-Qaeda presence is there in Yemen?
It’s impossible to say precisely, but dozens of al-Qaeda operatives, including senior officials, may be at large in Yemen, experts say. Yemen was second only to Saudi Arabia in being the source of soldiers for the international Islamist brigade that fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan and that gave birth to al-Qaeda. Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of Yemenis fought in Afghanistan or trained in al-Qaeda’s camps there. Yemeni officials say that not every Yemeni veteran of the war in Afghanistan is an al-Qaeda member; nevertheless, Yemeni prisoners make up one of the largest national contingents of detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Does al-Qaeda have training camps in Yemen?
Al-Qaeda reportedly had several major training camps in Yemen until the late 1990s, when the Yemeni government uprooted them. U.S. officials say there may be a few smaller ones left.

Link Dump: Human Develoment Report Yemen 2004, ,Zindani and Islah.

Stefie’s article in the JP: (hint-its another good one.)

With the defeat of the European constitution in France and the Netherlands, and the indefinite postponement of a vote in the UK, the fate of the European Union hangs in the balance. The continent’s mainstream elites have almost all blamed the defeat on “extreme Right, nationalist and hard leftist parties.” Others have considered the votes as a blow to the French and Dutch governments. What Euro enthusiasts seem unwilling to concede is that a great blow has been inflicted on the idea of the EU in its totality.

(Read on …)

but this one is VERY NICE. The senior editor is responding the article that got snuck in: “Jane Novak a docile student of a monkey monk.” (I hope one day to learn who the monkey monk was supposed to be. I never quite figured that out.)

For this, I think Jane Novak is due an apology from the YT, for allowing such derogatory language to be used on a good friend of the YT and I take the liberty of expressing the sincere apology for this editorial oversight. I realize that Jane has been allowed the right to respond to the article by Mr. Yahya Al-Olfi against Ms. Novak, but this observer is compelled to express an assurance that the opinions expressed by Mr. Olfi are purely his own and are not shared by the Editors of the Yemen Times…

I will not delve into the issues and points raised by Mr. Olfi, because the astute observer sees no merit in arguing for or against criticism that is based on engrained biases and stereotypes that do not reflect any intellectual maturity or objective assessment of the contents of Ms. Novak’s observations.

Wow. Thats so nice, there’s more.

(But for the record, I have never been to Yemen. Morocco, yes. Yemen, no.)

Gordon: Did you think you would ever hear something like this from a paper in the Middle East? Heck, I’d dance a jig if the San Francisco Chronicle even paid lip service to these principles…Bravo to the Yemen Times.

Also Gordo’s got a nice phote of Olify, the author of the orginal monkey monk piece.

Zindani, US classified “Major Terrorist,” mentor to bin Laden and known supporter of many terrorist movements in the region, leader in the Islah party:

YT: “Leaders in the Socialist and Islah parties had met and reached a semi deal in which the Islah pledged to settle the matter of the fidelity “fatwa” that was issued by the Islah clerics , on top of them Sheikh al –Zandani ….In that “fatwa” they considered the socialist party an infidel . Another “fatwa” that was issued by Abdul-Wahab Aldailamy, during the 1994 war, described the war as a war against Atheists and Marxists. He also allowed the civilians to be killed if the fiddles made them as human shields .

It is the same legal opinion (Fatwa ) that Al-Zarqawi used in Iraq to kill innocent civilians. (I meant it when I said he was bin laden’s mentor.) It was said that the two parties came to a semi agreement that the Islah Party will apologize for the socialist party on those “fatwas “ a thing that the party refuses and demands its cancellation, because of the harm they have suffered due to it, the last being the assassination of Jarallah Omar, The vice Chairman of their party . His assassin said during his trial that he has depended on a previous “fatwa” saying that socialists are Atheists and they should be killed .

The source said that , the deal has not yet been finalized ,because the Islah side refused pressing their sheikhs al-Zandani and al- Dailami to cancel these “fatwa”.

Im starting to get fond of the Socialsts.

Only armed mafia in a state uniform. If there’s a land dispute, the guy with the best connections to the military wins.

The US and UN have expressed concern about weapons trafficing in Yemen. Oddly, the jihaddi side of every conflict in the region seems to be supplied by the Yemeni pipeline, purportedly controled by the upper levels of the Yemeni military and condoned by the govt.

YTIn a letter to the Yemeni government, the United Nations and the United States have asked the government for explanations about weapons trafficking in Yemen and the government’s efforts to control it. Foreign Ministry Deputy for European and American Affairs Mustaffa Noman said “the geographical location of Yemen near spots of regional conflicts and the war on terror have increasingly made it at the spot of international concern,” adding “internal armed conflicts in the past and this location of Yemen have made it a market for weapons.”

International concern is warrented. And the North Korean trade minister should be arriving in Yemen any day now.

Related: Yemen to buy Russian military helicopters. I wonder if they are going to wind up in the Sudan like the tanks? Not an official transaction: how can transporting tanks from Yemen to the Sudan NOT be an official transaction? Amazing how these genocidal, jihaddi governments stick together. Or maybe they just need them to shoot their own people better in Sa’ada.

The cost $150 million, also theres a $400 million deal on fighter planes. Yemen is the poorest of the Arab countries, and this dictator Saleh and his brutal family in the military are buying new toys with the Yemeni people money. The people want schools not weapons.

GT: He denounced the violence. I think also he ruled against one of Saleh’s cronies. There is no justice in the Yemeni justice system. He got ten years. Now its five. Should be none.

An appeal court in Sanaa yesterday halved a 10-year jail term handed to a Yemeni judge convicted of supporting a rebellion by members of his minority Zaidi community.

Mohamed Ali Lukman, former head of a court in Haraz, some 120km west of Sanaa, was convicted last October of “joining an armed gang, incitement to violation of the law, disobeying the ruler, stirring up racial and sectarian feelings, and undermining the stability of society.”

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail.Presiding judge Saeed al-Qataa confirmed Lukman’s conviction for “spreading false news and incitement to civil war by calling on followers to fight another sect,” but cut his sentence to five years.

The Arab News pretty much sums it up in their original piece:

AN 2004: During the trial, the public prosecution brought five witnesses who testified about their knowledge of Luqman’s links with religious rituals and ceremonies held by people who belonged to the Believing Youth Group led by Al-Houthi.

But Luqman, whose judicial immunity was stripped by the Supreme Judicial Council on July 7, denied the charges against him, saying they were untrue and part of a conspiracy. The sentence is part of the clampdown against Al-Houthi that extended to include those who publicly voiced support to his revolt.

I dont know what this means but it makes me very happy: YO 6/11

Speaker of Parliament Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein Al-Ahmar expressed his amazement at a statement published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper and attributed to a US spokesman, revealing unconventional diplomatic contacts between the US and Yemeni officials.

Sheikh Al-Ahmar said the Sana’a US ambassador’s meetings with sheikhs and heads of parties and non-governmental organization representatives without informing official bodies did not concord with accepted diplomatic principles that require ambassadors and other diplomatic to go through official channels when making such contacts.

He added that such behavior does not serve the interests of Yemeni - US relations, which he described as of a good nature, and reiterated Yemen’s gratitude to the US for its support of democracy in Yemen.

From Eric’s related post: Will you let these people inspect any Yemeni jails while they are there? Does anyone else notice the irony of a “Human Rights For All” conference being held in Yemen in the first place?

Saleh backs Iran, Irans nuclear program, and closer ties.

Now didn’t Saleh just sentence Yahya Al-Dailami to death for talking to an Iranian diplomat? (But Im not sure that ever happened.) Or was it for protesting the genocide in Sa’ada? Chanting? “I didn’t kill, I didn’t conspire. I just exercise my freedom of expression,” al-Dailami said in a statement to Al-Shoura.

AD: Nobody quite knows what happened to the $55 million in special assistance to poor families supposedly channelled through the so-called Social Welfare Fund last year. (I have a guess.)

The same can be said for much of the state’s proceeds from oil and natural gas. Yemen now produces half a million barrels of oil per day, as much as Syria….But most of the money simply evaporates, leaving the state to rank among the world’s poorest and to hold out a begging-bowl to international donor institutions.

The groups in whose pockets the money ends up are well known to Yemenis and clearly defined.

The biggest and most influential consists of the relatives and in-laws of the president and other members of his Sanhan tribe. They have a hand in virtually all major public contracts and tenders. This includes the full range of military procurements, as the president’s relatives also command many branches of the armed and security services,

The president, with a full 25-year record of public service behind him, is thought to be worth some $20 billion.

Honestly, I’m furious. But thats good. Sooner or later I calm down and focus my energy in a productive manner. Its a monarchy. Yemen has a ruling family controlling every aspect of the country. And stealing the money. And doing a very very poor job with the polio vaccines, I might add. But since when does the Yemeni government care about Yemeni children? The government is bombing the children in Sa’ada, starving them throughout the country, letting polio run rampent, and depriving them of an education. While the president and his family just get richer.

ADNKI: “The scarcity of water resources and the difficulty of obtaining access to clean water are persistent problems in this region,” says (Martin) Amacher, (Red Cross, Yemen). “This problem has been aggravated by the fighting,” he said….The fighting has also left many people living with their neighbours, he says, while they repair the damage to their own houses. Residents in the province report that as many as 65,000 people have had their homes destroyed. (yes in the pamphlet, very good.)

Yemen’s President Saleh says he is fighting a rebellion, but Amnesty International has pointed out that many innocent Yemenis are thought to have been killed, including children, as “security forces reportedly used heavy weaponry, including helicopter gunships,” to attack civilian targets. (absolutely, deliberate attacks on civilians)

“The areas north of Saada are still off limits for the time being. We have asked the authorities for access to these areas, but have not had the green light there,” Amacher said. (humanitarian aid workers excluded still)

Many hundreds of al-Houthi’s followers have been arrested. Amacher is unwilling to speculate on how many are in prison now, though some believe it stretches into the thousands, (all true, very good) many of whom remain in custody without charge or trial. (ok but not all the “arrested” are Houthi followers. Some are completely uninvolved family members of suspected Houthis, arrested as retribution. At points the men from entire villages were arrested even though they weren’t fighting leaving their families without any financial support. But all in all a good article.)

If I had time to check, I would say they are partially quoting my article Yemen 11. Nice.

I hope its good. My answer to the article “Jane Novak a docil pupil of a Monkey Monk”. aaak I see now its a blog post not an article. It actually sounds like me. In all the articles I’ve ever written, I never used the word “I” except once, but even that article said nothing about me. But I’m in this one. Professionally I commend the Yemen Times for giving me the opportunity to respond, and publishing it even though it is so highly critical of the regime. Personally, I dont like to be so out there but I made an exception. So this is it:

I am responding to the Yemen Times article entitled “Jane Novak a docile student of a monkey monk.” I find the author’s derogatory tone toward his fellow Yemenis shocking. I have never seen such blatantly insulting statements expressed so publicly and with such assurance. He says: They are like chameleons, ungrateful like cats and sinister like vipers. I’ve never seen such words printed even about Americans. I am frankly astounded by this childish phrase to describe another Yemeni, a mentally retarded monkey. What? A what? (See what I mean. its a blog post.) This kind of abusive name calling about fellow citizens does not enhance pluralism and tolerance as the base of society. While calling for the unity of Yemen, the author denies its underlying principal, the equality of all Yemenis. He says the Houthis are racists and backward. I wonder who is the racist here.

(Read on …)

Good article about Yemen in the Arab News:

AN This circumstance paved the way for hard-liners and extremists to dominate the system. The younger generation was left to the mercy of teachers with extremist views. Poverty combined with illiteracy and a one-sided education was ideal for the growth of extremism. Unless the underlying causes are stamped out, the evil will