Armies of Liberation

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.

London Info

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 organizations

On 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.