Armies of Liberation

Guest Post by Abu Yemen

More Violations of Human Rights and Breaches of Trust

The civil society in Yemen and the entire free world are shocked to
learn of more violations of human rights and breaches of trust taking
place in the Republic of Yemen. A highly respected journalist, Abdul
Karim Al Khaiwani was kidnapped as he was leaving from a news agency
office around noon time in the main street of Sana’a (Al Zubairi
Street). It is reported that a Toyota sedan filled with security
officers forced him in the vehicle and drove off at a high speed to a
remote area (within Bir Salem) where he was severely kicked, beaten,
and thrown outside the car unconscious. Two days later, Al Khaiwani
revealed in a press conference that he was kidnapped by a National
Security unit whose commander is Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, the
son of the deceased brother of the President.

The entire security force usually functions under direct orders and supervision of the
President. This is the third, if not fourth, act of intimidation,
aggression, and political detention of Mr. Al Khaiwani. It is
reported that the kidnappers have warned Al Khaiwani to cease
political activities and contain himself within his residence with his
wife and children, otherwise they will render themselves to death.
Further, it is reported that the President and his ruling party are
likely to impose amendments to the press ordinance making it
impossible to express free opinions, not even to criticize government
policies that usually violate basic constitutional and human rights.

The situation in Yemen is deteriorating; the turmoil in Sa’ada is
beyond containment, public demonstrations continue to cover all
Southern Yemeni governorates and are spreading to Ibb, Taiz, Dammar,
and even to the capital Sana’a in the north. The living conditions
are worsening, and equally is the security situation. Corruption is a
day-to-day practice by the President and his men and repeated
announcements of establishing committees within the government and/or
Parliament are simple efforts to divert attention, mislead public
opinion, and allow time for more wrong doings to take place.

Yemeni foreign policy is the other face of the coin, where the talk about
Yemeni democratization and reforms are at a rocket-high scale, so much
so that both the Belgian and Spanish governments are anxious to host
the Yemeni dictator next November. The Arab league is still an
admirer of such a retarded dictator of Yemen who claims to be able to
solve major political crises in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and Somalia
where it is obvious that he is a total failure in overcoming political
failures in his own country, Yemen. It is therefore time for all free
minded people and institutes to expose the tyrant in Yemen and to save
the desperate Yemenis, and prevent more miseries and failures.

written and submitted by Abu Yemen

Thats good. The Civil Service Minister is the same guy who identified 60,000 ghost workers and double dippers, who withheld the doctors raises’ until the Health Ministry presented accurate employment rolls, introduced biometric employee identity cards and some other good stuff. I think this is internal reforms within the ministry which certainly sets a good example.

Saba

Govt approves set of administrative institutional reforms

[28 August 2007]

SANA’A, (Saba)- The cabinet weekly session, chaired by Premier Ali Mujawar, approved Tuesday a set of administrative and institutional reforms which were presented by Ministry of Civil Service and Insurance according to orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The reforms aim to improve the governmental administration to better competence and efficiency of its systems by defining their roles and tasks to halt specializations overlapping and repetition, the thing which would ease dealings with the governmental systems and ensure high quality services.

Therefore, the cabinet approved restructuring Ministry of Civil Service and Insurance in the light of an approved project presented by the Project of Updating Civil Service.

It called for finalizing procedures of issuing the organizing bylaw of the civil service ministry which would reinforce the ministry’s performance in coordination with the different governmental systems.

Moreover, the cabinet also directed to form a supreme committee and a higher technical committee to study results of the special study over reviewing role and performance of the government and to suggest required visions to be executed.

Yemeni President Saleh is just so sensative, if you write an article that reflects badly on him, he sends some goons to cut your fingers off. Meanwhile Saleh holds a democracy conferences and has a “reform plan” which apparently does not include the freedom of the press to investigate corruption or in this case conditions in jails.

CPJ

Yemeni editor abducted, severely beaten

New York, August 27, 2007­­­—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the abduction and brutal beating of a Yemeni editor by gunmen in Sana’a today. The local journalists CPJ spoke with suspected the gunmen are part of the government’s security forces.

A silver Toyota SUV carrying six gunmen wearing civilian clothing descended upon Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani, former editor of the online newspaper Al-Shoura, while he was waiting for a taxi outside the offices of the weekly newspaper Al-Nedaa in central Sana’a at around 2 p.m. local time, eyewitnesses told CPJ. The perpetrators forcibly bundled him into the vehicle and sped away, the witnesses said. The witnesses said the license plates of the vehicle were covered with black material.

The gunmen blindfolded al-Khaiwani, tied his hands, and took him to the remote village of Mahalein in the Khawlan district, southeast of Sana’a, said Basheer al-Sayed, editorial secretary of Al-Nedaa, who spoke with al-Khawaini after the attack. According to al-Sayed, al-Khaiwani was badly beaten, with several blows to the face and chest. The men threatened him with a pair of shears. They asked him which hand he used for writing and when he told them the left one, they attempted to break his fingers, al-Sayed told CPJ. The gunmen confiscated al-Khaiwani’s passport, identification card, and cell phone, al-Sayed said.

The gunmen threatened to kill al-Khaiwani and his family if he writes another word that harms Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh or the country’s national unity, CPJ sources said. They specifically mentioned an article he wrote published by Al-Nedaa on August 16 titled “What’s Before the State: A Homeland Behind Bars,” al-Sayed told CPJ. In the article, al-Khaiwani discussed the status of prisoners, their treatment, the conditions in the country’s jails, and the injustice they face.

CPJ sources suspected the gunmen belonged to the Yemeni security forces. Al-Sayed told CPJ that al-Khaiwani recognized one of his abductors today as one of the Yemeni security officers who raided his home in June. Interior Ministry investigative police officers took al-Khaiwani’s statement at the hospital, al-Sayed said.

“This outrageous attack on Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani represents a grave threat to Yemen’s already tenuous press freedom climate,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “The Yemeni authorities must investigate this vicious assault and bring those responsible to justice. The failure to do so would indicate that the Yemeni government condones violent assaults on journalists.

Al-Khaiwani was treated at Al-Ahali Hospital in Sana’a and discharged later in the evening. He suffered extensive bruising on his face, chest, and hands, al-Sayed said.

Al-Khaiwani faces vague terrorism charges brought by a state security court on July 4. He was detained on June 20 by Yemeni security agents, who also raided the journalist’s Sana’a home. He was released on bail in late July. Security agents who placed him under arrest at the time severely beat him and dragged him to jail barefoot and in his underwear, according to his lawyer Khaled al-Anesi.

Al-Khaiwani has been a harsh critic of government nepotism and the government’s fight against rebels in Saada. In 2004, as editor of the then-print weekly Al-Shoura, al-Khaiwani was sentenced to a year in jail for incitement, insulting the president, publishing false news, and causing tribal and sectarian discrimination through his published criticisms of the government’s conduct in the fighting.

Since 2005, CPJ has identified at least six Yemeni journalists who have been the targets of assaults that were believed to be politically motivated. In all but one of the cases the perpetrators have not been identified by the authorities.

© 2007 Committee to Protect Journalists. http://www.cpj.org E-mail: info@cpj.org

August 28, 2007- Thousands of people in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, rallied before the cabinet ,protesting soaring prices ,deteriorated public services, violating of rights and freedoms and mistaken policies adopted by the ruling party’s consequent governments.

(Read on …)

If this is true, it explains a lot including GCC and Saudi support, US patience, but the report is from Debka. More here by John.

The Yemen oil pipe line is scheduled to run through Hadramout to Makalla. The map with all the pipes is interesting too.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen have launched the vast Trans-Arabia Oil Pipeline project with encouragement from Washington, DEBKA-Net Weekly 313 revealed on Aug. 10, 2007. By crisscrossing Arabia overland, the net of oil pipelines will bypass the Straits of Hormuz at the throat of the Persian Gulf and so remove Gulf oil routes from the lurking threat of Iranian closure.

The 35,000-strong new Saudi security force, disclosed this week, will protect the new project, together with the oil installations of the world’s biggest oil exporter, from attack by such enemies as al Qaeda or Iran. The first 5,000 recruits are already in training, as plans advance to start laying the first section of the new pipeline system in November, 2007.

Because of the sensitivity of their mission, Saudi security experts assisted by American advisers are thoroughly screening each recruit about his family, tribal and past associations to weed out religious extremists. DEBKAfile adds that the new oil security force will be the third largest in Saudi Arabia, after the armed forces and the National Guard.

The first Trans-Arabia pipeline will carry 5 million barrels of oil a day, almost one third of the 17 million barrels produced by Gulf emirates. The crude will be pumped through pipes running from the world’s biggest oil terminal owned by Saudi Aramco at Ras Tannura, south to S. Yemen’s oil port of Mukallah and west to the Red Sea port and industrial town of Yanbu north of Jeddah.

The $6 billion investment in the first stage will come from the participating governments within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council – GCC.

(Read on …)

Subsidies looming

SANA’A, Aug. 25 — Deputy director of the capital secretariat chamber of commerce Mohammed Sallah has warned the Yemeni government of the consequences of subsidizing wheat and flour. He stated that the retail prices of wheat and flour at the government’s outlets are around 350 Riyals below cost, he also added that the government should first make a careful study of the consequences of such interference in the market.

Sallah also stated that while the notion of reducing the prices of wheat and flour for Yemeni consumers is a honorable one, but doing as such without studying the consequences will have dire effects on the economy and the government’s budget. He quoted from previous experiences that showed how the government’s eventual removal of such subsidies had disastrous effects.

(Read on …)

Writing about war does not make you a terrorist

Sydney Morning Herald, Austrailia

Rather than hailing the Arab world’s catch-up with the internet revolution, however, some Arab regimes have done the opposite. They have blocked blogs, removed posts and arrested and detained bloggers or prohibited them from travelling, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a Cairo-based group (www.hrinfo.net).

After Yemeni officials arrested the editor of an online newspaper, the Britain-based advocacy group Article 19 (www.article19.org) lobbied for the editor’s release. Officials, Article 19 wrote, failed to distinguish “between those who write about conflict and those who perpetrate it.”

Its not like they weren’t there, just laying low.

Source: AP

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen has warned Americans here to reduce their profile because the country is experiencing “previously unseen” terrorist actions.

In a message dated Monday to Americans living in Yemen, the embassy said the terrorist threat was not temporary. It urged Americans to avoid large groups of Westerners, vary their travel routes and times to and from work and limit travel within the capital, San’a.

“We are now experiencing terrorist actions previously unseen in Yemen,” read the message, which also reminded Americans that there is an “active” al-Qaida presence in Yemen and Western interests “may continue to be targeted.”

The latest warning comes more than a month after a suicide bomber killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis near a temple linked to the ancient Queen of Sheba in the country’s north. An eighth Spaniard died about a week later at a Yemen hospital from injuries she received from the blast.

Yemeni authorities have said the suicide bombing’s mastermind was Ahmed Bassiouni Dewidar, an Egyptian national and alleged al-Qaida operative who was killed in July while resisting arrest.

Al-Qaida continues to have an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.

hmmmm, they are going to rob a bank to get funding to carry out terrorist attacks?

YO:

Security authorities are taking strict precautions to protect official banks and financial companies in Yemen, in the wake of warnings that Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups could attack them in the next couple of weeks, said Deputy Minister of the Interior Mohammed al-Qawsi.

“The ministry has received information about new terrorist attacks that target financial institutions, and has warned all banks and called for increasing security around the bank,” said al-Qawsi.

He added that the terrorist groups are getting ready to carry out a robbery to get funding for their acts. “We enhanced security forces around banks to stand against this,” said al-Qawsi.

The Yemeni Central Bank received a verbal warning from the Ministry of the Interior, stating that there might be an attack against the bank from al-Qaeda, said a source at the YCB, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“The Interior Ministry informed us to increase our security personnel to be ready for any attacks, but we in the Arab Bank take these precautions all the time, and security forces made sure of our security and were satisfied,” said Nasser Ghazi of the Arab Bank

”We have gotten used to taking the statements and the threats of al-Qaeda seriously. They are known to do whatever they said, in spite of the security cautions the governments took, such as what happened in the USA, Britain, and Spain,” said Mohammed Abu-Khalid, a political analyst.

There are two explanations for why Al Qaeda publishes threats before taking real action to hack into the accounts of the banks, said Abu-Khalid. “The first one is to distract the government from their real goal. It may be the banks are not their real goal. The other explanation is that Al Qaeda wants to make a statement that it comes back to Yemen so powerfully, more than before. Also, it is able to penetrate all the security procedures that the authorities might take.”

The Counter Terrorism Unit still continues its investigation of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks that took place last Month in Mareb, which killed two Yemenis and eight Spaniards, said sources in Abyan.

There is a campaign to look for the terrorists in the rural villages, using the military helicopters, said security sources.

To further increase security, the Minster of the Interior started enforcing the new law banning weapon-carrying in Sana’a and in the main cities, which was issued last Thursday.

“We have taken 890 pieces of weapons, most of which are Kalashnikovs. Four hundreds were caught in Sana’a,” said al-Qawsi. The detained weapons will be referred to the judiciary to determine their destiny, he said.

Only certain people identified in the law are allowed to take bodyguards with their own hand guns. “But if those bodyguards are caught with guns while they are not during their missions, they will be jailed and their guns will be confiscated,” said al-Qawsi.

“Some 69 percent of the crimes in the cities are due to weapon carrying,” said al-Qawsi, “And the reasons for the killing are stupid, but because people uses guns, murders happen.”

A breakthrough, a good one.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The ruling party, the General People’s Congress party, concluded Sunday afternoon the second round of its general assembly with first-ever hot debates and frankness.

Some members of the GPC talked for the first time about worries and problems of people in many places of the country: shortage of foods, electricity and water, unemployment, issue of retired, situations of Yemeni students abroad and bad behaviors of some security personnel which a member of GPC described in his presentation as “worse than food shortage”.

Member of GPC al-Fadhily said the protests occurred in some governorates were not supported by opposition parties “but people willingly got out to streets to complain some bad situations”.

(Read on …)

Breaking news

Updates on the kidnapping of the Yemeni Journalist
Abdulkarim Al- khaiwani,

Sana’a Yemen

27 August 2007

11 pm at Sana’a local time

From Sisters Arab Forum for Human Right (SAF):

Three hours following the kidnapping, Al-khaiwani was
admitted to the private Modern National Hospital in
Sana’a and treated from brutal wounds. conflicted on
him by his kidnappers .

At 2:00 p.m today 27th of September 2007 Al-khaiwani
was kidnapped from Al-zubari str.(center of the
Capital Sana’a) put in a Toyota Land Cruiser. When he
attempted to scream for help from his fellow friends
journalists Sami Ghalib Editor in Chief of Al-Needa’a,
an independent weekly newspaper and Nabil Subai,
Executive Editor in Chief of al Share’a, a weekly
independent newspaper, the kidnappers threatened to
kidnap them too.

Al-Kaiwani was blind folded and pushed into the
bottom of the car where the kidnappers put their feet
on his body and kicked him until they reached a remote
area in bani Sah7m District at Khawlan Governorate
(15 kilometers from the Capital Sana’a). In the Car
Al-kaiwani was asked repeatedly which hand he used to
write his articles referring to his last article
published in al Needa’a Newspaper where he disclosed
bravely on the violations against the prisoners, the
inefficiency and corruption of the Judicial System and
the law enforcement institutions in Yemen. Then one of
the kidnappers hit him with his fist breaking his eye
glasses and wounding his eyelid. He was then
threatened that if he continues writing against his
“masters” he and his fwife and three children will be
killed. Putting his finger in a metal finger cutter
the kidnappers were arguing among themselves whether
the orders were to cut or break his fingers. After
conferring with their boss through the mobile
telephone it was settled to torture him only.

Arriving to the area of Bani Sah7m, Al-Khaiwani was
pulled out of the car beaten and put in a grove where
the kidnappers told him that he is on an edge of a
cliff and that if he moved he will fall down and die.
Before leaving him Al-khaiwani’s mobile phone and
money was taken from him.

Al-kahaiwani struggled to remove his blindfold, when
he succeeded he found himself in a grove not a cliff.
He walked and met women farmers who told him that he
was in Bani Sahm District of Khawlan Governorate, and
advices to continue walking to the highway which is
closer than the Shaikh’s , Community Leader, house .
Taking their advice, he walked for almost 2
Kilometers until he reached the Highway, found a lift
and was taken to a local hospital at Dar Silm, a
suburb of Sana’a.

There he was treated, and was able to call his fellow
friend Journalist Sami Ghalib, who is also the
Director of the Rights and Freedoms Committee of the
Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. Three journalists were
sent to Dar silm hospital and took him to a private
National Modern Hospital in Sana’a, The x-rays shows
no broken bones, however, bruises and wounds were
found in his left eye, right ear, abdomen, hands, and
swollen fingers. Later the hospital was crowded with
many of his fellow journalists, HRs activists, MPs and
politicians from opposition,

This incident is not the first that happens to a
Yemeni journalist, and apparently is not going to be
the last.

Al-Kaiwani is a journalist well known as a believer in
democracy, freedom of expression who vigorously
defends human rights protection and fights against
violations. He exposes corruption embedded in the
structure in Yemen’s institutions. Al-Khaiwani does
not deserve to be emotionally, psychologically and
physically tortured, scared and continuously lives
under serious life threat.

We appeal to the international community to show
solidarity, support and document this incident in
their reports on Yemen and to exert genuine pressure
on the Yemeni government to practice real democracy
and protect its citizens, particularly, journalists
and human rights defenders from those who can not
tolerate freedom of expression; them being part of the
security institutions or not.

Animals, they are animals. This is Saleh’s democracy.

Opposition editor found beaten hours after kidnapping
The Associated Press
Monday, August 27, 2007

A Yemeni opposition editor who was accused of backing the country’s Shiite rebels and recently spent a month in jail, was found badly beaten and bruised on Monday, just hours after a Yemeni journalists union reported him kidnapped.

Abdul Karim al-Khawinay, editor of the Al-Shura weekly, was found by villagers in the mountainous Al-Khawlan area some 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast the capital, and taken to a hospital in San’a. His T-shirt was bloodied and his arm broken.

Earlier, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said, citing eyewitnesses, said al-Khawinay was abducted on the street Monday by about 7 people who jumped out of a land cruiser with covered car plates and took him away.

The union had said that it is contacting the interior ministry to demand a swift investigation and the arrest of al-Khawinay’s kidnappers. An official with the interior ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give statements to media, said the ministry had no knowledge of al-Khawinay’s kidnapping.

Al-Khawinay was taken by police to jail June 20. At the time, his family said that security forces stormed their home, beat up al-Khawinay with fists and gun-butts, then dragged him bleeding from the ear and nose to the police station. He was released a month later.

He is currently on trial on charges of insulting the regime and supporting Shiite rebels.

Later Monday from his hospital bed, al-Khawinay, 38, who also suffers from heart problems, told The Associated Press that one of the kidnappers was among officers who stormed his house in June and took him to prison.

He also said that his kidnappers discussed whether to cut or just break the hand he writes with, and opted for the latter.

Later, police arrived at the hospital to question him.

Previously, al-Khawinay was sentenced to one year in jail for supporting the country’s minority Shiite rebels and defaming the president, but was later pardoned by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The weekly Al-Shura, considered a mouthpiece of the opposition United Popular Forces Party, has long campaigned against the government, accusing it of favoritism and nepotism in almost all state institutions.

Mohammed Al-Maqaleh, media spokesman in the Socialist Party, said Saleh was personally responsible for al-Khawinay’s safety.

Yemen, a poor tribal Sunni country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and a declared U.S. supporter in the campaign against terrorism, has struggled with a three-year long insurgency by followers of Shiite rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi. The uprising claimed thousands of lives from both sides and forced thousands from their villages in the northern Saada province before ending with a truce earlier this year.

At least 100 journalists in Yemen have faced various forms of harassment since 2005, ranging from beatings and arrests to kidnappings and a letter-bombing that wounded a newspaper editor, according to Yemen’s Center of Training and Press Freedoms Protection, a non-governmental watchdog.

IHT

After promising to be politically passive and not to study Zaidism

HAJJA, August 22 — Seven of around 40 people imprisoned without trial and accused of having links with Al Houthi are to be released. They have been in prison for up to five months. The seven include three children aged l5, one of whom, Waeel Ghalib, was pictured on the front page of the Yemen Times on Monday.

Khalid Al-Anisi, executive director the National Organization for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms, who has been acting for the seven, says that they are being released because the sheiks in charge of their village in Hajja and the MP for the district of Miftah have both guaranteed the “good behavior” of the Seven.

“This means the seven have agreed not to belong to, or support any political group that opposes the government. They should also make a commitment not to follow any radical school of thought. This includes all religious schools of which the government disapproves.”

(Read on …)

The GPC warns of what is happening under umbrella of the JMP
Sunday, 26-August-2007
Almotamar.net - The main permanent committee of the General People’s Congress (GPC) has expressed its much regret for those languid and irresponsible stances adopted by some of the political action partners regarding some issues fabricated by some parties or individuals or groups with the aim of their attempt to impinge upon national constants or the endeavour to create a state of chaos and confusion to impede the march of development and construction and inflicting damage to the unity.

The permanent committee also warned against what is happening under the umbrella of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) in violation of the absolute national constants, calling on the opposition to comprehend that opposition is required and acceptable in the framework of the constants, the republic, the unity, the ideology and constitutional legitimacy.

In its closing statement issued by its ordinary session Sunday the permanent committee criticised some leaderships of the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) that it described as tensed up because of what the committee said as attempts by those leaderships to impinge upon the national unity and that those leaderships expressed their regretfully hostile stance that is conflicting with the people’s constants of republic, the revolution and the unity.

The committee’s statement confirmed the GPC’s shouldering of the historical responsibility for defence of unity and social peace, considering that poisoning the political life by falsifying awareness and taking advantage of the people needs and demands as but an attempt aimed to sow seeds of sedition, rebellion and fabrication of crises.

With respect to development and financial and administrative reforms the committee emphasizes that the government should necessarily speed up implementation of president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s instructions regarding the achievement of food security according to a strategy and time programme guaranteeing self-sufficiency of grains through protection of arable lands, encouraging and using agriculture for grains production of all kinds, finding laws preventing agriculture of qat in the lands good for planting grains, guaranteeing the existence of strategic stock of grains and breaking monopoly.

The permanent committee praised the setting up of the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority and the accelerated steps that have been taken for protection of the public property, mainly the issuance of the law of tenders and bids and the serious steps in the framework of judicial reforms particularly restructuring and formation of the Supreme Judiciary Council and selection of its chairman from the judicial power.

The committee valued president Saleh’s directives concerning the necessity of developing and improving performance of different institutions of the state and the work for developing and improving the government administration, raising efficiency of its apparatuses as well as ending cases of overlapping and repetition of specialties and reconsideration of its organisational and function structures and developing its legislations.

The GPC permanent t committee stressed the necessity of developing the banking system through legislations enabling foreign investors to invest in banks, reconsideration of the monetary policy, giving agriculture and fish sectors priority in the government attention through continuation in carrying out agricultural and rural development programmes.

The statement also stressed the importance of taking necessary procedures for tackling the speeding developments of world price rise and to hold accountable those who manipulate people’s food s well as to create permanent and continuous mechanism for providing foodstuffs and look for new sources for realizing food security.

The committee’s statement also praised the president’s directives on improving living conditions of state employees and the retired, launching the second stage of the national strategy of wages and salaries. It has also praised the great efforts by the president in treating conditions of the retired.

The committee valued the government’s efforts in economic reforms and tackling price fluctuations and confirmed the necessity that all concerned parties should get acquainted with the president’s election programme.

The committee emphasised he importance of strengthening monitoring of hospitals and private clinics and to be sure of good health care in them in line with medical and controls adopted by the health ministry and the necessity of speeding up issuance of health insurance and social law and implementation of the national strategy for youth and childhood. It affirmed continuation of efforts for tourist development, encourage investment and issuance of a law regulating carrying and possessing weapons and prevention of armed phenomena all over the republic.

Regarding general, technical and vocational and higher, education the committee recommended development of educational curricula in the manner embodying unity of thought and ideology and stabilizing national loyalty in the minds of juveniles and the youth. It recommended integration of concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights with school curricula, confirming the necessity of government supervision on all educational institutions, technical and vocational institute and universities, government and private.

With regard to expatriates the committee recommended on the importance of giving care o them and following up their situations and they should be associated with the homeland and inform them on investment opportunities to invent in their homeland with offering all services to solve their problems.

Concerning the GPC organisation area the committee authorized the general committee and the general secretariat to revise the rules of procedure and make amendments that agree with the recent developments and political and organisational changeables. The committee praised the efforts for preparation and active and high transparent participation in ordinary meetings of the local permanent committees in the governorates. It recommended continuation in developing the organisation, its mechanism and programs. It stressed laying foundation of democratic practice and strengthening integrated work in all organisations of the GPC, affirming the importance of the GPC distinguished media address which embodies the goals and precepts in the thought of the national charter and stabilization of unity, freedom and democracy.

The committee stressed activation of the woman organisation role in all leading and basis organisations of the party in the governorates and districts and to take interest in her qualification and training to empower her in taking part in the process of development and democracy.

On the foreign policy the permanent committee valued the advanced level of the foreign policy whose features were drawn by President Ali Abdullah Saleh through his endeavour for creating developed relations with various countries of the world. The committee expressed its appreciation of president’s efforts in enhancing international regional peace and the active role in adopting initiatives and solutions of differences in a number of countries in the region particularly in Somalia, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. It praised the developed level of the relation between Yemen and the Gulf Cooperation Council states and the practical development between the countries of Sana’a grouping. The committee reiterated Yemen’s demand to the world countries on the necessity of supporting the Somali people to overcome their ordeal and realize their security and stability.

The committee appealed to Palestinian and Lebanese peoples for brushing aside internal differences and to work for the unity of the rank and heal the rift to confront the foreign enemy and enhance the national adherence and abort the Zionist enemy intention to destabilize bonds of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples national integration. It renewed its call to Fatah and Hamas to adopt the Arab initiative.

The permanent committee reiterated Yemen’s stand by the side of Sudan in the way achieving its security and stability, its unity and safety of its territories. The committees also condemned the terrorist acts and practices which Yemen were exposed to the latest of which was the terrorist act that targeted tourists in Marib governorate.

Report from Yemen: Journalist Silenced Once Again

Ms. Fakhria Ali and Mr. Sami Noaman, advocates for press freedom in Yemen, provide this first-hand report on the plight of journalist Abdelkareem al-Khaiwani. The newspaper editor, a national hero for his stand on free expression, has been re-arrested – but his Yemeni colleagues are taking to the streets.

On June 20, Yemeni security forces raided al-Khaiwani’s home, arresting him for the second time in four years. Al-Khaiwani, editor of the online newspaper Al-Shoura, was previously jailed in 2004 for criticizing Yemen’s President, Ali Abudullah Saleh. Now he stands accused of “terrorism.” Yet according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, al-Khaiwani is simply “being punished for his outspokenness.”

A few days after the recent arrest raid, Ms. Ali visited the arrested journalist’s home. His family reported that security forces entered the house by posing as electrical workers. They beat al-Khaiwani with rifle butts, dragged him outside in his underwear, and knocked his seven-year-old daughter unconscious.

Al-Khaiwani is regarded as a hero who stands on principle. He received death threats for exposing political corruption. When he was arrested in 2004, prison guards broke his jaw and yet he still refused to agree to stop writing.

While he was jailed in 2004, he smuggled out a letter to American bloggers that explained his approach: “I believe in democracy, freedom, equality, and rights and am willing to suffer for their sake simply because I do not wish my children to suffer dictatorship and I will strive to provide them a better future.”

Yemeni journalists and human rights activists have now organized weekly sit-ins in “Freedom Square” outside of the offices of the Presidential Cabinet. Protestors are demanding al-Khaiwani’s release and an end to the recent crackdown on press freedom. Meanwhile, al-Khaiwani finds himself behind bars once again simply for expressing his opinion.

Letter to President Saleh about threats to press freedom

Reporters Without Borders wrote to President Ali Abdullah Saleh today voicing concern about a decline in press freedom in Yemen that has been highlighted by a physical attack on Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a human rights activist and editor of the newspaper Al-Shura, on 27 August .

“Khaiwani was abducted in the middle of the street in the centre of Sana’a by about 10 gunmen as he was leaving the premises of the newspaper Al-Nedaa,” the letter said. “He was then beaten and threatened with death if he continued to publish articles critical of the government .

“Despite official denials, its seems that the government’s security services were involved, as Khaiwani clearly recognised one of his abductors as being a member of the group of officers who arrested and manhandled him at his home on 20 June and then took him to the state security prosecutor’s office, where he was held until the following day. Charged with ‘belonging to a terrorist cell’ and ‘publishing false information on the war between government forces and rebels in the northwest,’ he still faces a possible death sentence .”

The letter also referred to the case of the newspaper Al Share’a, which was invaded on 30 July by some 10 gunmen who threatened to killed its editor, Naif Hassan. The attack was apparently linked to a complaint filed against the newspaper on 7 July by the defence ministry following a series of controversial articles on the fighting in Sadaa .

“We are particularly concerned about the prosecution initiated against Al-Share’a,” the letter said. “The complaint was filed with the State Security Court under article 126 of the criminal code. This is the same court that will try Khaiwani. It is the first time that a newspaper is being prosecuted by this court, whose impartiality is in question .

“These prosecutions could set a dangerous precedent, harm relations between the media and the government, and contribute to a deterioration in legislative and constitutional protection for press freedom. Furthermore, the climate of violence will inevitably encourage journalists to censor themselves .”

The letter ended by asking President Saleh to do everything necessary to get to the bottom of the attack on Khaiwani and to ensure that he and Al Share’a are tried by an appropriate court, as required by the press and publication law .

RSF

تواجه اليمن حالة من عدم الاستقرار في عدة مجالات منذ الانتخابات الرئاسية الماضية، وتشمل جوانب الأزمة عودة حرب صعدة في شمال اليمن للمرة الرابعة، والاحتجاجات الشعبية في المحافظات الجنوبية سابقاً،والتحالف القبلي المواجه،وعودة الهجمات الإرهابية التي تستهدف الدولة.

كل تلك النزاعات لها عامل مشترك ومسبب واحد يتمثل في تأسيس حالة من عدم المساواة أو العنصرية الرسمية حالة هذه هي أيضاً متجذرة بفساد هائل يدمر اليمن ،ومع وجود نخب النافذين المتجذرة وتفشي الفساد، يبقى الإصلاح المؤسسي مستحلاً تقريباً، ربما يكون هناك حل واحد ، هو حل الآليات التي تعمل على إطالة أمد حالة عدم المساواة وتمكين الفساد،بدءا بحل الحزب الحاكم.

الآمال التي تولدت قبل الانتخابات الرئاسية التي شهدتها اليمن في سبتمبر/أيلول2006،ضربت في بدايتها، خيبت آمال المعارضين بما مثلته الانتخابات من مسرحية صامته لديمقراطية انحازت فيها مصادر الدولة الهائلة لمساندة الرئيس علي عبد الله صالح، الفائز في الانتخابات والمحافظ على كرسي الرئاسة طيلة 28عاماً، خابت آمال مؤيدي الرئيس صالح لما قدمه برنامجه الانتخابي الكبير من نتائج ملموسة ضئيلة ترتبت على إعادة انتخابه..حقيقة،ساءت أوضاع اليمنيين بما شهدته الساحة من ارتفاع للأسعار..

إثر الانتخابات خاض الجيش اليمني حرباً ضاربة مع المتمردين الشيعة في صعده الواقعة أقصى شمال اليمن، تشير التقديرات إلى أن الحرب كلفت اليمن أكثر من مليار دولار منذ يناير،قتل وجرح في الحرب ألاف الجنود والمتمردين والمدنيين ،تعرضت المدن والقرى للدمار،ويقدر عدد اللاجئين الداخلين بأكثر من 50,000لاجئ .

أشارت اللجنة الدولية للصليب الأحمر على أن التموين الغذائي في المنطقة في وضع حرج للغاية ويعاني السكان المحليون من نقص حاد في المعدات والمستلزمات الطبية منذ استهلال الحرب،واجهت الدولة المتمردين3مرات منذ عام2004م،وفي كل مرة كانت الوساطة تؤدي إلى وقف لإطلاق النار،لا يلبث أن يتم اختراقه من كلا الجانبين.

تجدد التوترات بين التجمعات القبلية الشمالية كان نتيجة متوقعة لـقبيلة حرب صعدة، إذ انخرط في صفوف الجيش ألاف المتطوعين من قبيلة حاشد، وتحدثت تقارير عن ظهور أعمال نهب وعنف عشوائية، وقد أصدر كبار مشايخ بكيل بيانات تحذر من إمكانية توسيع الصراع أو استمراره لسنوات بسبب حروب وثارات انتقامية بين القبائل .

أعلن في يوليو الماضي عن أنشاء مجلس التضامن الوطني، ويضم قرابة ألف من شيوخ ووجاهات قبائل حاشد بصفة أساسية ، على عجلة تم أنشاء تجمع أخر من زعماء قبائل بكيل أعلنوا معارضتهم لمجلس التضامن الوطني في أغسطس،واتهموه بوجود نية مبيتة لإثارة النزاعات وتلقي الدعم من ليبيا .

ومع خمود الحرب في الشمال توترات ظلت مكبوتة لفترة طويلة،فالاحتجاجات الشعبية تبرز شكاوي عشرات الآلاف من الضباط العسكريين الجنوبيين الذين تم إقصاؤهم بشكل تأديبي إثر حرب عام 1994م الأهلية، ورغم ضمانات المصالحة التي تقدم بها النظام ،ظل الضباط الجنوبيون عاطلين ، ويعتمدون في معيشتهم على رواتب تقاعدية منخفضة لأكثر من عقد من الزمان.

وفي أغسطس /آب،منعت قوات الأمن اليمنية مظاهرات غير مصرحة انطلقت في عدن بعد سلسلة مسيرات احتجاجية كبيرة ومتزايدة كانت قد بدأت في شهر مايو، واعتقل إثر ذلك مئات المتظاهرين ، تعرض آخرون للضرب في الشارع ، وتوفي شخص واحد جراء ذلك .

شملت جهود النظام الحثيثة لقمع الحركة الترويج لمنظمة متقاعدين مستنسخة تضم حوالي 600 من الضباط السابقين ،ووعدت بزيادة رواتب المتقاعدين إلى المستويات المكفولة قانونياً.

كل تلك النزاعات لها جذورها من عدم المساواة المعتمد. فالوحدة بين جنوب اليمن-سابقاً- وشماله والتي تمت عام 1991، أفسدت بهيمنة حزب المؤتمر الشعبي العام –الذي حكم الشمال قبل الوحدة –على السلطة.

في الجنوب تظهر أشكال التمييز الرسمي في نهب الأرض الهائلة ، وموجة التفقير، ومنع التوظيف والحرمان من الفرص التعليمية التمييز المناطقي بات أمراً مألوف ، فحرمان تعز من الماء يعد تمييزاً ضد المدينة ،والاعتقال المسيس للصحفي عبد الكريم الخيواني يعد تمييزاً ضد الأشخاص ،الحرب في صعدة هي تمييز سياسي بالدرجة الأولى، يضاف إليها التمييز الطائفي الذي تمثل باستهداف الزيديين بالهوية فالاعتقال الجماعي للعلماء والطلاب الزيديين والقرويين يعد تمييزاً رسمياً، كما الحال أيضاً في منع الغذاء والدواء عن المنطقة.

تكتسب قبيلة الرئيس صالح(حاشد) أهميتها من خلال صلتها بأدوات الدولة فالوصول إلى المنافع الاقتصادية يستند على الانتساب القبلي ،كما أن حصانة قبيلة حاشد من السلطة القضائية تؤسس حالة عدم المساواة .

إن غياب المساواة بين المجموعات(الطائفية والعشائرية، والمناطقية، والسياسية) مدعوم بتحريض من وسائل إعلام الدولة.

في مواجهة جوانب عدم الاستقرار والعنف يتعامل النظام وأحزاب المعارضة بما هو متوقع منهم بتكرار بذات الطرق التي بدأت بها الصراعات أولياً فالحكومة ردت بالإجبار والرعاية والدعاية دون معالجة أي من المسببات الأساسية كالإقصاء السياسي،فالحوثيون يظلون”أنصار الملكية والجنوبيين”انفصاليين ” طبقاً لوسائل الإعلام الرسمية،و فيما يعمل النظام على استقطاب قادة المعارضة ويدفع لهم الأموال والمساكن، يتم إهمال المواطنين ويجري استهدافهم بوحشية من قبل الأمن والجيش.

المعارضة اليمنية تلوم وتنتقد المؤتمر الشعبي العام رغم ذلك تعد تلك الأحزاب نخبوية بحد ذاتها، فبعض قادة المعارضة تابعون للمؤتمر الشعبي العام ويعملون لتحقيق أفضل المكاسب للحزب الحاكم، وليس من أجل المعارضة أو الناس.

اللقاء المشترك، تحالف المعارضة، يتمنى سحب بساط السلطة بعيداً عن الحزب الحاكم القوي، في الانتخابات النيابية المرتقبة عام2009.

تعمل أحزاب اللقاء المشترك في فضاء سياسي محدود والتهديد بالعنف ليس بعيداً عنهم، غير أن الضغوط المفروضة على أحزاب المشترك لم تمنعها من أن تواصل نشاطاتها بطريقة ديمقراطية .

على إيه حال، تفتقر أحزاب المشترك للالتزام في تحقيق المساواة، فتداول السلطة، والشفافية وحرية التعبير تقوض من مصداقيتها، فمن أجل الثقة بوعود المشترك للعمل بشكل صحيح، يحتاج التحالف المعارض إن يبرهن قدرته على إصلاح نفسه وتطبيق الممارسات الديمقراطية في إطار كل حزب.

تواجه اليمن أوضاعاً عصيبة تتطلب حلولا جدية حازمة، وهناك طريق واحد لتفكيك مفاصل الفساد وتشجع السلطة المستندة على الاستحقاق، ويتمثل في حل الحزب الحاكم.

فالمؤتمر الشعبي العام يعمل بطريقة شبيهة بحزب البعث السوري ،وحزب البعث العراقي السابق، في طريقة الوصول والتأثير والرعاية ،فهو مندمج بالمؤسسات والبيروقراطيات الرسمية التي أصبحت مسيسة،فالحزب يعمل في إطار اهتماماته الخاصة ونشأ مسيطراً على الفضاء العام.

ومن هذا المنطلق فإن حل المؤتمر الشعبي العام سيتيح فضاء الإصلاح حقيقي بإزالة التركيبة التي تحدد التضمين والاستثناء.

فالمؤتمر الشعبي العام يعد آلية أساسية للتمييز الذي يمارس ضد كل اليمنيين بالهوية ن وبذلك تتعزز الانقسامات الاجتماعية، فالانتساب للحزب يعتبر معياراً في التعليم ،والتوظيف ،والأحكام القضائية والخدمات الحكومية أينما وجدت، ومن خلال سيطرة المؤتمر الشعبي العام على المؤسسات،تمتص الأقلية الحاكمة هبات المانحين والمصادر الطبيعية ،بينما يبقى الماء النظيف،والكهرباء،والوسائل التربوية والطبية غير متوفرة بشكل كبير لمعظم اليمنيين.

النخبة الحكمة في اليمن تتقاسم مؤسسات الدولة بما فيها الأمن والسلطة القضائية ،وفق مصالح شخصية،وتستخدمها جاهدة لإسكات المعارضة والنقد والجهود نحو الإصلاح بإمكان بعض أولى الحكمة والشجاعة من أعضاء المؤتمر الشعبي العام أن يمارسوا الضغط من اجل إصلاح حقيقي يمكن أن يهدد مصالح نخبة المؤتمر.

ثمة حل آخر يتمثل في أنشاء حزب جديد يؤسس للمساواة وبالتالي الديمقراطية، حزب ملتزم بمبادئ عادلة، حزب بإمكانه أن ينتقد بنظامه ولوائحه الخاصة. ويتعامل بشفافية مالية ،ويتبنى انتخابات داخلية عادلة، ويجعل المناصب القيادية متاحة لجميع الأفراد، ويحتكم لإرادة غالبية الأعضاء.

حتى الآن لم تر اليمن حزباً تتمثل فيه تلك الخصائص بشكل موحد،ومثل هكذا حزب يحتاج للوجود لتمكين المواطنين العاديين من الوصول السياسي، ويبعث الأمل في 10ملايين من شباب اليمن. فالديمقراطية هي خيار الشعب اليمني، وأيضا المساواة تبعاً لذلك..والدولة أو الحزب الذي يمارس التمييز بالهوية غير ديمقراطي أصلاً.

نقلا عن أسبوعية “الشارع”

Does this mean there is 42% less payola?

Reuters

The Yemeni government’s share of oil output declined by 42 % in the first half of this year, posing a challenge to the country’s economic growth, a senior official said on Saturday.

The government’s share of total oil production fell to 20 million barrels in the six months to June 30 from 34.5 million barrels in the year-earlier period, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Megawar said.

The value of oil production fell to $1.2 billion in the period from $2.2 billion last year, Megawar told a meeting of the ruling People’s Congress Party.

The decline in oil production in Yemen “is a real challenge to the national economy although there are positive indicators promising new discoveries of oil and gas”, Megawar said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh said at the same meeting that Yemen’s oil production stood at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Oil Minister Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah said in May that Yemen wanted to boost its oil output to 500,000 bpd, without giving a timeframe.

The country planned to offer 10 offshore oil and gas exploration blocks in a bidding round for international firms in the third quarter, Bahah had said.

YO

Al-Iryani was speaking at the first Sana’a Forum for Democracy that was held in Sana’a on August 22 and 23 at the Movenpick Hotel. Fifty-two male and female participants from 18 countries participated in the forum. The goal of the forum was to enhance democracy and to contribute to the creation of an Arabian strategy for the Arabian civil society to achieve democratic ambitions for societies of the region.

“Democracy as mechanisms, practices, systems and laws has become a necessity without which there will be no development, provided that it will be supported by organizations and monitoring units according to the law,” said President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a letter to the symposium. He said this is in addition to the importance of judicial authority independence, peaceful transfers of authority, achieving equality and women’s empowerment as an active and important contribution to the process of advancement, reform, and going forward in the path of pluralism and human rights.

“Yemen is willing and ready to support all loyal and serious efforts in the Arabian framework, to serve the democratic course that is part and parcel for achieving development and justice and provides security to scarcities,” said Saleh.

As they are holding a democracy conference, there’s a bill sent to Parliament that kills free speech. Maybe they’ll take 15 years to pass it like the gun bill.

In the absence of political will to reform, public pressure can sometimes be an effective catalyst, but not if the public is muzzled.

The regime smells a revolution coming and keeps doing all the things that are going to provoke it.

Yemeni Government Introduces Bill To Jail Critics Of President

SAN’A, Yemen (AP)–Critics of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh could receive up to 15 years in prison under a proposed law introduced by the government and sent to parliament on Sunday.

Under the draft law, ‘agitators’ could also face a death penalty if their anti-government incitement causes deaths during protests.

Yemeni newspapers said the draft law also imposes severe prison sentences on journalists, writers and rights advocates who ‘incite’ anti-government activities including protests. These acts, according to the draft law, undermine national security and are harmful to social peace.

Critics immediately blasted the law as a violation of freedom of expression.

“The government is retreating from its promises to expand the freedoms and halt restrictive measures,” said Sami Ghalib, head of the Freedoms Committee at the Yemeni Press Syndicate.

Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets in several cities around the country this month to protest government corruption and rising prices.

The demonstrations, organized by a coalition of five opposition parties, drew a sharp rebuke from authorities, who said the gatherings didn’t serve development and stability.

Saleh has said the planned protests intended to “prepare the streets for disorder, tension and create bottlenecks which do not serve the economy, stability and security.”

Yemen, a poor tribal country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula has been struggling with poverty. The central bank reported revenue of $1.5 billion in oil sales in the first four months of 2007 but most is believed to have been spent on armaments and security.

Unemployment in Yemen is at 36.8%, according to government statistics.

a fractured party to start with

Almotamar.net - It is scheduled that central committee of the Yemeni Socialist Party to resume Wednesday discussion of the agenda of its 5th ordinary session that is expected to discuss a number of issues related to the party’s situations. It is particularly so the party is experiencing a state of conflicts between trends of contradictory visions on matters connected to party issues and the party’s stands towards national issues.

In his address the party’s secretary general Dr Yassin Saeed Nouman pointed out that the committee’s session is a one of reform an rectifying the party’s internal situations, he also stressed that realization of that objective necessitates that each member of in the central committee should work hard to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and in the manner guaranteeing achievement of the goals targeted by this session.

Against that members of the committee unanimously refused proposal by the secretary general Dr Nouman that was related to rotation of the secretary general post of the party every two years, considering the proposal as implied resignation from his post, according to News Yemen.

According to an YSP source the secretary general was aiming at effecting change in the leaderships with new bloods and rotation of all lading positions in the party so that they would not change into centres of tension preventing the process of change and working for deepening the party’s internal crises.

The YSP crisis has aggravated with the emergence of a trend calling for correcting the track of the unity that adopts secessionist ideas rejected by the party leadership and considers them a an attempt to cancel the party’s unionist history embodied by its participation with the General People’s Congress party in the reunification of Yemen in 1990.

The YSP has not throughout its history transferred power peacefully and the process of attaining the party leadership remained dependent on the criterion of bloody overthrowing, the latest one of which was the massacre pf 13 January 1986.

Whoever has the biggest gun and the most men normally wins.

Almotamar.net - More than 400 inhabitants of Lahj governorate from Al-Uzaiba tribe on Tuesday gathered around a tent erected in front of Lahj governorate building. The gathering was in protest t what they said that the son of Abdulwahab al-A’nisy, secretary general of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party is leading a gang that plunders their lands in the district of Tabn.

The gathering people raised placards condemning the gangs that seize others’ pieces of land. And in a memorandum they handed over to the local authority of the governorate they demanded the formation of a committee from the local council of the governorate and the district to make a field visit and see the aggression acts. The memorandum also included a demand for removing all results of seizure of the lands in the nearby area.

They have also dispatched a memorandum to the deputy premier, the minister of interior and other concerned authorities demanding implementation of the president of the republic’s directives on Monday to the government to stop any aggression on others’ lands.

It is to be mentioned that accusations were sent against the Islah party secretary general of seizing a poultry farm located on the road between Aden and Lahj.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The Syrian government has agreed to supply Yemen with 50,000 tons of wheat as a part of the quantity Yemen has demanded from the Syrian Cereals Corporation.

Yemen has demanded 150-200 thousand tons of wheat form the Syrian government to cover the shortage of wheat in Yemeni markets, said the general director of the Yemeni Economic Corporation Ali al-Kohlani.

Yemen has recently signed contracts with many country to buy wheat according to orders of president Saleh to the government to increase imports of necessary food materials and sell them to people in all governorates with cost price.

Meanwhile, al-Kohlani has revealed that three directors in his cooperation have been referred to justice for violations related to wheat sales. He said also that other directors have been given final warnings.

Al-Kohlani said the corporation would punish anyone plays with price of wheat or violates duties.
“This point is not arguable. Anyone who neglects the responsibilities will be severely punished,” said al-Kohlani.

On the other hand, an official in the Economic Corporation’s office in Taiz said that wheat demand is increasing. However, Al-Habari Group, the biggest wheat importer said it would stop selling wheat until the Ministry of Trade and Industry determines the pricing list.

Micromanaging at its finest, Saleh refuses passport request.

al-Sahwa

Due to political reasons, Yemeni authorities rejects issuing passports

August 21, 2007-Yemeni businessman resident in Dubai has accused the Yemeni authorities of not reissuing him a passport due to political reasons .

Naji al-Jaifi said that he asked the Yemeni ambassador in the United Arab Emirates, Abdul-Wahid Farai, to renew his passport and he, in turn, referred him to the Yemeni consulate in Dubai.

However , he was told in the consulate that there are presidential orders of stopping all his procedures.

Al-Jaifi appealed all human rights organizations to interfere and do best in order to prevent containing his own freedom .

Thats funny.

26 Sept

The First Sana’a Forum for Democracy in the Arab World is inaugurated its agenda on Wednesday which will be held, under the patronage of President Saleh, over two days under the title “towards better democratic future”.

This forum is considered the pillar of the Arab Democratic Association’s activity which was announced its nascence by Arab politicians elite in Sana’a mid-last June. The forum is organized by the Association in collaboration with the Forum of Bridges Cultures, the National Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development, Oman Center for Human Rights Studies and the Arab Union for Arab Women.

This forum is gaining a special importance relating to the topics which will be discussed to crystallize the strategy of the Arab Democratic Association that can contribute effectively in promoting democratization in the Arab world in various directions, and activate the role of Arab civil society to stabilize principles and notions of democracy, the head of the Forum Bridges Cultures and chairman of the Arab preparatory committee for the forum, Dr. AbdulKarim Al-Aryani.

(Read on …)