Yemeni Jihaddis Murder Three Gay Men, Burn Police Stations in Jahr, Abyan
The militants’ murder of three gay men (and the state’s non-response) highlights two trends. One is the continuing loss of physical control by the Yemeni state. Parts of the south have ejected the central government. Large areas in Sa’ada are semi autonomous under control of the rebels. The militants have taken over Jahr to the extent that they burnt government buildings and imposed their own law. The state is letting these areas slip away because it is too weak and too preoccupied to fight for them. A variety of competing groups have taken authority indicating fracturing or the Somalia syndrome. The state is ceasing to exist in some areas as funds dry up. The loudest, most radical groups in these areas are taking over to impose some social control.
Trend two is the accelerating Talibanization or radicalization of Yemen. These militants appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner. The murder of gays is the same as the murder of the Jewish rabbi last month. In both instances, the militants justify their murder of minorities as a public service. The fanatical intolerance fostered by the neo-Salafis requires the extermination of “enemies” where enemies are defined as anyone who holds a different world view or refuses to submit to their totalitarianism. The jihaddists have growing control over various territory in Yemen that is distinct from the “ungoverned tribal regions” often noted as a security concern. The Talibanizaton of Yemen is more than a territorial expansion, its a penetration of government structures and social mores.
Saeed Abdullah was a young 22-year-old Hanan shot dead by the Mujahideen in the city of Abyan province Ja’ar. Well-informed sources said the victim is the third young man is killed by Mujahideen militants in the street in front of Central Market, Ja’ar. He was killed last Saturday night on allegations are that the young man was gay.
Sources close to the jihadists said that the leaders of the armed group is the Islamic Emirate of Ja’ar… noted that among the mujahideen, they have burned police stations and government institutions and attacked military and security patrols during the last period of smuggling and complicity by local authorities concerned for fear of facing liability for the centers, military and political forces in Sanaa, which they roam about the human rights violations outside the law.
Lets wait for the Western outrage, it should be here any minute. Its a hate crime!
Update: Earthtimes reports Islamist militants stormed a prison in Jahr today, killing one guard, in an attempt to free prisoners.
