More Bad News from Yemen
Let’s start off with the easy stuff:
1-They can appropriate it, but they cant run it.
YO: Engineers and managers in the sector the confirmed that drilling, exploration and production operations have stopped in Mareb as the government-owned Safir Company, which took over the sector from Yemen Hunt Oil Company, is lacking legal and operational requirements necessary for routine operations.
2-YT: “MP Mohammed Saleh Ali questions education minister on embezzlement of YR 99 million.” (about US $450,000)
3-Who gets the other 5%?: (NY) “In an interview to the Economy and Markets Magazine, Al-Wajeeh said that the way the sales tax is calculated and collected constitutes a law violation that the government has been practicing for some time….The Presidential decree approved 5% for the sales tax, but the actual tax obtained on the ground is 10% Al-Wajeeh said.”
4-NY: The Yemeni cabinet approved in its extraordinary meeting yesterday the 2006 draft budget with an unprecedented amount of YR one trillion and 180 billion rials, which resembles a 41% increase to last year’s budget.
5- Genocide in Yemen: The London based Yemeni Organization for Human Rights Watch (YOHRW), which is headed by Lutfi Shatara, requested all international humanitarian organizations to pressure the Yemeni government to stop what it labeled as the genocide of Saada.
In a communiqué which the organization distributed last week, it said that the army carries out arbitrary bombardments on civilian homes with the intention of chasing Alhothi followers out of the houses either to fight back or surrender. It said that they use all sorts of heavy weapons such as air missiles, artillery, and Katychas. The organization expressed concern over massacres being committed against opponents in Saada governorate, amid a media ban to prevent leakage of information of photos and videos.
6- Related Yahya al-Dailimi death sentence upheld. (He criticized the genocide in Saada.)
7- The execution of al-Shahari was ordered by a commerical court.
YT : Soon after his arrest, Fuad al-Shahari declared that he was tortured and forced to confess of the killing, an act which he said he had not committed. However, the court failed to investigate these allegations of torture and prospective defense witnesses were said to have been prevented from testifying before the court.
Al-Shahari, who was tried in a commercial court, presented the case of his charge to the Amnesty International and complained that he was subjected to abuse and torture in order to confess to the crime: He was deprived of the right to a fair trial.
In his letter to the Amnesty International, he said: “I am sure that I am innocent and there are many witnesses who testified in my favor. I never expected that I will be tortured, witnesses will be threatened and the documents will be forged.”
He was executed a few days ago.
