which probably wont get as much international attention as the 45 jews in the hotel
Al-Sahwa: The residents of Roash Village in Aljashin District ,Ibb province, claimed the president to intervene in order to return them to their homes ,expressing their hopes that the president will respond to their demands.
In their letter, they said that Sheikh Mohammad Ahmed Mansour enforces duties and alms without any reasons.
Meanwhile, Alsahwa could not contact Sheikh Mansour to know his responses and stances,but it got camps images which those people alleged that they were expelled to them.They said that they are currently staying in those camps located in Alodain district after they were driven out by Mansour’s soldiers .
They asserted that they left their homes last Friday when they were assaulted by the soldiers, pointing out at the same time that Mansour had
Asked them to pay YR 3 million as duties and alms he had previously paid for the government, but they refused to pay those money.
The Sheik is a member of the Shoura Council.
Dozens of residents of the Ra’ash village in the Ibb governorate were expelled by their own sheikh last Friday for nonpayment of taxes. The villagers were forced to move their families, possessions and livestock from their homes to a state of limbo, and gather in the Valley of Haradh in the Audain province, where they are living in tents and suffering from the cold weather, according to the Yemeni online publication, Mareb Press.
The citizens have said, in letters to Mareb Press, that they were expelled from their homes by Sheikh Mohammad Ahmad Mansour, a Member of President Saleh’s Shoura Council. Sheikh Mansour explained that he charges taxes from the people of the village, but many of them have been unable to meet his financial demands. Mansour responded to the villagers’ pleas for clemency by expelling them from the village.
According to Mareb Press, Mansour had demanded over three million riyals from the locals, without an explanation for the seemingly arbitrary sum. Mansour charges the villagers yearly taxes from their harvest profits, and the villagers must follow his orders without discussion or debate. Villagers have told MAREB PRESS that when people have challenged or criticized Sheikh Mansour in the past, he has put them in jail, based on his authority as a presidential council member. “Is this the new Yemen? Is this the better future that we have waited for? If it is, we are telling the President that we don’t want this future,” said an expelled resident of Al-Jaashin.
MAREB PRESS has called this expulsion of people from their village a human rights violation. The expelled villagers have requested that the government resolve this abuse of power. “Even during the Imam’s reign, no deputy or official committed this kind of injustice against the citizenry,” wrote a group of the expelled citizens in a letter to MAREB PRESS. “People were not robbed of their rights by people who derive their authority from the head of state, like what is happening to us today.”
Several villagers have filed complaints in the past about the sheikh. Their complaints and requests to the state to solve this problem were answered by the government’s decision to leave the land and authority of the presidential counselor unaltered.
The Rule of Sheiks
More: Sheik’s militia rousts them in advance of visit by HR orgs.
Dozens of men and their sons left their village and camped for seven days in a deserted area about an hour’s walk from their home in Ra’ash. The villagers wanted to make a political statement to protest their treatment by their sheikh, who controls everything, including their daily routine. They’ve reportedly succeeded.
IBB, Feb. 7 — Dozens of men from Ra’ash village in Al-Jaa’shin district south of Ibb governorate are now back home after enduring a week of open-air camping outside their village in Haradh Valley. Leaving the women behind, the men evacuated their homes in protest of the abuse they suffer under the control of an influential person in that area, Sheikh Mohammed Ahmed Mansour.
The sheikh maneuvered their return by reportedly ordering their camp’s destruction in order to force them back to Ra’ash. Fearing the consequences by the controlling sheikh, villagers refuse to speak openly to the media; however, media reports have carried conflicting reports, claiming that they and their families were forced from their homes.
According to AbdulSamad Saylani, local administrator of Dhi Al-Sufal district, the plight of Ra’ash residents is baseless and unauthentic.
He said the real issue concerns collecting alms (zakat), or charitable taxes, from them, but he denied any attempts to force them from the village and into the wilderness. However, when asked about families being forced from their village by a local sheikh, he refused to comment.
Their plight
Villagers allege that consultative council member Mansour oppressed, harassed and imposed unlawful duties upon them and that the sheikh’s militia regularly loots and robs them.
Firsthand information from locals reveals that they suffer double taxation at the hands of both the state and the sheikh. Farmers living on Sheikh Mansour’s property and working on his land must pay a “harvest right” amounting to 10 percent of the harvest’s value. However, the supposed alms, which amount to YR 3 million, were beyond local residents’ abilities to pay.
Protester Abdu Yussur explained the situation, saying, “Villagers paid their taxes directly to the state and they have receipts. This angered the sheikh, so he sent 20 of his men to force us to pay the money to him, as well as his share of YR 2 million, which is YR 10,000 per person. This is why we were ready to leave because we’ve had enough of this humiliation and abuse.”
Heads of local villages had attempted mediation between Ra’ash locals and the sheikh; however, according to the villagers, such efforts failed, so the men decided to escape the pressure by leaving their homes, only to be forced back a week later.
Nevertheless, the villagers succeeded in drawing attention to their plight, as numerous media and human rights organizations have reported on the situation. Confirmed Yemen Times sources say that because of this, President Ali Abdullah Saleh summoned Sheikh Mansour, although he denies it.
Those close to similar sheikhs in other governorates inform the Yemen Times that this incident has made them more concerned and “careful” regarding their methods of dealing with locals.
YT: For one week men of Ra’ash village camped in a deserted area in Haradh Valley protesting against Sheikh Mansour’s abusive control.
Dozens of men and their sons left their village and camped for seven days in a deserted area about an hour’s walk from their home in Ra’ash. The villagers wanted to make a political statement to protest their treatment by their sheikh, who controls everything, including their daily routine. They’ve reportedly succeeded.
IBB, Feb. 7 — Dozens of men from Ra’ash village in Al-Jaa’shin district south of Ibb governorate are now back home after enduring a week of open-air camping outside their village in Haradh Valley. Leaving the women behind, the men evacuated their homes in protest of the abuse they suffer under the control of an influential person in that area, Sheikh Mohammed Ahmed Mansour.
The sheikh maneuvered their return by reportedly ordering their camp’s destruction in order to force them back to Ra’ash. Fearing the consequences by the controlling sheikh, villagers refuse to speak openly to the media; however, media reports have carried conflicting reports, claiming that they and their families were forced from their homes.
According to AbdulSamad Saylani, local administrator of Dhi Al-Sufal district, the plight of Ra’ash residents is baseless and unauthentic.
He said the real issue concerns collecting alms (zakat), or charitable taxes, from them, but he denied any attempts to force them from the village and into the wilderness. However, when asked about families being forced from their village by a local sheikh, he refused to comment.
Their plight
Villagers allege that consultative council member Mansour oppressed, harassed and imposed unlawful duties upon them and that the sheikh’s militia regularly loots and robs them.
Firsthand information from locals reveals that they suffer double taxation at the hands of both the state and the sheikh. Farmers living on Sheikh Mansour’s property and working on his land must pay a “harvest right” amounting to 10 percent of the harvest’s value. However, the supposed alms, which amount to YR 3 million, were beyond local residents’ abilities to pay.
Protester Abdu Yussur explained the situation, saying, “Villagers paid their taxes directly to the state and they have receipts. This angered the sheikh, so he sent 20 of his men to force us to pay the money to him, as well as his share of YR 2 million, which is YR 10,000 per person. This is why we were ready to leave because we’ve had enough of this humiliation and abuse.”
Heads of local villages had attempted mediation between Ra’ash locals and the sheikh; however, according to the villagers, such efforts failed, so the men decided to escape the pressure by leaving their homes, only to be forced back a week later.
Nevertheless, the villagers succeeded in drawing attention to their plight, as numerous media and human rights organizations have reported on the situation. Confirmed Yemen Times sources say that because of this, President Ali Abdullah Saleh summoned Sheikh Mansour, although he denies it.
Those close to similar sheikhs in other governorates inform the Yemen Times that this incident has made them more concerned and “careful” regarding their methods of dealing with locals.
Opposition newspapers, especially those affiliated with the reformist Islah Party, have taken this opportunity to weaken General People’s Congress influence in rural areas – which extends via alliances with sheikhs – in preparation for parliamentary elections in 2009, which is why the situation involving Sheikh Mansour has been magnified, one GPC political analyst says.
In his defense, Sheikh Mansour stated to the Yemen Times, “What’s being proposed in opposition newspapers is nothing but rubbish. They want to disgrace me and damage my image for political reasons. How can I force hundreds of people from their homes when there are security forces and state rule? What’s being said suggests that there’s no law and order. What’s happening is because the citizens have been refusing to pay alms for two years now.”
The good sheikh… The bad sheikh
Though oppressed, many locals say there are advantages to being governed by Sheikh Mansour. Khalid Al-Kamel comments on the upside, saying, “All sheikhs have their merits and demerits. The good thing about Sheikh Mansour is that he protects the area from chaos and gangs. He also has implemented many infrastructure projects in the area, including schools, roads and electricity.” Yet, even these projects are questionable, says Amin Al-Dumaini. “The sheikh’s influence directs projects to our area, but he then demands money in return for his ‘efforts,’ although these projects should be granted by the state anyway.”
Abdullah Omar Mansour, who’s from the same family as Sheikh Mansour, maintains, “In fact, there are some imaginary projects for which the money already has been received from the villagers.”
The sheikh’s authority in the area also is used for arbitration and solving conflicts. “Sheikh Mansour is the law and we shouldn’t submit to any authority except his because he controls the villages and enforces order. If someone directly contacts state instruments, he gets angry and can even be penalized by the sheikh or kicked out of the village,” notes Abdulwahid Abdu from Al-Jaa’shin district. Al-Dumaini adds that Sheikh Mansour has his own prison and security.
The feudal system is widespread in many districts in Ibb, Al-Beidha and Dhamar, among other Yemeni governorates. Sheikh Mansour’s relative Abdullah Mansour daringly admits that the sheikh unlawfully attacks and confiscates land in Al-Safa village. Ra’ash resident Abdu Qaid explains how the feudal system works. “The sheikh uses his armed men to force locals to pay money under various pretexts. Whoever refuses or can’t pay is subjected to imprisonment in the sheikh’s personal prison or his land and livestock and are taken.” Adds villager Yahya Abdu, “The sheikh sometimes uses official security to execute his orders and give his bullying legitimacy.”
