Armies of Liberation

DH One good reason to visit Yemen is its friendly, charming people who do their best to make visitors feel like guests. While trying to get round the confusing capital, Sanaa, Yemenis not only gave me directions but also told taxi drivers my destination.

Yemen is famous for its monumental architecture, its mosques, palaces, and distinctive, elegant mud-brick houses. Narrow buildings, two to eight stories tall, with stone or brick foundations and mud-plastered, mud-brick exteriors pierced by arched windows and decorated with geometric designs in whitewash or pale stone. The Yemeni house is cool in summer, warm in winter, always handsome, whether in the meanest village or the wealthiest city suburb.

Sanaa is a sprawling, shabby city of 2.5 million. At its centre lies the beautifully restored walled town with its bustling souqs. Just inside the arch of Yemen Gate there is a wide cobbled plaza where Yemenis relax, read newspapers, and drink hot sweet tea in small glasses. The narrow streets are lined with shops selling food, materials, shoes, and daggers in simple and elaborately decorated leather holders attached to wide leather belts.

Sanaa boasts some excellent restaurants which serve charcoal-grilled fish and paper-thin rounds of Yemeni bread baked in clay ovens, a chilli sauce, curried prawns, and mansaf, whole lamb filled with spicy rice and roasted slowly in an oven. Yemeni cuisine is strongly influenced by India.

The most fashionable restaurant of the moment is al-Fahker, the place influential people dine.

Yemen is a big country with many attractions. We took a car into the countryside and toured the magnificent palace of the imams, the former rulers, built atop a huge rock. At the medieval town of Thula we were pursued by vendors selling daggers, jewelery, and Indian materials. But even insistent touts could not spoil the beautiful multi-storied houses of Thula, dating from the 15th century. At the hilltop village of Kawkaban we discovered a tourist hotel with a splendid view but no clients.

YT Yemen’s current constitution is contradictory, out-of-date, and incompatible with democracy, said a report released yesterday.

The Yemeni Strategic Report 2004 issued by the Yemeni Center for Strategic Studies said that unless the President’s responsibilities are clearly defined to be accountable to the people of Yemen, true democracy cannot prevail.

The report had noted a long-ignored fact that the constitution does not have any clear indication of the responsibilities of the President to his people and how he could be held accountable for his actions, i.e., the people have no system to hold him accountable. “The responsibility of an official should be relative to his powers.” the report said.

Meanwhile the report also noted that being in control of all initiatives, decisions, and actions, the President was granted absolute powers that are lacking in the government, making it a mere tool that he could utilize without any questioning whatsoever.

The report also noted serious flaws in the election laws and described the presidential election process as artificial at best under the current restrictions and limitations.

In conclusion, the report defines democracy in the country as incomplete without an overhaul and update of the constitution to be more compatible with democracy.

Yes time to revise the constitution and election law to pave the way for the regular and peaceful transition of executive power.

SANA’A – Two Yemenis who fled in April 2003 from the custody of political security in Aden, were responsible for suicide attacks in Iraq, sources have told Raynews.

The two separate attacks, which led to dozens of deaths and injured, were carried out this month by two persons originally from Aden in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The sources said that the family of one of the suicide bombers, 29 year-old Khaldoun Al-Hukaimi, were informed of his “martyrdom” by a call from Syria on 19th of July, the day the attack on coalition forces was executed.

According to the sources, the same scenario faced the family of the second Yemeni, 28 year-old Saleh Mana, who received the news of their relative’s suicide the day before the Al-Hukaimi family.

The two, held in Aden under charges of involvement with the 2000 attack on the American vessel USS Cole, escaped along with another eight from custody in Aden.

So two suspected Cole bombers were reported killed in Iraq in a phone call to their families in Yemen. So I guess we can stop looking for them now. Or not.

Yemen Should Come with a Deck of Cards, like Iraq.

Ramzia Al-Eryani, chairperson of the Yemen Women’s Association, believes that there is a political inability to find a viable alternative to Ali Abdullah Saleh, and she expects serious conflicts between the parties that may lead to armed confrontation if the President keeps to his decision not to run for another electoral term.

Al-Eryani added that the decision would have serious repercussions for democracy and development plans, given the President’s recognized talents in handling such challenges. The women leaders appealed to the President to stand by his people. YO

Pretty negative huh? Very Scary. But the reference to democracy and development gives it away. Then I remembered this guy who said that the NGO’s in Yemen are also compromised:

And just as the Yemeni government sought to coopt the independent press, it now sponsors its own non-governmental organizations. Salih has worked to push independent groups out of business.

So I checked on her. She’s a relative of some high ranking GPC leader. And Saleh’s daughter is the honorary president of one of the woman’s organizations. Takes a little time to adjust to the concept of a NGO thats not automaticly oppositonal to the government or at least independent. But the result of Saleh’s 27 years of rule has been described as “a culture of corruption,” which makes those people who remain independent even more admirable.

Related 2003 Parliamentary elections: The GPC, whose election-time logo was the silhouette of a rearing horse, benefited from free publicity paid for with government resources…..The ruling party’s most compelling campaign message was quintessential pork-barrel politics: if you want better community services, a civil service job or government contracts, only the ruling party can deliver. ….(Yemen) could be on the road to becoming a one-party quasi-democracy, like Egypt, wherein opposition parties are allowed to compete but not to win.

This is a very good article and it includes some solid references on the ever elusive diesel smuggling:

According to a well-informed ex-parliamentarian from the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC), high-ranking regime officials smuggled large quantities of subsidized diesel from Yemen’s southern ports to the Horn of Africa, transferring at least 20 to 30 percent of the public money used to pay for the subsidies into their own pockets. Concrete evidence of the extent of smuggling is impossible to obtain, but the rapid increase in Yemen’s diesel imports makes a circumstantial case.

Though Yemen has its own small oilfields, 70 percent of the diesel consumed per annum must be brought in from elsewhere. While the amounts of other commodities imported remained fairly constant between 1998 and 2003, imports of “petroleum and petroleum products” (the vast majority of which is diesel) leapt from 6.44 percent of all imports in 1998 to 14.86 percent in 2003. The fact that all other categories of imports (including equipment that uses diesel such as power-generating machinery and transport vehicles) actually decreased slightly in this period, combined with the fact that Yemen has no strategic civil or military diesel reserve, make smuggling the only explanation for the increase, or at least a great deal of it. In any event, much of the Yemeni public is convinced that the regime is smuggling diesel. As Islah member Nasser Arman asked some months before the subsidy was lifted, “When the government admits that the subsidies on the oil derivatives go to the pockets of smugglers, why doesn’t it audit even one of them?”

Sucking the Yemeni Economy Dry, using public funds to purchase and smuggle weapons, and to smuggle diesel. I think a good chunk of the budget is allocated to the president without any transparency at all. I found a good fiscal report and W/A this later. (Its 51 pages.) But the WB report notes defense spending ( in millions of Riyals) tripled from 1998-2003, from 52,247 to 148,139

Related: Saudi Arabia will supply Yemen with natural gas to cover its current shortfall, informed sources have reported.(YO 7/27)

Next drug smuggling. Thats another big one. Can we call it narco-terrorism?

“The following are some (excerpts) of the recommendations by reformist Arab writers.:

Whoever thinks he can be comfortable near a wolf and can turn him into a domestic puppy will be astounded when one day it falls upon his flock.

In the past, we told you: ‘Stop them!’ Today, we tell you: ‘Expel them.’”

Extremist websites must be censored, and it must be understood that “the source of intellectual danger today is the media, including the Internet.”

“The time has come for us to declare resolutely that the claim heard whenever Muslims stage a terror attack - ‘George Bush made me do it’ - is a stupid one.

But not enough is said about the so-called intellectuals, who are in effect no more than justifiers of terrorism

In Egypt there is now a group of writers and editors and even politicians past the age of 50, who take political Viagra and feel intoxication and lust when they curse the U.S. and applaud the terrorists

Since 9/11, I have been reading and hearing the Egyptian media, and I cannot name five writers who condemn terrorism unequivocally

Cheap television [programming] is the incubator of terrorism, and the workshop for the creation of a terror discourse

When a mosque becomes a place where firebombs are made, it ceases to be a mosque, and should be treated as the scene of a crime…”

It is regrettable that Western media channels, particularly CNN and the BBC, host Islamist activists who support terrorism and treat them as experts and analysts…

There is no such thing as ‘moderate Islamists.’ There are ordinary Muslims who lead ordinary lives, and there are terrorists and people who are likely to become terrorists in the future

We did not heed the Prophet’s explicit instruction that the Muslims must kill only combatants, not women and children. Anger blinded us, and we enjoyed the analyses that claimed Israel was facing its most difficult challenge since the October [1973] war.

Turning to these (suicide) operations was a great moral mistake, and turning away from them is a good virtue

“The terrorists deliberately distort the precepts of Islam and the image of the Muslims, and thus are necessarily the enemies of Islam and the Muslims. Why, then, isn’t a clear and honest religious position towards them taken… like the hostile positions that these sheikhs take against some of the Muslim schools of religious thought and their followers.

The religious discourse has not educated the people of the Islamist movements to adopt leniency, mercy, and tolerance for the other - but rather has educated to hatred of the other and plans to murder and uproot the other

Then, there is a need to discuss intensively the issue of abolishing chapters in the Koran [naskh] and [a need to examine] whether it is true that the verse of the sword [Koran 9:5] abolished all mercy, leniency, and forgiveness in the Koran

“These human weapons are designed and shaped by a constant flow of anti-Western propaganda from Arab satellite television, the so-called Islamic associations, and countless madrassas (Islamic schools) and mosques throughout the world, including London itself…

Moreover, they disseminate hatred against Muslims who do not walk in their own path, treating them as unbelievers - distinguishing between murdering a Muslim and murdering a non-Muslim, and preaching that it is permitted to murder a non-Muslim but forbidden to murder a Muslim

they see the people of the West as unbelievers who are of no use whatsoever to Islam… and also see them as ‘parasites’ that must be gotten rid of, or converted to Islam - that is, to transform Dar al-Harb into Dar al-Islam…

“the war on terror … requires intensive and ongoing intellectual, political, and educational activities, in order to fight the extremist and terrorist Islamic Salafi thought and the Salafi da’wa that calls to establish a fundamentalist Islamic regime …”

And all this time we thought it was Kool-Aid the leftards were drinking, but now it sounds like it could be political viagra. Lets hope the ideological compatiability between the Arab progressives and the Western conservatives translates into a synchronicity greater than that of the alliance between the media, the western left and the radical islamists.

Criticizing Saleh’s regime is like shooting fish in a barrel, but few things irk me more than the targeting of kids. As previously discussed, the kidnapping and imprisonment of kids is used both as a punishment against adult relatives and as a tactic of intimidation against reformers and critics.

In todays mailbag from Yemen, we find THIS PETITION for Ibrahim al-Saiani, 14 year old boy in prison (without charges since May) in need of medical treatmen and near death.

I wrote about Ibrahim in my last article:

The jailing of children is common. Amnesty International recently issued an urgent alert pertaining to Ibrahim al-Saiani, a 14-year-old boy in prison, in urgent need of medical treatment. Amnesty reports that he may be held solely for being part of the Zaidi community, and at risk of torture and ill treatment. The Arabic daily, al-Shoura, also reported on children in prison; the youngest listed is 9-year-old Aref Mosa al-Qusi. His condition is “wounded.”

So one at a time if need be.

The Arabic on the petition is a translation of the English Amnesty Statement. The petition affirms the concern of Amnesty and calls for medical treatment and release if indeed is “a prisoner of conscience, held solely for being part of the Zaidi community.”

More from Amnesty: Though he was reportedly not directly involved, Ibrahim al Saiani was reportedly injured by shrapnel during the clashes in Sa’da, north of Yemen, between government forces and followers of Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi, a cleric from the Zaidi community. His right arm is said to have been amputated, a piece of shrapnel is lodged in his skull, and he has an injury to his right leg. He is said to be completely dependant on his family to carry out daily activities.

So please consider signing THIS PETITION, all it asks is for a doctor and, if he’s innnocent, to release him.

Regardless of all the divisions in the world, one thing I think most people can agree on: this kid needs a doctor and its cruel to deny him medical treatment.

YT: The Shoura Opposition newspaper reported in its website today that the robbery cases in the coastal city of Aden that accompanied rallies in demonstration of the price hike may have been carried out by ‘foreign elements’ unknown to the residents of Aden.

The demonstration, which the newspaper claims started peacefully, turned violent shortly after a group of unknown men started destroying property and robbing shops in the commercial capital’s most prominent neighborhoods.

Analysts say that such action has been adopted by totalitarian authorities in many developing countries by ordering secret police elements to begin causing panic and violence in a peaceful demonstration in order to disperse it by force and arrest all those who participated.

The Secret Police, even the name is creepy.

Not only does the Yemeni government “clone” false oppostion parties and issue look alike oppostion newspapers,

but now theres a oppostion statement issued by not-the-real opposition but instead a sound alike “Council”

(Its just out and out trickery perpetrated on the Yemeni public to disenfranchise them from the opposition):

The ruling party GPC’s newspaper in Aden, “May 22,” had a headline: “Opposition Nominates its Presidency Candidate”

but its wasn’t referring to the actual oppositon coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, but rather to an assortment of similiarly named small “opposition” parties beholden to the GPC for its considerable financial support.

So of course, the bogus opposition “Council” nominated as its candidate….Saleh!

(BTW: My article Yemeni Elections 2006: A Fraud in the Making is at Front Page Magazine. It was written before Saleh’s announcement not to run. But the points about the law, the oppression of policital parties, and the domination of the ruling party remain valid. )

25/7/2005 Sahwa decries detention of reporter

Al-Sahwa net- Al-Sahwa newspaper on Saturday condemned in the strongest possible terms the arrest by the security authorities of its correspondent in Ibb, Mansour Al-Najar, as a blunt violation of press freedom.
The newspaper demanded the Ministry of Interior (MI) to immediately free Al-Najar who was arrested while performing his duty covering the anti-price hike rallies held over the past couple of days in the province.

25/7/2005 Poll: Over 85% of Yemenis champion JMPs’ political reform initiative

Al-Sahwa net- Over 85% of Yemenis supported the Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) political reform initiative that came in the framework of the opposition’s attempt to initiate comprehensive reforms into the PGC government facilities, an opinion survey carried out by Al-Sahwa net disclosed.
The poll indicated that 11% of the respondents opposed the initiative while only 3% wouldn’t answer either.
Yemeni mass media have recently clamored about the said initiative envisaging the complementation of the parliamentary rule, developing the electoral system through approving the proportional representation, rethinking the mayoral and municipal councils’ law, and ensuring the independence of the judicial authority, among other significant issues.

ADNKI:

Sanaa, 25 July (AKI) - Yemen’s opposition parties have denied inciting last week’s violent riots over the dramatic rise in fuel prices, which left many dead and injured, the Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News reports. The country’s interior ministry says 22 were killed and 375 were injured in the two days of rioting in cities around the country, which followed the government’s decision to cut subsidies on oil-derived products. Witnesses and local media however, say at least 50 died in the protests.

The ruling party, the People’s General Congress (PGC), led by Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused the six main opposition parties of inciting the riots, after they called for the government to reconsider its decision and demanded an “immediate, neutral and fair investigation” into what happened during the protests.

In a meeting with the Supreme Security Committee over the weekend, the president said they were studying “the issue of the price of diesel to determine what’s wrong and what’s right.”

A spokesman for the PGC defended the government’s decision, saying: “The JMPs [the opposition parties, who are known as the Joint Meeting Parties] are unable to provide alternatives for the interest of the nation. We have taken a decision that will protect the national economy from collapse.”

Government buildings were attacked and tyres were set on fire around Yemen, in demonstrations which Sanaa’s mayor, Ahmed al-Kohlaniare, estimated to have caused 468 million rials (2.55 million dollars) worth of damage in the capital alone. As well as buildings, he said the protestors had damaged power plants and vehicles and uprooted “at least 762 trees in the city”.

Following the initial reports of the protests and subsequent deaths, the human rights organisation Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal to the Yemeni authorities to “ensure that international standards on law enforcement and the use of force are strictly observed.”

“Law enforcement officials must be instructed to use firearms only as a last resort, in self-defence or the defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, when less extreme means are insufficient,” the statement said.

According to the World Bank, 42 per cent of Yemeni’s survive on less than two US dollars a day, however, following the subsidy cut, petrol prices have doubled to around seven dollars a gallon (around four litres).

No mention of corruption and military expenditures by the GPC.

This article says 25% of Yemen’s budget is military expenditure. I get the salaries paid to the loyalists. But the other 14% on hardware? Where are all these weapons? Yemen is not at war. Are they running the weapons into the blackmarket and keeping those profits too?

DS: Defense salaries remained constant from 1998 to 2003 (12 to 14 percent), while nonsalary defense expenditure increased to a high of 14 percent of total expenditures in 2003.

Total defense spending between 1998 and 2003 kept an almost constant share in total current expenditure (almost a quarter), while the petroleum products subsidy fluctuated during this period but remains in recent years much lower than defense spending.

Somewhere on the blog there’s links to documentaion about running weapons to the Sudan, the Palestinians, and into Saudi Arabia. But I didnt realize they were using public money. So those purchases from North Korea and Russia really add up I see.

Ok sorry, Im back. Did I fail to point out, there aren’t enough SCHOOLS in Yemen? That the illiteracy rate among women is about 75%, that in rural areas most kids dont go to school, that almost half of Yemen kids never attend primary school? YT: the rate of the first grade enrollment (6 year olds) has increased very clearly from (49.8%) of the universal enrollment in 2000 to (56.45%) in 2003.

SD:

The Rai daily, mouthpiece for the Sons of Yemen Party, quoted unidentified sources as saying dozens of children were thrown into very crowded and small cells “full of criminals, killers and smokers.”

They said the children were expected to be charged with destroying public property during widespread unrest across the country, sparked by a government price hike in oil-derivatives by up to 300 percent.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday vowed to punish everyone who took part in the riots and urged security leaders to chase down the demonstrators from television footage and photographs published in newspapers.

Amnesty International reported on the “arrest” of many children during the protests as well.

Random link dumps: The fishery exports rose from 12.9 thousand tons in 2000 to 47.6 thousand tons in 2004 and their values grew from $40 million to $312 million during the same period of time. Well thats good.

Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), had recently sealed 20-year liquid natural gas (LNG) import contracts with three foreign natural gas suppliers, including Yemen, at rates 40 percent lower than current prices.

Al-Ahmar said the government would be held responsible if it were to go ahead with the LNG transaction without ensuring the adequacy of LNG reserves and the consistency of prices with international rates. He also warned the government of violating the parliamentary stipulations; otherwise ministers would be legally called to account either collectively or individually. He concluded that the prime minister’s answers to Parliament’s questions were generalizing and procrastinating, and clearly showed the fumbling, disorganized and inept nature of the government.

(Context of the protests and Video of the protests )

al-Sahwa reports large amount of people were in front of the Cabinet building and the Presidential palace. They threw rocks at security forces who responded by shooting live rounds and launching tear gas.

AL-Wahdawi net of the Nasserite Unionist party reported demonstrations in al-Habilayn district of Lahej. Protesters burnt pictures of the president, and set public offices on fire.

A night time curfew was imposed on Thursday after demonstrations began again after evening prayers. Police sources told RAY news that riots in Aden were organized and they have instructions to use what ever means necessary to thwart the riots.

The official Saba news agency announced through its mobile-phone news service an impending presidential speech on Thursday. But there was none.

5 journalists were arrested and live broadcasting was banned. an al-Jazeera correspondent and camera men were held at the PSO. They were released after the channel announced their arrest.The Al-Hurra TV crew was also detained. Al-Thwary paper of the YSP was banned from printing for a second week.

In Mareb, tribesmen continue to hold the oil tankers destined for other parts of Yemen. This morning, a peaceful demonstration was launched in Mareb. The Mareb tribes have declared a truce in order to unify their efforts. There was a fire set in an oil pipe line in Shabwa and shooting at governmental vehicles in the governorate.

Flour trucks coming to the capital were intercepted by protesters who gave the flour to the villages on the road. A special forces unit engaged the protesters.

The ministry of interior said yesterday that total casualties of the riots all around Yemen is 22 killed and 120 wounded. It also said that 255 security soldiers were wounded. News Yemen said that 51 were killed and hundreds were wounded.

Update: So OF COURSE the Yemeni government is blaming the opposition and democracy advocates. The Sec. General of the GPC (ruling party) blamed the opposition parties for instigating and conspiring against the people. (26 Sept, paper of the army)

Here it comes: –”Wanted for Justice” is a special supplement published today by Al-Thawra newspaper with pictures of people that had instigated the attacks on private and public interests. The article says they were photographed holding stones.

Saleh: “In order for people to express their opinions, they should resort to media and peaceful means. Those outlaws will be brought to justice to face their due penalty.”

2 al-Jazeera reporters detained

al-Shoura.net:

The joined meeting parties in Ibb as well as branches of Yemen Sons Party and Arab Ba’ath party branches in Ibb their solidarity with the Union of Popular Forces and the head of the Union in Ibb, Mr. Abdulhakim AL Nuzaili, who has been subjected to pressures and threats by the officials in the ruling party and local authorities, the last of which was threatening his life by assassination, that he received via a telephone call from an unknown person….

Mr. Al Nuzaili has received threats from unknown persons after pressures were subjected to him by the ruling party and the local authorities that started right after the occupation of the Union’s office in Sana’a to force him support the security forces which have been supported through a propaganda launched by the government that assumed it was the legitimate leadership of the Union through local media.

(full explanation in this post.)

al-shoura.net: Statement by the Civil Society Organizations and civil activists on the occupation of the Shura Newspaper office (issued 7/11/05)

The Yemeni political, and party spheres were saddened by the attack on the Shura newspaper office this morning.

The newspaper is issued by the Union of Popular Forces opposition party and member of the joined meeting parties after the Union’s main office was attacked on 14/5/05 following a series of threats against the opposition by leaders in power. This urged the security forces to act upon the opposition and all those possessing opinions not conforming to ruling leaders and party. In an atmosphere of terror and violence dominating this political period against the opposition and opinions, the death penalty against Yahya Hussein Al Dailami and imprisonment of his colleague Mohammed Miftah through an illegal court and arresting thousands of citizens and children in prisons without any legal warranty as well as using charges of treason and others against those of opinion are all horrifying details of this.

We condemn the occupation of the Shura newspaper that is issued by the Union of Popular Forces and confirm that continuing these current ruling policies will draw a horrible end to the country. We call all free citizens headed by the Civil Society organizations and society activists to condemn these irresponsible policies and call for political reform that will save the country from the current general chaos.

Signed:

Democratic Social Forum

Sisters Forum

Information and Rehabilitation Center

Yemeni center for Monitoring Human Rights

Political Development Forum

Aswan center for Studies

Jarallah Omar Intellectual Forum

National Agency for protecting Rights and Freedoms (Hud)

“Leave the Power” movement

Female Journalists Forum (Legal Hotline)

Lawyers Syndicate (Sana’a Branch/ freedoms and rights)

Yemeni Organizations for defending Rights and Freedoms

Center for Freedoms and Cultural Studies

(full explanation in this post.)

Widespread popular protests in Yemen grabbed attention in the West even though some international journalists were prohibited from broadcasting video of the violence via satellite. Tanks and military vehicles line the streets, giving Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, an eerie resemblance to Iraq.

The protests were triggered by a reduction in governmental subsidies on many commodity items in this desperately poor nation. The price of petroleum has risen by around 90% and the price of gas has increased almost 80%. In a country where the per capita GDP is $508 a year and half the population is in poverty, the price increases mean more people will be starving. But there is a broader context to the protests than the lifting of subsidies: governmental corruption, brutality, and repression. Much of the anger on Yemen’s streets is directed toward the government itself. “Prices have risen and we’re afflicted while not one single corrupt official has been held accountable,” said Mohammaed al-Baazany, a 25-year-old unemployed university graduate.

Yemen has gas and oil reserves. A Member of Parliament, Mr. Ali Ashal, noted that “the price of Yemeni gas is slightly more than 3 dollars/unit, while it is more than 47 in the market. We don’t know really the reason why our government is throwing away this asset in this way.” In the same interview, Mr. Ashel reported, “Oil prices are estimated at $22/barrel while it is sold at $45 or more. This means that huge amounts of money are lost.” Someone is making a lot of money from Yemen’s natural resources. Unfortunately, the Yemeni people are not sharing the revenue. There are many other unfortunate occurrences in Yemen.

The jailing of children is common. Amnesty International recently issued an urgent alert pertaining to Ibrahim al-Saiani, a 14 year old boy in prison, unconscious and in need of medical treatment. Amnesty reports that he may be held solely for being part of the Zaidi community, and at risk of torture and ill treatment. The Arabic daily, al-Shoura, also reported on children in prison; the youngest listed is nine year old Aref Mosa al-Qusi. His condition is “wounded.”

The Yemeni human rights group, HOOD, reported that security forces attempted to arrest human rights worker Ismail Mutawakel. When they couldn’t find Ismail, the security personnel kidnapped his younger brother Ibrahim and held him for three weeks. The child is twelve.

The Woman’s National Committee recently noted that about half of Yemen’s children have never attended primary school.

The harassment of reformers and journalists is common. Journalist Abdul Rahim Mohsen organized “Leave,” a peaceful, nonpartisan reform movement that advocates “comprehensive political reforms.” Mohsen was abducted off the street by Yemeni security forces and held incommunicado for three days before being charged with a traffic violation. Other journalists have been arrested, slandered, threatened, assaulted, and one recently received a letter bomb.

The targeting of opposition parties is another frequent occurrence. The Yemeni government recently announced a state employed security guard is now the head of an opposition party. The headquarters of the Popular Forces Union, a pluralistic pro-democracy political party, was taken over at gunpoint by a state security guard. The security guard also occupied the party’s newspaper, al-Shoura, and published an issue with dubious content. The government then recognized the security guard as the legal representative of the PFU party. A coalition of Yemeni opposition parties called the government’s actions “cloning the party,” and a “provocative act that cancelled a legal party.” The Socialist Party dubbed it “political terrorism.”

Yemeni religious summer schools, financed by the government, will be taught by 3000 students from the al-Iman University which is headed by US classified “Major Terrorist” Sheik Zindani and has such alumni as John Walker Lind.

In the Sa’ada region, where reportedly 65,000 residents were made homeless due to government bombing, government vehicles have been reported dragging burnt bodies through the villages. Doctors have been arrested for treating the wounded, and the literary works of Iman Ali bin Abi Talib (noted by the UN as a model for his teachings encouraging democracy) have been confiscated. Mass arrests of entire villages have resulted in thousands of men held in prison for months without charges. The boys get “arrested” too. Referring to Sa’ada, Yemen’s top Shiite cleric said Iraqis in the Yemeni military advised President Saleh to “kill the Shiaas in the country as Saddam did in Iraq.”

Amnesty International believes that cleric Yahia al-Dailami, who was sentenced to death in May, received a trial that “fell short” of international standards, and he may have been targeted solely because of his criticisms of the government.

President Saleh announced he would not seek re-election in 2006. In the last presidential election in Yemen, Saleh received 96% of the vote. At that time, he also announced he wouldn’t seek candidacy, only to be convinced by his party four days later. At this moment though, there is a real hope and opportunity for a peaceful transition of power in Yemen.

Yemen has been called a monarchy, a dictatorship, a kleptocracy, and a totalitarian state similar to Iraq under Saddam. Faced with mounting pressures from its formidable reform movement and a populace ravaged by governmental malfeasance, the Yemeni government has responded with a campaign of brutality and repression targeting children, journalists, and political parties. Yet across all the governates, the Yemeni people took to the streets facing tanks, and guns, soldiers, police, and the Republican Guard. More than fifty people were killed, including a twelve year old. Hundreds were arrested, including children, and Amnesty International reports they may be at risk of torture.

(Video of the protests, click here. )

Published at World Press . For the regular readers,this is a/k/a Yemen 17.
(CP:BNN) Works cited: (Read on …)

The protests continue into the third day and have spread across all the governates.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 31/013/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 199
22 July 2005

“Yemen: International rules on law enforcement must be upheld
Amnesty International is concerned at reports that dozens of people have been killed during violent protests over the last two days. Scores of protesters, including children, are said to have been arrested and may be at risk of torture.”

The Star :

Eleven people were killed and scores injured on Thursday in a second day of clashes between Yemeni security forces and rioters protesting fuel price increases.

In the capital Sanaa, tanks and armored vehicles took up positions around the presidential palace, government ministries and oil sector offices. It was the first time tanks had been seen in Sanaa since the rioting broke out on Wednesday

The Houdeida clashes appeared to be the fiercest and witnesses said shots were fired. Unrest broke out again late on Thursday and heavy gunfire was heard, residents said.

According to World Bank figures, more than 42 percent of Yemen’s 19 million people live below the poverty line, illiteracy is around 50 percent and unemployment is more than 20 percent. The population is expected to double in 20 years. …

He said the IMF had also pressed the Yemeni authorities to increase the coverage of a social welfare fund that distributes cash subsidies to impoverished families. Critics said the government must end state corruption and cut military expenditure to help shore up the economy.

ISP: Ali al-Sarari, member of the Yemeni Socialist Party said the government is misleading people. ”Saying that the price increase is a global demand is illogical,” he told IPS.. ”Our conditions will improve if the government honestly fights corruption and properly exploits natural resources.”

woo who

I have no idea who this guy is, only that its not Ahmed (president Saleh’s son). And as an added bonus, the candidate is talking about the seperation of powers. (Currently in Yemen, the executive dominates the legisalture, parliament, military, security forces, civil service, ect.)

Abdullah Ahmed Naaman told UPI in a telephone interview, “I decided to enter the race because the chance is looming now to reform and rectify the imbalance and mistakes which have been committed for 27 years as a result of the hegemony of the military institution in Yemen.”

He said his electoral platform would focus on ending military interference in politics and confining the army inside its barracks, improving work and living conditions for the Yemeni population and improving education standards which, he said, are at the core of development and progress.

Very nice. This may not be the right guy, but who ever runs, everybody has to back him. There cant be four opposition candidates.

Saleh’s Announcement not to run is disputed by his own party:

Official media reported the announcement as the most important turning point in the modern history of Yemen. The opposition press, however, has not buckled. Recently, some writers have gone beyond traditional red lines, attacking Saleh directly and demanding his resignation.

“The PGC will hold its general conference next November and will affirm its adherence to the leadership of Ali Abdullah Saleh as president of the republic,” said Vice President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi….

About rumours that the president’s decision may precede passing power to his son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, Atwani replied: “In fact, in our Arab scene there are preparations for successors from the same family, but we, in the opposition, can say that if Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh stands for office in the elections, there will be no equivalence between him and any other candidate because the resources of the state will be used for supporting him.”

This sounds good:

YO: Al-Atwani said that he hoped the JMP parties would accept the idea of nominating one candidate from these parties in an electoral constituency, while Abdul-Qader said that this initiative had been submitted for discussions but that a decision had not yet been reached upon it.

Al-Saberi believed that the JMPs could agree to the idea of nominating one candidate in one electoral constituency, and that that single candidate representing the coalition would be in a strong position to compete with the ruling party’s candidate. That candidate would represent all the parties of the JMPs with a single candidacy.

Here’s an article from 2000 when Saleh last said he would step down. It discusses possible sucessors among his relatives: Ali Mohsen wants the presidency for himself while Ali Saleh al-Ahmar sides with the President’s nephew.

Give this guy a blog. He’s snarky enough. From the Yemen Times: Yemeni judiciary is rotten to the core. People don’t trust it, and don’t like to resort their cases to it. Why did it reach this miserable state?

Then the writer lists examples in each of the following catagories:
Waiting for years
Cheating and extortion
Lack of trust
Judiciary corruption
Judiciary is not independent
Bribery became a must
The citizens do not claim their rights
(check it out)

my my, that didnt take long…..

Saleh says he wont run, like he said three times before he ran, so the announcement may be a ploy. His ruling party seems rather determined to keep him in office (and themselves in power.)

20/7/2005 Hadi says president Saleh still PGC candidate for upcoming presidential polls

Al-Sahwa net- The Yemeni vice president Abdraboo Mansor Hadi on Monday affirmed that the PGC was still committed to the nomination of president Saleh in the upcoming presidential elections slated for September, 2006. Speaking at an inauguration ceremony of the summer educational centers organized by the Ministry of Endowments, Hadi said “ the PGC would announce the candidature of president Saleh in the forthcoming presidential elections during its sixth conference scheduled to be held next November”.

Also this very good bit of advice: Mohammed Qahtan, chairman of Islah political department,in press statement to Al-Sahwa net, urged the opposition parties to consider the president’s decision and adopt a unified national vision in this regard. (Actually my new favorite book, Building Democracy in Yemen, gives the same advice to the opposition as well as the womens’ movement, 43% of the registered electorate is women.)

Nadia: Who is the future hero?…Who will calm the burning hearts in the streets.

YT headline: Government spends YR50 million on religious education

What it says, What it means:

Sheikh Yahya al-Najjar, Under-secretary of the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance, confirmed that the Cabinet has offered YR50 million through his ministry to finance religious summer schools.

The Yemen goverment is financing the spread of Salafist ideology among Yemeni children basically converting them by force.

Sources mentioned to the Yemen Times that government had requested 3000 teachers from al-Iman University to teach at the religious schools during the summer vacation.

al-Iman University is run by Sheik Zindani, a US classfied “Major Terrorist, ” primary mentor to bin Laden, who issued the Fatwa that legitimizes civilian killings. al-Iman University is where John Walker Lind attended school, along with several other known terrorists. These teachers will be indocrinating Yemen’s children through the summer in the Salafist interpretation of Islam.

Some sects, including the Zaidia’s, are rumored to consider the new government support as an attempt to homogenize religious education in the country and that it is a violation against the human freedom.

Zaidia, shiites, are being methodically repressed. Their religious books and libraries have been trashed. The public school’s religion class descriminates against them. Moderate Sunnis dont do much better. Forget about the socialists, they are fatwa-ed. (Actually anyone not in with the web of corruption is a target.) The Yemeni government is attempting to “homogenize” religious thinking in Yemen: all Wahabbi.

Procedures taken against religious schools have become severe after the recent blood clashes in Sa’ada between the government and supporters of al-Houthi, who had been controlling numerous religious schools in the north province of Sa’ada.

The violence in Saada is targeted against Zaidia Shiites civilians because they have a different interpretation, and religious pluralism in Yemen is being actively discouraged.

Speaking of kids: the actual number of (Yemeni) children who have never attended primary school is distressing – a little short of 50% (male: 46.79% and female: 47.24%).

Fifty dead, hundreds injured, no photos allowed

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 22 July 2005

“Yemen: International rules on law enforcement must be upheld
Amnesty International is concerned at reports that dozens of people have been killed during violent protests over the last two days. Scores of protesters, including children, are said to have been arrested and may be at risk of torture.“

Yahoo What began Wednesday as anger over Yemen’s crumbling economy turned into a rare open expression of fury at the country’s leaders, with rioters demanding the government’s ouster and burning pictures of top officials.

The clashes have not been confined to the capital, erupting in at least a half-dozen cities in the worse civil strife in more than a decade.

The decrepit economy has sparked growing resentment in the mountainous, tribal-dominated nation. Yemen discovered oil in 1986, but the profits have not trickled down to the public and the government has been accused of rampant corruption. Unemployment is 36 percent.

Update 7/22: Protests Spread to all the Governates
Hi MSNBC readers: theres lots more about Yemen all over my blog. Take a look for the real story about this “reforming democray” that is in actuality a brutal dictatorship with a strong indiginous pro-democracy movement that is repressed at every turn.

The protests are about the huge rise in oil and gas prices. Someone should note that in this very corrupt country gas is sold at half of the current market value. Oil revenue is reported on the books with a sale price of $22/barrel when it goes for what now $45? Wonder who is benefitting from that? Not the Yemeni people.

Update 7/21: Khaleej Times (probably written by the reporter who got his car demolished by the Yemeni security forces):

Twelve (more) people were killed during clashes on Thursday between security forces and armed demonstrators in a second day of deadly protests against a government decision to hike fuel prices, witnesses said.

At least 50 protestors were also wounded in the capital and at least six towns in the south and north, with government forces, backed by army tanks and armored vehicles, deployed along main roads.

A number of journalists working for foreign television told AFP the Yemeni information ministry has banned them from airing footage from the violence via satellite transmission. (ht: Strata-sphere, analysis from AJStrata further down.)

The Yemen Observer reports today’s days events this way: The city has returned to state of calm….However, peaceful gatherings have been reported in some parts of the city.

Also: Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bagammal said in a television address, “We are not accusing anyone but we call those infiltrating the masses to stop harming society. They are the true saboteurs and we will confront them,” he said without elaborating. (Should we take bets on who he’s going to “confront”: the democracy advocates, the journalists, the Popular Forces Union, the Houthis?)

Original post

via email:
We are all worried. Things may get out of control. In my neighborhood and around it today, there was a total loss of control. Nothing held people except that they all view the gov as the enemy. In other areas, things went differently. Demonstrators smashed cars, signs, and glass windows. They ransacked some gov buildings, banks, and other key buildings.

As the sun rises tomorrow, we will know what to expect.

There’s a lot of pent up fustration in Yemen. This is about more than just the price increases, its about a brutal dictator pillaging the economy and stealing the future of a generation of children. (Half of Yemen’s children have never been to school, but theres loads of new weapons-that come in handy now-and millions in private bank accounts of the elite. )

Update, Yemen Obbserver:
Crowds then turned on the police and military with sticks and rocks. The scenes, repeated in other cities throughout Yemen, left the city in a state of shock.

The current death toll stands at 6 in Sana’a, 3 in Dhamar, and 6 in Dhali’. Dozens more people have been injured, according to local media reports. There’s no official statement to confirm or deny the figures above.

Several banks were attacked in Sana’a, including the Central Bank of Yemen, as well as a number of governmental institutions, among them the headquarters of the Ministry of Oil & Minerals and the Ministry of Finance, and several other government buildings.

After 25 years of President Saleh’s brutal rule, Yemen is among the most impoverished in the world, illiteracy is near 50%, and unemployment is very high, while the country’s elites have become richer and more powerful. They are so powerful, the ruling party this week closed down a lawful political oppositon party by taking over its headquarters and newspaper at gunpoint. But in addition to lacking free speech, civil rights, and an independent judiciary, the Yemeni people also lack food, an educational system, and doctors.

Saleh is reputedly worth 20 billion. Economic reforms repealing goverment subsidies on commodity items were instutited yesterday, the impact of which will be felt most keenly by the poor who are barely sustaining themselves now. The massive governmental corruption, noted as among the pervasive in the world, has not been addressed. So again the Yemeni people pay the price for the privileged postions of those in power. This time they’re protesting.

Yemen Times: Observers expect massive rallies across the country after the death of at least 15 civilians in violent demonstrations mainly in the cities Sanaa, Dhamar and Dhale’. The demonstrations were caused by anger due to the government’s decision of raising the prices of petroleum directive products between 50% and 100%.

Thousands of angry men took into the streets in the capital Sana’a and set fire to tires, blocked streets and hurled stones at the prime minister’s office while shops closed for fear of looting.

Demonstrators shouted slogans attacking Bagammal and the ruling party of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Police, using tear gas and water cannon to control the crowds, blocked off the house of Vice President Abd-Rabbu Hadi where protesters converged.

“This is a natural reaction because the government’s reforms are a lie and we can’t take it any more…This government is making the rich richer and the poor poorer,” said one young man in Sanaa.

Opposition parties say such measures will increase pressure on the poor and demand instead a crackdown on corruption, which they blame for Yemen’s economic problems.

These are not the protests begging Saleh to stay in power that some of his loyalists were predicting here yesterday. This the people putting the blame where it belongs.

YO: Eight deaths have, as of Wednesday mid-afternoon, been confirmed following violent confrontations between police and protestors against the rise in fuel prices…

Soldiers entered a building in search of a journalist who had been on the roof taking photographs of the scenes below, but they did not find him. “The taking of photographs is not allowed,” declared one solider.

“This is our only option to make our feelings known and exercise our rights. What else can we do to make government listen?” said one of the protestors.

The price of petroleum for has risen by around 90%, while the price of gas has gone up to 400 YR a cylinder, an increase of almost 80%.

I’m very worried. There’s 20 deaths already and over a hundred injured.

Quoting other coverage: Mad Dog Vinnie: We need to stand up and support these people in their quest for freedom.

Willisms: These demonstrations are not about poverty itself, nor about gas prices. These demonstrations, targeted against Saleh’s rule, were nothing less than the early stages of revolution.

Don Surber: One victim was all of 12.

Searchlight Crusade references this LGF post. And Thanks Glenn.

Strata-sphere: The protestors have done what they needed to do at this moment - gain world wide attention. They are paying a price for these acts in lives and injuries. But they need to also make sure they can control the outcome towards a peaceful end.

Guardian: “Critics said that curbing general public expenditure, including military spending, would have been a more effective way of tackling the budget deficit.” (ed: oh yes, enough toys for Ali Mohsen already: Russian copters, arms from North Korea, if I recall correctly there’s a $400 million dollar deal with Russia for various weapons. The blackmarket Yemeni weapons pipeline is taking food out of the mouths of starving children. ) Loads and loads more about Yemen all over this blog.

additional coverage: (Read on …)

What an excellent decision, what a good example.

Lets hope its not propaganda. Or just a move to get his son in power. But on the whole a wonderful development. ap:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, leader of this Arab nation for more than a quarter-century, said Sunday he will not run in next year’s elections, and he urged political parties to nominate “young blood” to lead the country.

Saleh, president since 1978, said he would remain in office until the September 2006 elections. He did not give a specific reason for stepping down.

“We want to establish a model for peaceful handover of power,” Saleh said during a meeting with political parties and diplomats.

“Political parties must nominate for this post young leaders capable of bearing responsibility based on clear programs to manage the country.”

So now why try to dismantle the PFU? Why all the pressure on the electorate to join the GPC? Why the targeting of the oppositon parties? The sudden proliferation of letter bombs? In any event, there’s an opening for a real democracy that wasn’t there yesterday.

HT: Iraq War News

Update: a little perspective from our good friend Amin in the comments:

I read the news about the president stepping down. I admit, this will be positive for us as a nation but for many years he announced this in 1985, 1988, 1995 and 1999. During the last four occasions, he said the same thing, exactly the same, but he simply did not do it.

Here is a link from the archive in 1999
Salah not to run for reelection 7/5/1999

But here is what he did a week after. What an irony!!!!
President Saleh a candidate for the coming Yemeni Presidency, 7/9/1999

“Who has been bitten by a snake once, will not believe it next time.”

Thank you Amin. Four days, huh? Also the whole concept of an inherited aristocracy is a little scary. Think Syria. Prince Ahmed may think its his turn now. In order to break up the web of corruption, it has to be anybody else.

But still, for today there’s a hope that wasn’t there yesterday.
Daily Star editorial: But Saleh’s announcement is nonetheless a historic gesture in the Middle East, where peaceful and democratic transitions can only be witnessed in a handful of states. It is unheard of for an Arab leader to step down from office voluntarily in the absence of a constitution mechanism that would force him to do so. In this respect, Saleh has certainly raised the bar for Arab leaders across the region.

ash-Sharq al-Awsat: It told him “we want you to make our wish come true that there is a former Arab president, a title that has not been accorded to any Arab until now.” The paper urged Saleh not to retract his decision and to “convince your son not to seek election so that no one says the president passed on his seat to his son.”

OK, back to work on the PFU.

Related: Journalist recieves letter bomb: The press syndicate condemned the use of violence in dealing with free writers.

Islah strongly condemned the authorities’ illegal measures exercised against the Popular Forces’ Union (PFU) as a direct contravention of the Yemeni constitution,

Yemen: al-Khaiwani remains a target of the Yemeni government.

Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, Yemen’s main democracy advocate and reformer, recently released from jail, targeted by the government again along with the Popular Forces Union, his political party.

Summary of events: A security guard employed by the Yemeni government took over the PFU (pluralistic opposition political party) building at gunpoint. Then he took over the building of its newspaper, al-Shoura. The Yemen govt then recognized him, their own gunman, as the new leader of the party.

Nifty way to silence the oppositon, huh?

Partial History of prior Yemeni Govt Targeting of al-Khaiwani:

May 2004 al-Khaiwani recieves death threats and threats to KIDNAP HIS KIDS .
September 2004, al-Khaiwani imprisoned for insulting the president in an oped in al-Shoura.
al-Khaiwani refuses to buy his freedom with an apology.
He spends six months in prison for his opinions.
March 2005, he is finally released.

Now, four months later, the Yemeni government is targeting al-Khaiwani again: taking the paper, the building, the party, leveling false charges, trashing him in the official media, and there’s more death threats.

Chronolgy 2005:

1- May 14, govt security guards take over the democratically oriented, politcal party, the Popular Forces Union building at gunpoint. District prosecutor orders the gunmen brought in. The Interior Minister over rules the order. Twice. (May 20 and 23) The police go to the building and the gunmen fire at them. The police leave and dont return. (June 1)

2-The gunmen steal the computers of the PFU paper, al-Shoura, edited by our friend al-Khaiwani.

3- al-Khaiwani writes in al-Wasat about the death threats he is receiving.

4- The gunmen take over al-Shoura’s building at gunpoint and say al-Khaiwani is no longer the editor. (July 4)

5- The gunmen issue a bogus issue of al-Shoura full of lies with a new editor. (July5) The bogus issue says there is a party dispute.

6- The independent printing press is shut down (July6), so the opposition papers can’t publish. (The bogus al-Shoura was printed on the government’s printing press.)

7- The official government newspaper says weapons were found by the new editor who called the police (attempt to frame al-Khaiwani).

8-The new editor and the police say no such thing ever happened.

9- And the person listed as the new editor says he never set foot in the building, isnt a journalist, and never saw weapons. (July 9) The people listed as rebeling against the party say they are not.

10- The Yemeni government recognizes THE GUNMEN as the legal representative of the PFU. (July 13) (Do they really expect anyone to believe this garbage? Its preposterous.)

11- Members of the PFU party report they are receiving death threats and other intimidation to force them to ally with the gunmen, not the legitimate leadership.

Yemen Times: “The guards” who occupied the headquarters of the Joint Meeting Parties last month, have issued a new Al-shura Journal holding the same name. They also made a decision of discharging Abdulkreem Al-khiwani, from the post of chief editor of the paper. They directed a memorandum to the Ministry of Information with these changes. The Ministry has indorsed these changes…

The (ed: state controlled) Yemeni TV has devoted ten minutes for the news of the discharges and the changes that the Guards have made.

The JMP joint meeting last Monday has denounced the practices that the consultation council was subjected to. They described it as it a provocative act that cancelled a legal party. It cloned this party and tailored it to the desire of a group of the party opponents. Those opponents purport that they represent the consultant council of the party. They have nothing to do with the party.

Several Political observers considered the closure of Al-shora paper and the change of its chief editor Al-khiwani as an effort to satisfy the authorities’ desire. Al-shora paper is the first local paper to open the heated discussions on the presidential affairs (inheritance of governance). Read the rest at the Yemen Times.

For more background see

Statement of Popular Forces Union (issued about the occupation of the building, before the gunman was declared the head of the party.)

and my articles (many of which were translated into Arabic and published by al-Khaiwani in al-Shoura, also by the independent paper, the Yemen Times, in English):

Ayatollah Sistani and the War in Yemen
Yemen: al-Qaeda in Broad Daylight
Yemen’s Reformers vs. the Pact of Evil
Yemeni Elections 2006: A Fraud in the Making

Update fromYemen:

hi jane

some party leaders and members are being threatened to leave the party and join the imposter party

PFU leader in the gov of IBB issued a statment condemning the attak on PFU branches in the governerat of ibb by GPC leader ship through puting pressure on them and threatining them . the last one on last friday PFU leader in IBB Abdulhakim Alnuzily recieved a phone call from unknown accused him that he is disloyal and an agent for foriegn country the statment added that the unknown caller threatened Alnozaily that he would be killed if he doesnot join those occupaying the party head quarter. the caller asked him not to talk about people sufferings

the same statment mentioned that AHMed al shouabi PFU member in Ibb and member of the party concel in ibb was also threatened by one of GPC members that he would be transfared from IBB to another place . alshouibi is a teacher
(Translation of this News Yemen report.)

Update 2: THANKS TO EVERYBODY FOR LINKING.
It makes a difference.
The light pains the roaches.

The story: the Yemeni government goes to arrest a human rights worker, a college kid. They cant find him, so they kidnap his 12 year old brother.

via HOOD: The Yemeni Organization defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms condemns targeting of Mr. Ismail Mohammed Ahmed Al Mutawakel, one of the organization’s activists, and the serious violations that his family has been subjected to. A group of armed persons kidnapped his brother the juvenile Ibrahim Mohammed Ahmed Al Mutawakel who has not exceeded 12 years old as a hostage on the 25th of May 2005.

This happened after attacking his house and horrifying the women and children inside it. The armed persons attacked the house and took some possessions without any warranty or legal document and this has been confirmed by human rights organizations that are concerned of this repeated action.

These actions practiced on human rights activists is a bad omen

They held the 12 year old for three weeks before they let him go.

There’s also quite an assortment of children as young as nine in Yemeni prisons.