Armies of Liberation

Since he returned from a trip to Geneva to the International Parliamentarians conference, independent MP Ahmed Saif Hashid’s website is blocked in Yemen and his newspaper was confiscated. He is excluded from Parliament. He has been sujected to religious incitement as well.

Recently he went to his car and it was out of service, but there was a taxi waiting right there, so he took it. The taxi driver took a detour and then said he was out of gas. After Hashed left the taxi, it drove away. Then Hashid was assaulted by an angry mob and someone pulled a gun. As he escaped on a bus, he was followed by the car. So he got into a different taxi. The car intercepted the taxi and the men tried to drag him out of the car and pulled a knife. He was punched and assaulted during a kidnapping attempt, but a crowd gathered. He knows who the people were but they are not arrested.

Hashed is a noted civil rights activist and often focuses on prisoner rights. He was awarded the Yemen Times Person of the Year award for his efforts.

Subject: Kidnapping and attacking

on May 29, at about 11pm, my sister called me by mobile to come to her home because she was sick. When I came out of my house, after about half an hour, I surprised that my car was broken-down. So, I was obliged to ride a taxi that had apparently been waiting for me.

On the way, however, the driver changed the direction of my destination after he has had a conversation on his mobile, claiming that it was a call from his family which lives in a nearby location, “it is an urgent matter and will not take more than a few minutes”, he said. While he veered about a kilometer away from the way, he stopped the taxi claiming that the petrol was over. It was a minute after I left when I see the taxi running away and about six or seven people, including a child, were approaching claiming that I molested the child. One of them pointed pistol at my face, and then the car of those offenders arrived. Then a person came out from his home nearby that place, the group confused. The person asked me about my identity and I gave them incorrect information which helped me, with the help of that person, to escape from the grip of that ambush.

I walked about 500 meters and I rode a bus which spent a distance of three kilometers; meanwhile, I saw that car still following me. So, I left the bus and rode another taxi, however, the car intercepted the taxi, a group of people came out to attack me, forcibly pulled me and tried to take me to the car. Moreover, one of them tried to stab me using a knife called, jumbia, some others also punched my head with lot of boxes in order to oblige me riding the car, but I resisted strongly. I appealed and screamed “they will kidnap me …I will die here …I will not ride the car “. The people gathered and intervened to prevent me from being kidnapping by the offenders’ car. The police was informed, then, it came to the scene where it detained the car and captured three of the attackers only, while neither the rest of the attackers, nor those who are behind were arrested by police.

As I see, it was an ambush made by the Power and its security apparatuses to target me, prepared carefully by follow-up that began with monitoring my mobile conversation with my sister, the breaking down of my car, the preparation of a taxi nearby my house, and the attempt to kidnap me, perhaps, with the aim of killing or, at least, tarnishing of my reputation.

I brought a lawsuit before the General Prosecution. I accused the security apparatuses of being behind my attack. I asked the Prosecution to disclose all the circumstances of what happened; to capture the rest of the accused ones, and those who stand behind them, however, the line of the prosecution investigations regards the attack as an ordinary crime.

Some of the arrested offenders admitted some of the facts of the crimes imputed to them. I knew that one of the perpetrators and the child are sons of a Brigadier living abroad; which, also, said to me by the offender who had been tried to stab me by the knife at the place of attack. As well as, one of the perpetrators has previously committed some criminal acts.

Now, there is strong pressure directed to me to relinquish this case, and I still refuse and resist.

In brief, I want to tell you that I am extremely irritated of what the condition here, particularly with regard to the threat of my life and my reputation…! My heart is bleeding with pain when I feel that I go into an unequal battle with the Power which is in lack of the minimum of morals and not hesitate to use all illegal ways against the opposition ones, at least polluting their reputation. In a traditional and conservative country like Yemen, the contamination of someone’s reputation means killing a person morally, politically and socially.

My security is still threatened. The presidency and the secretariat general of the House of Representatives have not paid any attention to my security and safety. I am an easy target and my reputation too.

There is also religious incitement against me and my newspapers by the Deputy Prime Minister Dr.Rashad Al-Alimi, who launched incitement campaign on a news conference. On 2/6/2009, Dr. Arif Sabri, a member of the House of Representatives and a teacher in Aleeman University, delivered a speech at the mosque a few meters away from the site of the newspapers in which he conveys that my newspaper against Islam.

After my return from Geneva, I have been no longer able to exercise my legal and parliamentary duties.

My newspaper was confiscated from without a charge or a judiciary order, which caused me great financial loss.

The harassment is still going on with regard to my newspaper, 9000 copies of the last issue has been taken by security forces at the entrance to the city of Taiz in the first of June 2009. This was done by the security without any legal justification or a judicial decision.

Furthermore, my news website, Yemenat, is still banned by the Yemeni Ministry of Communications.

Ahmed Saif Hashed

Yemen MP