Armies of Liberation

Sudan’s Appeal Rejected:

The suit alleges the Sudanese government and Osama bin Laden co-owned a bank and a company. Also, the country allegedly let al-Qaida run a terrorist training camp within its borders and allowed an al-Qaida member to ship crates of explosives from Sudan to Yemen, where the USS Cole bombing occurred, Judge Doumar said….

“These facts not only satisfy the [Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s] definition of ’material support or resources,’ but suggest the existence of a joint enterprise or partnership. If these allegations do not suffice to establish ’material support or resources’ for the purpose of jurisdiction, it is difficult to imagine what can,” Judge Doumar said.

He also ruled that the complaint’s allegations satisfied the terrorist exception because they claimed that Sudanese officials acted within the scope of their duties when providing material support to al-Qaida.

I wonder how much the reward is for the person who comes up with my phone number? pfffff Everybody wants to know my “real name” (duh, its jane), my location (hello?) and who my sources are. Middle East Transparent publishes the articles with the complete footnotes: those are my sources. I’m on troll four and its only 10:30.

By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published September 26, 2005
Basam Alouni

Abd Allah Ahmed al-Numan, Yemeni opposition activist, has announced that he is working with Yemeni political opposition leaders to form a conference that will call for an overhaul of the governemnt in Sana’a-Yemen, according to United Press International.

” I am visiting London to meet with Yemeni opposition groups, and
the exiled Yemeni community in Britania. There is a an interest
forming to meet with whomever is concerned about the Yemeni
affair ,whether they be in the British governemnt, or the
parliament. There are no specifics on this matter.” al-Numan said. al-Numan reserved disclosure of whom he maybe meeting with in the UK.

He adds: “Two months ago I nominated myself to run for next Yemeni
president election. Since then I have made constant contacts and
been communicating with Yemeni opposition groups in and outside
Yemen, the USA, Europe, Saudia, and Gulf States, and had found lots
of support.”

al-Numan denies if he recieves support from Arab, regional or
foreign states. He says ” My base is Yemen, and I will not resort to
no one but Yemen and the Yemeni People only.”

al-Numan has been nominating himself to run in the next Yemeni
presidential election since July 2005, soon as President Saleh
announced his intended abandonment of his office in 2006.

al-Numan also says:”We are working to announce a new opposition
assembly that combines all Yemeni forces into a coalition. One that
calls for change in Yemen. There has been on going presentations to
form a coalition that integrates all Yemeni oppossition factors into
one whole regardless of where they are inside or outside Yemen.
There is the 1970 constitution as an authoritative reference that
possibly could be called the ancestors constitution. There must be a
separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers in Yemn.
Because all of these branches of powers are in the custody of the
president.” (Read on …)

The New Press Law, worse than the old press law: Sami Ghalib, Editor-in-Chief of al-Nida and a member of the YJS confirmed to the Yemen Times that the draft law never cancels the penalty of imprisonment for publication issues and does make the YJS membership mandatory for all pressmen.

(The government stooges who write the propaganda in the official newspapers are also members of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, and the title of the YT article is “Exploiting Disputes Within the YJS.”)

In less than eight months, over 79 journalists and opinion writers were summoned to appear before court to be interrogated and investigated for what they had written. The victims included 72 publishers and chief and managing editors of independent, party-affiliated, opposition and state-run newspapers.

The report stated: “The al-Thawri (socialist) opposition newspaper scored the highest numbers of interrogations, trials and other legal actions sued against it. Presently, its editor-in-chief is being tried along with a number of reporters over publishing 13 articles on different issues, one of them allegedly included humiliation against the Statesman. 4 lawsuits are filed against al-Wahdawi opposition newspaper and the same number of cases is sued against al-Nihar independent paper.

“Other independent papers, among them al-Wasat, al-Asima, al-Rased, al-Lewa, al-Sharq, al-Haq, al-Bilad, Saut al-Shura and al-Fursan are being quizzed,” the report said. “The security authorities shut down in the middle of last June the head-office of al-Ibhar independent paper, suspended any printing of it and fined one of its reporters.”

Also the new law doesnt address the issue of the monopoly on broadcast media. And somehow Saleh will spin the new, more oppressive law as reform, maybe get another congressional commendation.

YES!!!!! (yes, yes, yes) These are some of the big boys, the heavy hitters, the elder statesmen, and they subordinated their individual agendas and joined together for a democratic Yemen.

These opposition leaders and movements overseas formed a coalition to press for a “New Yemen” through democratic processes and peaceful means, for an end to Yemen’s isolation, a constitutional democratic system, and an end to corruption.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Ashag, an ex-minister of foreign affairs issued a statement: “We are an organizational framework of different political affiliation that agreed on common goals to rescue our homeland from its deteriorating political, social , economic, and security decline…”

The group includes Ex-President Ail Nasser Mohammed, Abdullah Noman, and Abdussalam AL-Hakemi. “Democracy cannot be achieved with the military in power,” Al-Asnag said. “We aim for peaceful change, direct and free elections,” as well as stable and cooperative relations with regional, Arab and world countries.

Main Objectives of the movement

1- Forming an interim national unity government to supervise and run elections.
2- Elections should be made under the supervision of the EU and donor countries.
3- Formation of National Defense Council under the interim government to supervise all military, security and other armed forces.
4- No constitutional amendment are to be made at the current stage.
5- Building a true democratic foundation.
6- Full commitment to the international declaration of Human Rights.
7- Resisting all calls for violence in and out of Yemen, confront violence and its sources.

On the local level, the movement said that it will :

1- Eliminate all security and army check points.
2- Choose qualified military personnel from all governorates for leadership positions.
3- Reinstate all officers and soldiers dismissed after 1994 war to service.
4- Encourage comprehensive reconciliation among all Yemeni tribes.

(For anyone late to the game: Saleh has been in power for 27 years, the government is almost completely corrupt, the people are starving. There is a presidential election next year. Saleh said he wouldn’t run for reelection, but he said that before the last election which he won with 96% of the vote. But Yemen is about to move from dictatorship to democracy all by itself. Watch.)

Internally people and groups are coming together to stand for democracy and democratic principals: 28 civil society organizations, professional syndicates and individuals (mainly journalists) announced the formation of the “Civil Society Coalition” to work for freedom and democracy, and to work for establishing a democratic society in Yemen. Their first activity was to issue a press release on press freedoms, condemning the recent wide scale violations. The oppositon parties within Yemen are working through the mechanism of the Joint Meeting Parties to achieve a greater consensus. Individuals throughout society are speaking out and taking a stand. Stay tuned, big things are afoot.

*Also* this opposition plan to regain civilian control of the military will aid the US because thats where much the support for al-Qaeda and the Baathist fighters going to Iraq comes from, so changing the leadership and subjecting it to oversight is a very good idea. Also the weapons smuggling is a function of top military commanders.

YO: Of the estimated 3,000 foreign fighters (in Iraq), the largest number – about 20 percent – comes from Algeria, followed by Syria and Yemen with about 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively, said the report issued Monday. About 15 percent come from Sudan, 12 percent from Saudi Arabia, 5 percent from Egypt, and the rest from other countries.

The report, written by Nawaf Obaid and Anthony Cordesman, was a contrast to accounts contending that Saudis make up a large proportion of foreign fighters in the insurgency that has persisted since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in March 2003.

This 17% is by nationality, not origin of training. One time I wrote something about breaking the pact of evil from Iraq to Yemen and replacing it with a pact of democracy from Yemen to Iraq. I meant peacefully, without military intervention, by actively supporting the democracy advocates in Yemen of which there are many.

SP: There are many al Qaeda sympathizers in the Yemeni military and government as well. These sympathizers have been discreetly aiding Iraqi Baath Party officials who have fled Iraq, and now Syria. There has also been some active, but covert, support for the terrorists operating in Iraq. Cracking down on this is not easy, even with FBI and CIA agents stationed in Yemen. The problem is that the Yemeni government is a jumble of tribal and family relationships. Even if you know an official is helping terrorists, you can’t go after him if he is well connected. Unless, of course, such support for Islamic terrorists becomes public, thus embarrassing the culprit, and making him vulnerable to removal from office, or worse. There’s also a lot of corruption in the government as well, so it’s often the case that you can’t step on a terrorist supporter because you are doing business with him on some dirty deal.

This is a good assessment.

Wow, Saleh pardons everybody including Lugman (outspoken Zaidi judge sentenced to ten years), Al-Dailami (outspoken Zaidi cleric sentenced to death), Muftah (ditto, ten years), and the Houthis in prison and on the run.

Arab News: SANAA, 26 September 2005 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced yesterday a general amnesty for hundreds of Zaidi rebels who fought the army in the north of the country in April and ordered their release. In a surprise move, he also announced compensation for the exiled Zaidi family which ruled the country until the 1962 revolution.

“I declare an amnesty for those detained over the support for Hussein Al-Houthi and his father,” Saleh said in a speech marking the 43rd anniversary of the revolution which ended 44 years of Zaidi rule in Sanaa….

Government officials said the amnesty included mosque preachers Yahya Hussein Al-Dailami and Muhammad Ahmad Muftah who were sentenced by a Sanaa court on May 29 to death and 10-year-jail term respectively for supporting Al-Houthi’s rebellion.

Also to be pardoned is the judge Muhammad Ali Luqman, who was sentenced last October to 10 years in jail on the same charge, the officials said.

Good news from Yemen.

Update: also the rioters.