On August 29, a Malaysian ship carrying 30,000 tons of petrochemicals was high jacked in the Gulf of Aden, the eighth ship to be high jacked since July 20th. Between April and June, 19 ships were attacked in the Gulf of Aden. US and allied navies will establish a maritime security patrol area in the waters between the coasts of Somalia and Yemen, under Combined Task Force 150. (Map)
What? Nabi? The same Nabi the 2003 US SD Patterns of Terrorism report says Yemen reported dead but actually let go, the same Nabi that was pardoned by Saleh and living the life of a peaceful farmer , Nabi the graduate of Judge al-Hittar’s rehabilitation program, Nabi who was reportedly in Sa’ada, with his gang fighting against the Houthis? Now he’s a wanted criminal that they have been chasing for five years? No, he’s not. Did the security snatch him in a bid for US approval? The story is Nabi planned the attacks in the south on the oil pipelines and security installations. Does this mean the non-existent AAIA is part of the YSB, AQY, joined with the southerners or just got cranky one day and started blowing stuff up? The other AAIA leader, Ahmed Haidrah Abubakr, known as Abulashaath, said a few years ago, they only arrest us to use us against their enemies, option number six.
SANAA (AFP) — Yemeni authorities have arrested a leader of the Islamist Jihad movement in the south of the country after a five-year search, a security official said on Saturday.
The arrest came after an exchange of fire between police and supporters of Khaled Abdel Nabi, who had taken refuge in a house in the town of Jaar in the southern province of Abyan, the official said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The operation was part of an offensive against religious extremists responsible for attacks against security forces and oil installations in the south, the official said.
In 2003, Abdel Nabi, a member of the Jihad movement — which has no links to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network — launched a series of attacks before going into hiding in the Jabal Hatat mountains.
Five of Abdel Nabi’s supporters were killed in an operation by security forces.
Last Sunday, security forces announced the arrest of 30 suspected Al-Qaeda members, saying they had dismantled an extremist cell, as part of a crackdown on the jihadist network in the eastern part of the country.
On August 12, the ministry of defence announced the death of a local chief and four others belonging to Al-Qaeda after armed clashes that left two policemen dead.
Yemen, ancestral homeland of bin Laden, has been battling suspected Al-Qaeda militants since before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Protestors carrying placards highlighting the plight of jailed journalists will be out and about in King Street, Hammersmith.
They will be part of a protest by Hammersmith and Fulham Amnesty International which is setting up a booth on Saturday, August 30 from 10.30am to 4pm.
The campaigners will focus on cases in the Yemen, Iran and Uzbekistan where journalists have been imprisoned.
These include that of Yemeni Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani who was due to visit London on 17th June to receive an Amnesty award for human rights journalism from BBC correspondent Alan Johnston.
He could not attend, having just been sentenced to six years in prison for his articles criticising government policy.
United Nations Secretary and the human right organizationsOn behalf of the Mr. Baoom family, I , Dr. Saba, the daughter of the political prisoner , the prisoner of thoughts Mr. Hassan Ahmed Baoom, the prisoner in the Intelligence prison , in Sana’a – Yemen Arab Republic , and his colleagues prisoners, in the same prison, my father and his collogues have been kidnapped since April 2008, such act done by the authorities of Yemen Arab Republic.
My father is detained in a cell measured 2 meters , in under ground cells, he is now 70 years , and his medical status is serious, he is suffering from Diabetes ,hypertension , serious blockage in coronary arteries and short activity of the Kidneys.
My father and his colleagues illegal arrest , was due to their political peaceful activities , and their struggle to get the rights and free way of living of the people of South Yemen , and to re gain back all the right of the people. We are requesting you in the name of Human rights to justify the demands of the people.
We are requesting you to help in releasing my Father and his collogues , with the Yemen authorities, my Father is facing a serious medical status, additional to that we are requesting to stop all illegal arrest, accusation and illegal prosecutions against political peaceful activities.
your support highly appreciated
Dr. Saba Baoom
Good article from the CSM that captures the dispute about summer camps. I dont think the Believing Youth have youth summer camps, but the regime’s campaign tends to spread far beyonbd the Houthis. The government sponsored camps do push a version of Islam that is not espoused by the entirety of the diverse population in Yemen. For their part, the rebels talk about a governemnt tactic of forced conversion implemented through schools and mosques.
Opposition party leaders claim that new schools to stem extremism prevent minority sects from recruiting new members.
Sanaa, Yemen - Every morning, 300 children – mostly boys, ages 7 to 15 – gathered at the Great Mosque in Sanaa to memorize the Koran during the summer months. For centuries, different sects have run private religious summer schools in mosques throughout Yemen. Some of these are now threatened by closure.
In a speech last month announcing the end of a four-year war with the Al Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh inaugurated new, government-sponsored religious summer schools serving up to 172,000 youth.
These new institutions are part of a campaign to create national unity and counteract what Mr. Saleh describes as the extremist ideology taught in unlicensed religious schools. But members of the sects deny extremist leanings and claim that the new summer program is an attempt to weaken opposition parties aligned with particular religious groups.
Yemen is increasingly perceived by the international community as a haven for Islamist jihadis. There have been 20 terrorist attacks in Yemen this year alone.
In a state dominated by tribes, some of which are connected to religious minority sects, government control over regions outside the capital is weak. Saleh has described his relationship with tribes as “a dance with snakes.” The summer programs, then, are an attempt to improve Yemen’s counterterrorism record.
Under Yemen’s education laws, the government began shutting down sectarian schools as early as 1991.
“Extremist groups could be responsible for some summer camps which encourage terrorism,” says Hamoud Ubad, minister of youth and sports. “We do not want to give permission to any extremists who would like to plant undesirable ideas … in the minds of our youth.” In response, the government began a program of summer camps three years ago, which this year doubled in number.
Four sects are considered extremist in Yemen, explains Saif al-Asaly, professor of economics at Sanaa University: Sufi, Salafi, the Shiite Al Houthi, and the Islamic Brotherhood, represented by factions within the Islah Party. Although the majority of Yemenis do not formally belong to one of these four sects, Mr. Asaly says, “Yemenis are being affected by their ideas through the sermons they hear at mosques, lectures, and [in] books.”
Members of these sects deny any affiliation with extremism. “There are extremists in Yemen, but not from the Islah Party,” asserts Amat al-Salaam Rajaa, a party leader. She adds that the summer program is a political maneuver by the president’s party to weaken the ability for opposition parties to recruit new members.
The conservative Islah Party, an opposition party, holds 15 percent of seats in parliament. According to political analyst Hani Zainulbhaii, the Al Houthi and Islah Party use summer schools to recruit members. Over the past four years, 50 to 60 camps run by the Al Houthi rebels have been shut down, says Hamoud al-Hittar, minister of endowments and religious guidance. Ten to 15 of these were closed in the past month. The Yemeni press, meanwhile, has reported the closure of 1,000 religious summer camps this year.
Analysts suggest that the president previously allowed religious sects greater freedom because they were willing to fight in the conflict against Al Houthi rebels. Now that there is a break in warfare, the president is bringing these sects back under his secular party’s control through antiextremism measures.
Yemeni Libyan relations normalizing with the end of the Sa’ada War
Interesting the way the agreement was signed by the political parties, not the governments themselves
TRIPOLI, August 10 (SPA) - Yemen and Libya have signed an agreement under which Libya will set up a 400 megawatt electricity station in Yemen.
The agreement was signed by the two countries General People’s Congress parties, according to a report circulated today by Yemen News Agency “SABA.”
Under the agreement, the countries will also increase the capital of the Yemeni-Libyan Holding Company to at least $ 100 million. The construction of the station is scheduled to start before the end of 2008.
The two parties also agreed to implement agreements signed in the past, which provided for exchanging expertise in areas such as media, research works, youth activities and programs for supporting women.
© Saudi Press Agency 2008
Prison convert. Philly News
After 1 month, Philly native remains detained in Yemen
A Philadelphia native who wanted to study Islam was yanked off a Yemeni bus with five other Americans last month and has been detained there since, according to authorities.
LaToya Calloway-Gould, 34, of Reading, said that on July 30 the U.S. Embassy in Yemen notified her that her husband, Nasir Daymar Gould, 30, had been detained on July 27, six days after his arrival.Gould, who grew up at 51st Street and Hazel Avenue, in West Philadelphia, was riding an intercity Yemeni bus from Sa’dah to Sana’a when it stopped at a security checkpoint and six Americans were taken into custody, his wife said.
“They told me there were no formal charges,” Calloway-Gould said. “With their government, they do what they want to do, when they want to do it. Here, he has rights. Over there, there are no rights….Gould said that her husband had planned the trip to Yemen for a year to study Islam and Arabic with an imam in Mabar. He wanted to extend his 30-day visa to six months.
His wife said the embassy contacted her a second time after a legal attache visited Gould in prison.
“He had not taken a shower,” she said. “I’m glad he had money because he had to buy his own food. If he didn’t have any money, they would give him vitamins….In November 2006, he was released from state prison on drug-related charges, his wife said. Shortly after, Gould obtained a job at Giorgio Foods Inc., a food plant in Reading….
As a youth, Gould was in and out of jail, but his mother said he had turned his life around. Though his father was Muslim, he did not study Islam until his most recent jail term. After his release, he prayed regularly at the Germantown Masjid, in lower Germantown.
Maber, Dhamar: The second largest Dar al-Hadith institute is in Maber and was described in 2007[8] as extremely active and organized. The Maber institute is headed by Sheik Mohammed al-Imam al-Reimi, a former student of Sheik al-Wadi. In 2001, the school had a capacity of 1500-2000 students.
Sheik al-Imam issued a fatwa in 2005 [9] prohibiting children from receiving polio vaccine because it was “unclean and comes from the west”; however, the Sheik reversed his position months later after conducting an investigation.
SAN’A, Yemen (AP) - A Yemeni security official says police are cracking down on Muslims who have converted to Christianity.
The official says at least nine people have been detained in recent months. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Rights activists and a family member
of one of those detained say they fear those arrested could be tortured or abused in prison.
Conversion from Islam to any other religion is illegal in Yemen.
Separately, the official says police also have arrested six Iranians in Yemen who are followers of the Baha’i faith for allegedly belonging to a rebel group. Though not officially banned in Yemen, the Baha’i religion is considered by some Muslims as heresy.
Well that would be lovely. He wasn’t involved in the “Sa’ada sedition” and was never charged as such. There’s a government campaign targeting Hashimites thats more racial and political than religious.
Some persons involved in Saada sedition to be released
[27 August 2008]
SANA’A, Aug 27 (Saba) - Well-informed sources said on Wednesday that a number of detainees involved in the Saada sedition would be released.
The sources were quoted by the military-run 26sep.net as saying that Mohammed Meftah and Fadhel Mohammed Baderalddeen will be among the released persons.
The government has ordered the concerned bodies to resume the activation of communication networks in Saada province.
I dont think any of the EU’s suggested electorial reforms were implemented.
Presidential decree on SCER formation issued
SANA’A, Aug. 26 (Saba)- Presidential decree No. 12 for the year 2008 was issued on Tuesday on the formation of the Supreme Committee of Elections and Referendum of the following personnel:
1- Khaled Abdul-Wahab al-Sharif
2- Abdullah Muhsen al-Akwa’a
3- Dr. Ja’afer Saeed Ba-Salah
4- Dr. Mohammed Abdullah al-Sayani
5- Alawi Ali al-Mashhour
6- Abdu Mohammed al-Jundi
7- Mohammed al-Saqaf Abdul-Rahman Balghait
8- Saif Mohammed Saleh al-Sharabi
9- Dr. Abdullah Mohammed DahanThe second and the last article stipulates that this decree enters it into effect
from the date of its issuance and to be published in the official gazette.
No wonder they banned text message news alerts, the good slice of the citizenry might have actually been informed.CN
Yemen’s vibrant cellular market will reach 10.5 million subscribers by end of 2012, a cellular penetration rate of 42.4%, fueled in part by the entrance of a 4th mobile operator at the end of last year, says a new report from the Arab Advisors Group.
The Government of Yemen also fully owns and directly oversees the operations of the monopoly fixed line operator, Public Telecommunications Corporation (PTC), and owns a controlling stake in the CDMA cellular operator, Yemen Mobile, through the PTC.
The Arab Advisors Group projects Yemen’s mainlines to reach 1.432 million lines by end of 2012 with a penetration rate of 5.76%. This corresponds to a CAGR of 7.1% between 2008 and 2012. This growth is expected to be mainly through the PTC’s efforts to provide fixed line services in the rural areas of Yemen.
“The Arab Advisors Group projects Yemen’s cellular lines to continue its healthy growth. With the entry of the fourth cellular operator in Yemen, the Arab Advisors Group projects Yemen’s cellular market to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% from 2008 to 2012, reaching 10.537 million subscribers (a cellular penetration rate of 42.4%) up from 4.437 million by end of 2007.” Mr. Hussam Barhoush, Arab Advisors senior research analyst of Arab Advisors Group wrote in the report.
Yemeni exports through Aden reach YR 18 billion
[28 August 2008]
ADEN, Aug. 28 (Saba)- Yemeni exports via Aden International Airport and Container Port raised from last July to reach YR 18 billion with the increase of 4 billion on the same period for the past year.
The exports included fisheries, coffee, honey, cotton, sweets, ghee, soup, perfumes, liquid milk and wheat waste.
Vice Director of Aden Customs Hussein Roudan told Saba that the governorate’s custom has realized in the same period financial revenues reached YR 9,2 billion with an increase of 1,11 billion for the equivalent period of 2007.
but but I thought reform was good!
Sahwa Net – General Union of Yemeni Student has condemned the arrest of three students again by security forces in Ibb University after they had been released last week.
Sources of the Student Union said that the three students, Majed al-Awdi, Walid al-Laith and Walid al-Sharabi were arrested because they wrote about corruption inside the university in a paper issued by the Student Union.
Government study shows 30000 children working in 8 Yemeni provincesSANA’A, Aug. 15 (Saba) - A recent study has shown that 30000 children working in the streets of eight Yemeni provinces.
According to the study, prepared by the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood in cooperation with the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, the majority of street children are aged between 6 -14 years and the rate of male children reached 70 per cent.
The official study said that the causes of the emergence of street children in the capital Sana’a, Aden, Taiz, Hajjah, Hodeida, Saada, Dhamar and Hadhramout were poverty, unemployment, family disintegration and parental absence due to divorce or death.
The study also pointed out that family disputes, violence against women, mistreatment of children, domestic migration and lack of social services were other causes of the phenomenon.
The study mentioned that the street children work as street vendors, cars washers, cleaners and beggars in addition to working in markets, restaurants, laundries and furnaces.
According to the study, diseases affecting the street children included malaria, diarrhea, various infections, diabetes, anemia, pains of spinal and back, liver and skin diseases and headaches and stomach pains.
There’s a lot of disappeared in Yemen, in this case, the article is referring to Hashimites.
According to the Yemeni Organization to Defend Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms, nearly 135 people have been detained, 26 of whom disappeared arbitrarily after armed conflict between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels in Sa’ada and Bani Hushaish ended.
The organization distributed a list of 56 names of those alleged to have “arbitrarily disappeared” in Sana’a, demanding the immediate release of those detainees who haven’t been charged and revealing their location.
Ali Al-Amad, 27, was arrested July 5, 2008, after he left work at a mobile telephone company in Sana’a.The organization maintains that many were seized after the conflict was called off by President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Aug. 7.
Sami Ghalib, editor-in-chief of Al-Nida’a opposition newspaper, criticized opposition parties’ weak rule regarding such detainees. He also condemned security forces’ charging of those belonging to the Zaidi sect of Islam.
“Arresting on the basis of ethnic and sectarian characteristics is a serious phenomenon,” noted Mohammed Al-Maqtari, executive director
serious phenomenon,” noted Mohammed Al-Maqtari, executive director of the Yemen
Mohammed Muftah, 37, was arrested in May 2008. Many international human rights organizations have asked the Yemeni government to release him.Observatory for Human Rights.
He alleges that such arrests occurred after the announced ceasefire of the Sa’ada War, which violates Yemeni law and the Constitution, as well as international agreements Yemen has signed. Al-Maqtari added, “Political Security and National Security prisons are not under the authority of Yemeni judicial organizations, so no one can penalize them.”
very sad, its a beautiful country in need of revenue
Yemen, which has historically been one of the lowest earners of tourism revenue in the Middle East and North Africa region, was predicted to generate US$44 billion (Dh160.6bn) from tourism by 2020, in a report released in June by Fast Future, a UK-based tourism consultancy. By 2015, the tourism ministry, according to Mr Bail, aims to attract one million tourists.
However, the attacks and kidnappings and subsequent travel warnings have dented the country’s earning potential. According to the ministry’s statistics, there was a slight drop in the number of tourists in 2007 to 379,390 from 382,332 in 2006.
Yemen earned $424 million last year in tourism revenue, but Mr Bail said a hoped for 10 per cent growth set for 2008 would have to be reviewed after the warnings.
The ministerial committee tasked with assessing Sa’ada war damages led by the Minister of Local Administration is expected to present its report this week to the cabinet stating the required projects.
This comes after the committee completed assessing the damages that involved the private and public properties during the four-year war in Sa’ada province that left huge damages on people and farms.
Sources from the committee stated to the Yemen Post that reconstruction and development are underway, adding that his committee has already approved the indirect compensation measures in agricultural property through providing agricultural counseling, developing marketing process, implementing modern irrigation networks, providing tractors, and implementing several water dams and barriers across the province.
two, i guess thats a step in the right direction but its a long journey ahead
Anti-corruption authority refers two cases to public prosecution
SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) - The Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) announced on Monday that it had filed two cases against the project of repairing the Cairo citadel in Taiz province and allocations related to supporting Yemeni communities’ schools abroad due to financial irregularities.
In its reported submitted recently to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the parliament, the authority said that the results of its investigations in the first case had revealed financial abuses reached more than YR 2 billion, adding that the second corruption case included the abuse of public office and exploiting it to achieve personal benefits which damaged the public funds.
“The authority is still pursuing the liquidation of the financial disclosures accumulated by the cultural attachés of Yemen embassies abroad, affirming that they did not present financial reports for the period 2001 to 2007.
According to the report, more than YR 4 billion and 257 million of the total financial disclosures reaching about YR 16 billion and 81 million had been settled till the end of last June.
The government body said it had received 71 complaints during the second quarter of 2008, noting it is completing the investigations in nine corruption cases, including irregularities related to biddings and bids, forgery offences and the seizure of public funds and properties as well as tax and customs evasions.
no reference to country of origin
The police of Hodiedah governorate on the western coast of Yemen, captured a large shipment of drugs, loaded in a van, on the highway linking al-Qanawes district to al-Zaydia district 60 kilometers to the north of Hodeidah city last Tuesday, said a security source in Hodiedah security office. The drugs shipment contained 361,000 tablets of Keptagon, a prohibited drug.
propagnda machine revs up
the GPC journalists are getting a raise, non-governmental journalists earn as little as $100/month
Plenary meeting for the GPC media men expected to be attended by about 400
Monday, 18-August-2008 al-Motamar: Under patronage of president Ali Abdullah Saleh , President of the General People’s Congress (GPC) a plenary media meeting will be held on Tuesday with participation of GPC media men working for the different media instruments of the GPC, and those working for the media and press of the political parties members in the national alliance.An official source at the GPC sector for intellect, culture and information has made it clear that that the meeting to be attended by more than 400 journalists aims at assessing and unifying the information address of the GPC in the present stage in pursuit of achieving the national and organisational strategies undertaken by the GPC and contributing to winning development dues, enhancing the role of the media t6hat defends the national gains and democratic process.
The source said this organisational demonstration constitutes a tradition that the GPC would hold in a periodical manner that would help enhance bonds of communication and guarantee periodical assessment of the GPC press performance. The source added the participants would discuss a group of organisational documents and studies concerned with information and means for enhancing its national message that expresses hopes and ambitions of the Yemeni people who granted the GPC their confidence in parliamentary, presidential and local elections.
The meeting is also going to discuss a number of organisational, national and professional concerns in the manner serving to raise the level of media performance and preserve rights of journalists as well the professional legislations organizing the relations among all communication parties.
The source also expects that the meeting will come out with a strategic vision regarding the information address of the GPC and resolutions and recommendations accommodating all visions and treatments and means of developing the professional performance of the GPC press.
Negotiations, epic fail.
Yemen’s opposition accuses ruling party of seeking to forge up-coming elections
al-Sahwa- Yemen’s opposition, the Joint Meeting Parties, has held the ruling party, the General People Congress, responsible for any dire consequences resulted in by its refusal of approving a new election law.GPC had ruled out on Monday a draft of amendments to the election law which have been prepared for the past year in effort to bring more women into parliament, curb vote-rigging, limit the influence of government officials and confining the registration of electors to their place of birth or residence while rejecting the place of work.
JMP said, in a statement released on Tuesday, that the ruling party’s parliamentary bloc carried out a coup against democracy since it refused voting on a draft of election law amendments.
Yemen’s main opposition parties also accused the ruling party of breaking its pledges ; releasing the political prisoners, and illegally forming an election commission in separation, considering such measures evidence of preplanning to counterfeit the up-coming parliamentary elections, due to take place in April 2009.
JMP further affirmed that refusal of the election law amendments undermine a principle of political multiparty, escalate tensions and result in serious consequences.
“GPC is seeking to hold forged elections in which public money is exploited” it added, pointing out that such elections would much deepen widespread unemployment, impoverishment and corruption.
On the other hand, the ruling party described the recent measure as constitutional, indicating that the opposition failed to name its nominees for the election commission.
Poverty, illegal immigrants, a fence….
Al-Sahwat- Saudi authorities have affirmed that its border guards seize over 1000 Yemeni infiltrators a day trying to enter the Saudi territories to work as beggars in Ramadan month, according to a Saudi paper, Okadh .
It is worth mentioning that Saudi patrols held 250,000 infiltrators who entered Saudi illegally last year.
Officials at Yemen’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour say the Saudi authorities arrest an average of 10 Yemeni children a day as they attempt to cross into Saudi border illegally.
SANA’A, Aug. 22 — The Saudi Border Guards Authority has announced the completion of a steel fence to prevent Yemenis from infiltrating Saudi Arabia and protect Saudi villages adjacent to the Yemeni border from smuggling.
Saudi’s Okadh newspaper reported that by erecting this fence around Saudi villages, the Saudi Border Guards leadership is seeking to prevent smuggling and infiltration activities that occur in the region, particularly at night.
The leader of Jazan district’s Saudi Border Guards maintains that the authority installed the steel fence to prevent smugglers from entering the villages of Al-Khawjarah, Mabkharah and Al-Hizb.
The newspaper noted that these villages have witnessed extensive smuggling operations, particularly flour smuggling, which has created a crisis in that region, where the price of a bag of flour currently sells for 70 Saudi Riyals (YR 3,735).
This month, imprisoned Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani gave an interview to a Qatari paper from jail. After it was published, prison officials threatened to kill him. They threw a rat in his cell and denied him all communication with his family. Al-Khaiwani who suffers heart disease and rampant diabetes has been denied his necessary medicines for ten days.
In his interview, he discussed his imprisonment and his experience over the last four years with the Yemeni judiciary.
AL-ARAB: First, can we know about the background of your imprisonment?
ABDULKARIM AL-KHAIWANI: The decision for my imprisonment came from the highest levels of government, instructions from above that derailed any real course of justice, from fabricated charges, to non-incriminating evidence such as compact discs and articles that were never published, to an unfounded verdict. All this was topped off with a legal flair – with the last paragraph of my sentence, which essentially insured the immediate effectiveness of my sentence. It was not something the judge himself ordered, but it was there, recorded by the cameras of thirteen different channels and news agencies.
AL-ARAB: Were you expecting a six-year prison sentence?
ABDULKARIM AL-KHAIWANI: My experience with the judiciary made me prepared for jail time, and what’s more, I knew the judiciary was not independent, and the court was an exceptional state security court, known to aim for convictions only… I knew it would be a court that did not look into the case or the defense prepared by the lawyers – no matter how good they were, or their arguments were. I was prepared.
A member of the former presidential committee for ending the war in Sa’da [a separatist region in north Yemen, Ed.], Abdo Al-Jindi, spoke live on Al-Jazeera a few months ago and said he would issue a verdict against me, convicting me.
Al-Jindi also expressed amusement about the terrorist charge that I was being convicted of, and I knew to expect that this was coming from some official side, and not from an independent judiciary with integrity.
Still, I had hoped that the judiciary would work to gain people’s trust by issuing just verdicts, especially in this case that has had such an impact on public opinion. But it seems that no one cares; they are just angered by the truth.
AL-ARAB: You appeared surprised in the media when the sentence was pronounced, as if you did not expect such a sentence? (Read on …)
The YSB?
SAN’A, Yemen: A Yemeni security official says that recently detained members of al-Qaida have confessed to plans to attack oil facilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The official says authorities “obtained during interrogation” confessions from 15 militants arrested after a shootout earlier this week in the town of Tarim in Hadramawt province.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
He says Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz was dispatched to Yemen after learning about the confessions. Riyadh did not comment on Nayef’s visit.
The following article says the YSB group was responsible for pretty much all the recent attacks attacks, including the three mortar attacks in Sana’a, the three suicide bombings and the attacks on the Belguin tourists. And makes the point that some predict, “The international community, mainly the US, will approve of government plans to prioritise security rather than democracy.” (furthering the ultimate Talibanization of Yemen)
SANA’A // The killing this week by Yemeni security forces of a key al Qa’eda mastermind will initially sow confusion among the group, but is likely to provoke a violent backlash, an analyst said.
“This operation is a big blow to al Qa’eda and will, of course, invite an angry response from al Qa’eda to retaliate. It is clear now the confrontation between the government and al Qa’eda is open,” said Saeed Thabet, a political analyst who follows Islamist movements.
Yemeni authorities announced on Aug 12 that Hamza al Quaiti, al Qa’eda in Yemen’s number two, was killed along with five other terror suspects in a shoot-out with police the previous day in Tarim, in south-eastern Hadramaut province.
Another two suspected militants were wounded and arrested by police. Two police officers were killed in the clash.
The ministry of interior has blamed Quaiti for masterminding several terror attacks in Yemen in recent months, including four car bomb attacks and an attack on Belgian tourists in Hadramaut on Jan 18 that killed two Belgian women and two Yemeni drivers. The ministry has also accused Quaiti of being behind the US Embassy bombing in March. The attack killed a security guard and wounded 13 students at a nearby school.
The People General Congress building wall was attacked and taken down in Loader, Abyan, exploded last Friday by unknown elements.
Security Officials sources told media that there were no human or major physical damage caused by the incident. According to the source, the only damages were a gap in the building’s wall and glass shatters inside the building.
But the medical field in Yemen is so primitive, or perhaps non-existent, that no one knows exactly what the disease is, and apparently the health ministry is not too concerned. Cousin marriage is very common in Yemen.
Yemen Observer: The disease affects its victims in two ways: it distresses the balance center of the body, which has as symptoms that the sick person loses balance and feels an increased tremor every day, along with an evident atrophy in the upper parts. In its middle and last stages, it causes the victim to be unable to walk and to finally lose the capacity of movement and speech.
The second possibility is that it may affect the body’s main nerve center, causing nerves to be contracted and parts of the body to be bent. The patient then stops walking, suffering from atrophy in the lower part of the body.
Suffering
Musab, a 14-year-old boy says that he wishes to recover and return to playing. His legs are bent and attached to his thighs, not allowing him to open them and walk.Two years ago, his eldest brother died from the same disease.
Musab has been suffering from this disease four years ago, but he now feels that his fate will be the same as his brother’s.“I made many attempts to treat my eldest son but hope is missing,” said Musab’s father, Mohammed Saghir. “Then, I traveled to provide him with a treatment in Saudi Arabia where doctors used a physical therapy (massage). I uselessly spent more than one million Yemeni riyals. Ultimately, Yemeni doctors informed me that he was suffering from atrophy in his brain and had no cure.”
The security guard of the clone aspect of the party joined the pretend opposition alliance.
The Popular Forces Union Party on Wednesday denied official media reports that it declared joining the pro-ruling party National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The PFUP, which is one of five opposition parties that form the Joint Meeting Party, said that the party does not care about joining NDA and that those who declared their joining have been “just guards who do not represent the party at all”. The secretary-general of the PFUP, AbdulSalam Razaz, accused the ruling party, the General People’s Congress, of supporting efforts to break up the PFUP.
What was declared yesterday was a part of a series of GPC’s attempts to split the party, said Razaz.
The GPC’s news website almotamar.net claimed on Monday that the Popular Forces Union Party joined the National Democratic Alliance.
Yemnn Economic Update is a quarterly report issued by the World Bank consisting several sections, highlighting major political and social and macroeconomic developments. It also covers structural reforms and developments and conferences and donors activities in Yemen.Here are some extracts of the lates report for summer 2008.Recent global increase in food prices is jeopardizing political stability and aggravating the poverty situation in Yemen.
Yemen, which is a large net food importer (about 75% of food is imported), is facing severe political and social consequences as a result of rising global food inflation. With an estimated 35% of Yemen population living below poverty line, the increase in global food prices, estimated by 60 percent between 2007 and 2008, is likely to have aggravated the poverty situation, particularly for the poor in urban areas, and the landless and small and marginal farmers. Estimates put the number Yemeni who have fallen below the poverty level as a result of recent price increase by at least 6 percent. Spiraling prices and increased poverty is also feeding into increased social tensions and instability in Yemen, with implications ranging from curtailed political freedoms to reactionary measures that will undermine the reform agenda, particularly with respect to reducing public spending on wages, and subsidies on food and fuel.
The report, published by the Supreme Women Council along with the Women’s National Committee on “Status of Yemeni Women 2007”, said that “the equitable participation remains a challenge due to traditional cultures, in addition to challenge of motherhood, giving birth, work obligations.”
Figuring out the number of women’s contributions to economic field, the report said that the percentage of working women has deceased in the period of 2005-2007 to 10.5% compared to 24% in 1999.
It found that the percentage of being paid working women in urban areas between 2004 and 2006 was 14 percent while in rural area it was only 2 percent. These percentages indicate lack of work opportunities available for women for social reasons as well as due to insufficient development plans, said the report.
Two decades ago, women in Yemen used to adorn their hair with the fragrant leaves of the al mashaqir, a traditional flower. Today, the flower is banned and women’s faces are covered with a veil.
Yemen’s move to a more conservative Islamic society has coincided with a drastic reduction in women’s rights, which is supported and even perpetuated by negative references to women in popular folklore, researchers said.
“These flowers are no longer there because women’s faces are all veiled. I do miss them for they stand for women’s freedom and respect,” said Arwa Othman, the director of the House of Folklore, a non-governmental group that organised a workshop last month titled: ‘Al Mashaqir: Violated Femininity in Folklore’.
A group of armed tribesmen released a French engineer of Algerian origin yesterday after holding him hostage for one day in south-eastern Yemen to press for the release of jailed fellow clansmen, local officials said.
The officials said the hostage’s release was secured by a mediation led by tribal figures and local officials in Shabwa.
The engineer, who works for a giant gas exporting project, was taken at gunpoint from the Habban area about 40km from Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa.
“The engineer was handed over to tribal dignitaries, and he is safe and sound,” a local official said, asking not to be named.
He said the man was released along with four bodyguards after the abductors, who belong to the Laqmoush tribe, received pledges from officials that they would release three clansmen being detained in neighbouring Hadramout province over a land dispute. - DPA
SANAA, 14 August 2008 (IRIN) - Water availability in Yemen has been worsening by the year and the government has no clear strategy on how to deal with the problem, experts have said.
They say water shortages, which affect about 80 percent of the country’s 21 million people, are exacerbated by the high fertility rate, rapid urbanisation, the cultivation of `qat’ (a mild narcotic), a lack of public awareness, and the arbitrary digging of wells.
The experts made the remarks at a symposium on 12 August in Sanaa city organised by the Sheba Centre for Strategic Studies (SCSS), a local think-tank. Entitled Water Security in Yemen: Challenges and Solutions, the symposium brought together dozens of local officials and experts on water.
Khalil al-Maqtari, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and an expert of topography, said the water situation was worsening as there was no effective strategy to manage its use.
Escaped al Qaeda operative Hamza al Quayti was killed in a shootout along with four other al-Qaeda operatives as well as two policemen. President Saleh said the group was planning attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A published report indicated elements within Yemeni security forces directed al Qauyti in March to launch a failed mortar attack on the US embassy and cleared the roads for his escape after the attack. The coordinates were off deliberately, the report says. The official regime meme is the current raid is proof Yemen is cooperating in the WOT, and deserves “greater international support and understanding” The group is supposedly responsible for all three car bombings (election, tourists, police station).
Daily Times: Yemen’s leading Al Qaeda fugitive killed in shootout
SANAA: Yemen said on Tuesday that a prominent fugitive member of the local branch of Al Qaeda was killed in a shootout when police stormed a house in the eastern province of Hadramaut.
Hamza al-Quayti, one of 23 Al Qaeda militants who broke out of jail in February 2006, was killed along with four other fighters in Monday’s clash in the town of Tarim, the defence ministry website September 26 said. Two policemen were killed and three others wounded, while two militants were wounded and captured, it added. The ministry said the militants who were hiding in a house stormed by security forces had formed a cell which “planned to execute terror attacks and bombings in Yemen and abroad”. It said police found explosives and documents including Arab passports, including two belonging to Saudis. It claimed the cell was behind attacks including a suicide car bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides at a historic site in Marib, east of Sanaa, in July 2007 (07/02.07).
Yay!!!
CYNON Valley MP Ann Clwyd has asked the Foreign Office to do what it can to free a Yemeni journalist from jail, writes Mike Prosser.
She told Foreign Office Minister and fellow South Wales Valleys MP Kim Howells “The Yemeni constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but in reality that is not the case.
“Will you take up the case of Yemeni journalist Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, who was sentenced to six years imprisonment on June 9,” she said.
“Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, as he has been convicted and sentenced solely because of something he wrote.
Mr Howells, responding to the Cynon Valley MP in the House of Commons, said: “I would be only too glad to take up this case.”
The Ba’ath Party previously withdrew from the JMP prior to Yemen’s presidential election, around the time the JMP came out with the proposal to convert to a parliamentary system (Novemeber 2005 I think.) .
The Arab Ba’ath Socialist party earlier this month presented a proposal to join the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP).
In a meeting held last Friday, the (JMP’s) Supreme Council agreed to accept on the Arab Ba’ath Socialist party’s proposal. This brings to six the number of the parties that currently form the oppositions (JMP).
In a press release of which sahwah.net received a copy of, the (JMP) Supreme Council Chairman Abdul Wahab Al-Anesi highly welcomed the Arab Ba’ath Socialist party to join (JMP), considering this a positive step in facing the upcoming challenges.
It further mentioned that (JMP) Supreme Council Chairman Abdul Wahab Al-Anesi praised the Arab Ba’ath Socialist party, mentioning its good work during the previous dialogues held by the People General Congress party (GPC) and the opposition parties.
Meanwhile, the report revealed that the meeting held by JMP and the Arab Baath Socialist Party criticized the government’s actions that aimed to turn down the party’s proposal to join the (JMP), considering this action by the ruling party a clear violation to its rights. It further condemned all forms of tampering and interfering headed by the (GPC) in the internal affairs of the opposition parties. It is worth mentioning that the Arab Ba’ath Socialist party was previously one of the most loyal parties to the ruling party.
The Joint Meeting Parties boycotted parliament sessions for one month in July, opposing the ruling party’s claim to form the Supreme Committee of Election and Referendum (SCER) according to their own agenda, assuring that such an act could add political and social tensions.
It further affirmed that such steps are early trends which will result in a non free parliamentary elections, which are supposed to be held early next year, demanding to reform the election system as a whole in accordance with the agreements signed between both sides, regarding SCER and recommendations suggested by the EU Election Observation Mission.
In order for the ruling party to put more pressure on the opposition JMP parties, it decided last month to form its own coalition of parties with the National Council for Opposition, Al-Ba’ath Arab Socialist National Party, Yemeni Association Party and Democratic September System. They all signed a strategic political coalition document, hoping that it could replace the JMP ‘s presence during the upcoming parliamentary elections.
