Armies of Liberation

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). (Read on …)

Sources have told the Saudi daily Al-Watan that a senior Al-Qaeda official, Naif Muhammad Al-Kahtani, also known as Abu Hamam, has been in Yemen for the past year and is receiving financial support from Iranian and Libyan elements to carry out attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Source: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, August 20, 2008

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. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

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. (Read on …)

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.” (Read on …)

The security guard of the clone aspect of the party joined the pretend opposition alliance.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

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. (Read on …)

News Yemen

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.

The National

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’. (Read on …)

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

IRIN

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.
(Read on …)

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). (Read on …)

Yay!!!

Wales on Line

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.) .

Yemen Post

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.

A mechanism of diminishing civil rights the opposition charges, allows interception of phone and email

Yemen Observer

The Yemeni Parliament debated the anti-terror law on Sunday 3 August, and referred it to a special committee for further examination before it is returned to the Parliament for a vote. In the debate, members agreed to omit the provisions that contradict the Yemeni constitution.

In the session held on Sunday, the members of parliament (MPs) entrusted a parliamentary committee composed of several parliamentary subcommittees to study the anti-terror draft law and to present an informative report to MPs. (Read on …)

Not that things are much better when the courts are in session

Zawya

10 August 2008
Judiciary activities at all court levels have ceased following the judges’ annual leave which will continue to the end of October. Some case delays may continue up to December, because some judges go on pilgrimage trips. The long judges’ leave will affect the suspects, detainees at courts and prosecutions as well as the newly litigated cases, because they cannot be referred to courts, charged or acquitted.

Lawyer Abdulghani Ali al-Kahzan, said that the leave delays all cases, including those which have only one session to conclude, with the suspects most probably to be released. He added that some judges’ transfers are carried out during the leave, leading to extending the trial’s period, for even the ones need only one session to conclude, because the new judge needs to reconsider the case. The prosecution also experiences similar conditions.

The justice ministry should reconsider the Tho-alqaida month’s annual compulsory leave. He added that the actual annual working period of the judiciary is only half a year.

In a related issue, 264 judges and prosecutors were transferred last week. Appeal judges transfers were carried out by the supreme judiciary court and the ministry of justice last month.

Yemen Observer

The newly established vice and virtue committee elected Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zindani as a president of the committee, Sheikh Sadiq Bin Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar vice president and Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi as a Secretary General, said Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi. (Read on …)

Sana’a- Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh received here on Saturday the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayadh visiting Yemen currently.

Fayadh briefed President Saleh on the latest developments in the Palestinian arena and the exerted efforts for realizing dialogue and achieving reconciliation among the Palestinian factions.

He also affirmed the importance of the Yemeni initiative as a base to accomplish the Palestinian reconciliation, voicing the Palestinian leadership and people’s appreciation of the president Saleh’s attitude that upholds the Palestinian issue and its efforts to heal the Palestinian rift. (Read on …)