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 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.
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 provinces
SANA’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. (Read on …)
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. (Read on …)
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. (Read on …)
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.
Armies of Liberation website was banned by Yemeni authorities in 2007 and remains blocked by government censors despite a partial regime change in 2012.
Yemen Articles 2004-2010
Bad Behavior has blocked 4019 access attempts in the last 7 days.
