Armies of Liberation

The story dovetails oddly with the entirely bizarre report from Haaretz of the intercepted AQAP communications detailing schematics for making a drone using a car engine… The al Qaeda operative was arrested about 25 days ago in al Baydha, which may indicate some movement of AQAP out of Abyan. And the CDs are supposed to have details on making UAVs.

SANAA – Yemeni police have arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda member in possession of documents of propaganda of extremist network, announced the Ministry of Interior on its website Sunday.

* The suspect, 26, identified as D. Charkane, was arrested in the province of Al-Baidah (268 km southeast of Sanaa), where police seized in his car 268 CDs containing propaganda material of Al-Qaeda leaders and photos of network leader Osama bin Laden.
* Some disks show different types of UAV and information on such devices as well as satellite images of traditional houses in Yemen, the ministry added, indicating that the suspect was interrogated by security services on the papers seized on him.
* Security forces are on high alert in their hunt for supporters of the extremist network, especially since the missed attack of Christmas 2009 against the Amsterdam-Detroit flight, claimed by al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Naba

قالت الأجهزة الأمنية في اليمن أنها ضبطت مشتبه بانتمائه لتنظيم القاعدة في اليمن وبحوزته وثائق مهمة . Said security forces in Yemen said they seized suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda in Yemen and in possession of important documents.

وأضافت الأجهزة الأمنية: إن أمن محافظة البيضاء ضبط شخصا يدعى(د-ص-ا-شرقان) يبلغ من العمر 26 عاما على خلفية الاشتباه بعلاقته بالعناصر الإرهابية. The security: The security of the province of white people named set (d – r – a – Herquan) at the age of 26 years on suspicion of its relationship with terrorist elements. (Read on …)

As Yemen’s blockade on southern Yemen enters its third week, stocks of food, medicine and oil have dwindled to dangerous levels. Prices have skyrocketed and already malnourished children bear the brunt of the military action.

The blockade began 17 days ago when the Western Armored Division established new checkpoints on roads and at city entrances preventing the flow of persons and commerce including food, medicine, oil and water. The blockade has cut off Radfan, Yafea, al Dhala, al Melah, al Habeelan, al Shaib, Gahaf, Lazarik, and parts of Shabwah.

The main road between Aden and al Dahlie is closed. Al Habaleen, Lahj was indiscriminately shelled three days ago after two soldiers were killed in an ambush. Another ambush in al Melah killed one soldier, and authorities have accused renegade elements of the southern independence movement with the attacks.

Nearly one thousand have fled Radfan, al Habaleen and al Bilah seeking safety. Like the 250,000 internally displaced by the Sa’ada War, these are mostly women and children. On May 24, a pregnant woman en route to a hospital in Aden was stopped at a military checkpoint and later died in childbirth. Due to the blockade, people in need of medical treatment have not had access to doctors in nearly a month.

Reports indicate a heavy military mobilization including tanks and armored personnel carriers. As during the Saada war, a total media blackout is in place, often accomplished by the arrest of southern journalists. An American journalist was expelled from Yemen last week after visiting Yafee, a center of southern resistance.

On May 22, the 20th anniversary of Yemeni unity, President Saleh announced the pardon of southern journalists and other political prisoners. Several high profile journalists were released, but others remain imprisoned and hundreds of others arrested during protests remain jailed.

Baggash Al Aghbari has been in prison since his arrest in 1994, despite several amnesties for southerners announced over the following decade. Al Aghbari was never charged or tried but was thought to be among the activists that triggered the civil war.

The southern independence movement began as a call for equal rights in 2007. As the state imprisoned thousands and police killed hundreds during peaceful demonstrations, the movement gained supporters and its goals evolved to calls for independence.

he northern Yemeni Arab Republic and the southern Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen unified in 1990 and fought a brief civil war in 1994. Southerners claim unity was imposed by force in violation of the UN resolutions. Northern hegemony brought institutionalized discrimination more akin to occupation than unity that reached into areas of employment, education and development. However, the massive corruption of the Saleh regime means that all citizens outside the circle of elite power are subject to retribution by the state including the judiciary, police and civil service. All Yemenis suffer from the near absence of basic services arising from chronic mismanagement and insider infighting and embezzlement.

With a peace deal concluded in February ending the northern Sa’ada War, President Ali Abdullah Saleh heightened the military presence in the south. Yemen’s conduct of the Saada war generated 250,000 internal refugees with arbitrary aerial bombing of civilian areas and a strict blockade of food, medicine and international aid.

Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into war crimes committed during the Saada war.

Yemen’s previous violations of international law related the southern protests include mass arbitrary arrests and the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters, rights organizations charged. As tensions mounted over the last year, some northern merchants and travelers were targets of violence in southern areas

UPDATE: Cell phone video shot today: Yemeni military armored vehicle in al Hableen ran over and killed a motorcyclist suspected of sympathies with the separatists.

The Chinese and the Dutch at least report the non-al Qaeda news. And apparently the official statement is… the motorcyclists started shooting after the armored vehicle ran him over, so they killed him. On a brighter note, regime decided late today to start pretending they opened the Aden – al Dhalie road. People’s Daily:

Two pro-separatist southern activists opened fire at an army’s vehicle after they were mistakenly hit by the vehicle. The two were then killed in the clashes in al-Melah district in the southern province of Lahj, said Kasim al-Afefi, deputy governor of Lahj.

Another three southerners were injured as well as a privately- owned shop and a car were burnt in the clashes, he added.

Meanwhile, al-Afefi said “the security committee and local council in the province reached an agreement today to re-open a main highway linking al-Dhalee-Radfan-Lahj and the southern city port of Aden after being closed for about two weeks due to riots and instability.”

Reuters

(Reuters) – An assassination on Yemeni territory of a radical Muslim cleric wanted dead or alive by U.S. authorities would be unacceptable, the Yemeni prime minister said on Sunday. (Read on …)

al Qahtani was recently sanctioned by the US and then the US said he was killed in an explosion while working on a bomb. Meanwhile, al Qaeda expert Abdulelah Haider Shayer says he died in a shoot out with Saudi forces last month. Qassim al Reimi was sanctioned at the same time as al Qahtani. Related: with the Yemenis staying home, al Qaeda in Iraq has a suicide bomber shortage.

Saudi Gazette Sa’eed Bin Muhammad Al-Koudari Al-Qahtani, the elder brother of wanted terrorist Naif Al-Qahtani who has been implicated in the 2009 assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, has denied receiving official information that his brother had been killed in Yemen. Speaking to Okaz, Al-Qahtani, who describes the brother he remembers as “kind and quiet”, recalled his last contact with him. (Read on …)

Blackouts in Sanaa are occurring several times daily.

Yemen Observer: Power transmission lines linked to Sana’a were fired upon by the Abeeda tribes in Marib province on Tuesday, May 25, leading to the break down of the Gas Power Station. (Read on …)

The Southern Movement was largely peaceful and self-restrained in the face of state violence and atrocities for well over two years, despite dozens of deaths at the hand of police and hundreds of arrests. The turning point was the inclusion of ex-regime loyallist, Tariq al Fadhli. While the majority still support peaceful demonstrations, it only takes a few of these incidents to ratchet up the pressure on both sides.

Yemen Post: Three Yemeni soldiers were killed and other 11 were wounded early Saturday in two attacks by elements of the Southern Mobility, which calls for separating southern Yemen from the north.

The Ministry of Interior announced that the security forces in Lahj province are to hunt down separatist elements accused of killing 3 soldiers and wounding 11 others in two ambushes against two vehicles belonging to the army forces, reported the Ministry’s Security Media Center.

The Center said that a group of these elements ambushed a vehicle belonging to the army forces in Al-Raha area, which led to the death of 2 soldiers in their car after they came under fire from the separatist elements, and 4 others were wounded; then they were taken to hospital for treatment, the attack also resulted in injuring 7 others.

The security services in Lahj province added that a vehicle belonging to the military sector in Al-Malah Directorate was ambushed by separatist elements in Jubail Shams area, which led to the death of the soldier driving the car.

The security services stressed that all involved in both criminal attacks, which targeted members of the army forces, will not go unpunished, and the security will pursue them wherever they are to receive their just punishment.

Currently, it is notable that the Southern Mobility is witnessing increasingly confrontations, call for secession from the north.

A Yemeni software developer and activist was among this year’s batch of new TED fellows, according to a press statement by TED (http://ted.com). Walid al-Saqaf, the founder of Yemen Portal (https://yemenportal.net) and alkasir circumvention software (https://alkasir.com), along with 22 other persons from several countries around the world have been selected from over 800 candidates to take part in the renowned TEDGlobal 2010, TED’s annual conference to be held in Oxford, UK during July 12-16, 2010. Al-Saqaf is the only Arab selected this year and is the first Yemeni and among a handful of Arabs to have ever been awarded this prestigious fellowship since its inception.

Al-Saqaf developed alkasir (Arabic for ‘the circumventor’), a software solution that allows users around the world to circumvent website or URL filtering through ’split-tunneling’, which diverts traffic to a secure tunnel only if the accessed website is found to be among those verified to be blocked by the specific user’s Internet Service Provider. If a website is not blocked, alkasir allows traffic to flow directly and without tunneling. This mechanism makes circumvention more efficient and less resource-hungry. It also creates the possibility of dynamically tracking and studying filtering patterns around the world. Al-Saqaf is currently using alkasir as a research tool in a study about Internet censorship for his PhD degree in media and communication at Orebro University in Sweden. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAQ has revealed that the wanted terrorist suspect 53 on the list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects made public by the Saudi authorities in early last year Othman Al-Ghamdi has become a leader in the organization.

The new leader, who was released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo bay, Cuba, four years ago, appeared in a videotape speaking about U.S. strikes in conflict and disturbed regions.

Al Umairah Al-Ghamdi entered Yemeni territory illegally to join Al-Qaeda wings like other Saudis who were released from Guantanamo bay when Al-Qaeda wanted to regroup.

In early last year, AQAP was announced in Yemen after local and Saudi wings merged. Since then, the organization has claimed responsibility for most terrorist attacks in the world; the last the suicide attack against the UK’s envoy to Yemen Tim Torlot.

The videotape also disclosed that three Qaeda leaders were killed in raids Yemeni counterterrorism forces carried out in late last year and early this year including Abdul Al-Mehdhar, in Shabwa, and Muhammad Al-Awlaki and Muhammad Saleh Al-Kazemi, in Abyan.

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH/TAIF – A fugitive Saudi Arabian man, who is on the Kingdom’s most wanted list, was named as a senior member of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen wing, according to a tape by the group shown on Al-Arabiya television Friday.

The tape also confirmed the deaths of three leaders killed in December and January during Yemeni air raids.
Among those killed were Abdullah Al-Muhdar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Shabwa province, Mohammed Amir Al-Awlaki, and Mohammed Saleh Al-Kazimi.

Othman Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, the 31-year-old man named as a leading Al-Qaeda operative Friday, had spent four years in Guantanamo after he was captured in Afghanistan. He was released in 2006.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of the wanted terrorists named on the Ministry of Interior’s 2009 list of 85 has said that Othman Al-Ghamdi “kidnapped” her son. (Read on …)

The activists visited a prison to conduct a human rights investigation in 2008, and the criminal court now finds this as cause for a security investigation.

Yemen Criminal Court made 5 activists under censorship of National Security, human rights organizations condemn

Solidarity release with MP Ahmed Saif Hashed & activists Basim Alhajj, Nabeel Abdulhafeez, Saddam Alashmori and Ali Aldailami

Release adopted by Yemen human rights organizations (YHROs): Attaghyir for Defending Rights and Freedoms, Yemeni Organization for Defending Democratic Rights and Freedoms, Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Center of Training and Protection Journalists Freedoms, Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights and Women Journalists without Chains.

The YHROs, In the context of massive violations crackdown exercised by the Yemeni authorities against human rights activists, journalists and politicians, the Criminal Court (State Security Court) listed in its indictment in case No. 117, 2009, a number of human rights activists and asking the National Security to ” investigate and collect information about them, edit records of collecting evidences, and transfer the outcomes to it”, being allegedly have been named within the statements attributed to other human rights activists, who were arrested on the background of Sada’a War and accused of collaborating in intelligence with Iran and armed criminal actions. The activists listed by the Court’s indictment are Ahmed Saif Hashed, Member of Parliament, Basim Alhajj and Nabeel Abdulhafeez, activists in Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, Saddam Alashmori, journalist and Ali Aldailami, Head of Yemeni Organization for Defending Democratic Rights and Freedoms.

The criminal Court has been considered the participation of the abovementioned activists in a visit conducted on, March 2008, to Hajja Prison for investigating on the conditions of prisoners, as a justification to be investigated by the National security.

The YHROs condemn the recommendations of the Criminal Court to the National Security that expose the mentioned activists to remain under open eye, meanwhile it warns that was a prelude to take any illegal action against their safety, whether by abduction, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance or other acts that were constantly exercised by the security apparatuses against human rights activists.

It also assures the public opinion inside and outside of Yemen that such action targeting to destroy and hinder human rights activists to play role in defending the just issues, counter-war and oversight on prisons in Yemen.

- It is known that the charged detainees on the ground of Sada’a war were illegally arrested without court orders, jailed in prisons out of law and deprived of their rights as defendants and all of that was due to their activity in following up and defending the issues of their arrested relatives.

- Rather than, the activists’ visits, referred to in the Court indictment, to the Hajja and Dhamar prisons were authorized by the Deputy Attorney General, It is fundamental right of human rights organizations to observe and control the situation of human rights.

- The neglecting of the parliamentary immunity of Ahmed Saif Hashed by the Court clearly demonstrates its disrespect of the most basic principles of the Constitution and the law that prohibit censorship before and after any work or activity made by parliamentarians being a part of their functions.

- The YHROs demand the supreme authorities to stop their illegal actions including censorship and restrictions on human rights activists; meanwhile, it confirms to public opinion that the aggressive policy towards the activists and human rights defenders will not discourage them for their role to protect victims of repressive policies and security breaches against Human Rights. Furthermore, it invites international organizations for solidarity with mentioned human rights activists for their own safety and continuation their role in defending human rights in Yemen.

SANAA – Fuel subsidies and tax evasion are the biggest strains on Yemen’s finances and need to be dealt with swiftly to allow the impoverished country to turn its economy around, the Yemeni finance minister said. (Read on …)

A war against children, fought by children on both sides.

the Naitonal Annual study also finds young soldiers fighting on both sides
(Read on …)

Short version: Al Quso attended the al Qaeda summit in Malaysia in January 2000 that planned both the USS Cole attack and 9/11. Other attendees included Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Khallad bin Attash, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Hambali. Yazid Sufaat, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Al Quso was part of the conspiracy that targeted the USS Cole in October 2000 in the port of Aden. On day of the attack, al Quso was supposed to video the attack, which killed 17 US service members and wounded 49. He told investigators that he overslept. He was jailed in 2002, escaped prison in 2003 and indicted on 50 counts of terror related charges in US Federal court. He was returned to jail in 2004. In 2007, al Quso was given a early release by the Yemeni government within a larger pattern of al Qaeda releases, defended by many as “co-optation” by the Saleh regime, when it is the Saleh regime itself that has been co-opted. Here in 2010, al Quso makes an AQAP video threatening the US.

The danger of al Quso in particular is that he is trusted by bin Laden, has operational experience, international connections and already blew up a US warship, so we could expect his next plan to be even bigger. On the other hand, my take on Al Qaeda in Yemen’s strategy is that they are trying to suck the US troops into Yemen. And their media strategy reflects that. And that would generate substantial opposition in the heavily armed country from many with no affiliation or sympathy to al Qaeda.

Memri: On May 26, 2010, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 55-minute video containing new statements by Fahd Al-Quso, a senior Al-Qaeda operative who is under U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the USS Cole bombing. This is the first time that Al-Quso, whom Yemen released from prison in 2007, has appeared in an AQAP production. The new release is also the origin of the footage of Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab that was leaked to ABC. In addition, the video contains statements by Othman Al-Ghamdi, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee whom the video now refers to as an AQAP commander, as well as Qasim Al-Rimi, AQAP’s chief military commander. The video is dated Rabi’ I 1431, i.e. February-March 2010. The video praises the Yemeni tribes and mentions the tribal affiliations of the various AQAP operatives it eulogizes. A number of them are from the ‘Awalik, Anwar Al-Awlaki’s tribe. Fahd Al-Quso, himself from the ‘Awalik, specifically mentions Anwar Al-Awlaki.

For a comprehensive overview of the bombing, see my earlier report The USS Cole bombing, a seven year perspective. Excerpt below:

(Read on …)

CPJ

New York, May 25, 2010—The Sana’a appeal court in Yemen should overturn suspended jail sentences given to an editor and four reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The sentences come just a few days after local media reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned all journalists being tried or convicted of press offenses to mark the 20th anniversary of Yemen’s unification. (Read on …)

Update: BBC: The militant, named as Mohammed Said bin Jardan, was injured but escaped. Three of Mr Shabwani’s bodyguards were also killed in the bombing, security sources told reporters. The Yemen army had meant to bomb the farm but hit the deputy governor’s car instead, Reuters reported. Who the heck is going to surrender now, when the last guy got ambushed? They meant to bomb the farm but hit the official’s car instead? That’s the story?

Another version from the YP:

Deputy Marib Governor, Secretary General of the Local Council, Jabir Al-Shabwani has been killed in an airstrike while he was leading a mediation to convince Al-Qaeda members to hand themselves in to the authorities. Three others including his uncle and two escorts were killed and two others were injured.

The airstrike targeted two cars in Al-Hadba’a district, one of which was carrying Al-Shabwani and his relatives, according to independent sources.Fury prevailed in the province in northeast Yemen after the news of Al-Shabwani’s death, with sources expecting clashes may erupt between his tribe and the army.

The state is calling it (another) misdirected airstrike.

(Read on …)

A tribal group kidnapped an American couple visiting Yemen, ABC News reports. The couple’s Yemeni driver, Ali al-Arashi, was also taken hostage. In a phone call to AFP, al Arashi said, “They are calling for the release of a fellow tribesman held by authorities in Sanaa,” he said. The tribesman is being detained over a land dispute. In the absence of a functional judiciary system, and in response to state hostage taking, Yemeni tribes have a long history of taking foreign hostages to press their demands from the state. No tribal hostages have been hurt in over one hundred of foreigner kidnappings in the last two decades.

In three instances kidnap victims were harmed in Yemen. The first occurred in 1998, when the al Qaeda linked Aden Abyan Islamic Army kidnapped 16 westerners, and four were killed in a botched rescue attempt. In 2000, a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire with extremists. In June 2009, nine westerners were kidnapped in the war torn Sa’ada province with the likely perpetrators al Qaeda or drug smugglers. Three nurses were killed immediately. Earlier this month Saudi forces rescued two of the German children in Yemeni territory. The fate of their parents, younger brother and a British engineer kidnapped at the same time is unknown.

Another communication supposedly from the Houthi rebels exposes an al Qaeda in Yemen training manual sent to terrorists in Gaza about how to build a small plane for a terror attack. This story line is among the most bizarre coming out of Yemen, and that’s saying a lot, but there are specifics and it does highlight a new tactic that may be deployed. Several of the AQIY Sada al Malahim magazine issues spoke about defending Gaza. But while Wahishi and al Reimi and al Qaeda in Yemen do pose a threat, there are several other al Qaeda groupings and individuals operating in Yemen, associated with external cells, that are not media hounds like AQIY and operate under the radar. Its also true that the Houthi rebels ideology is diametrically opposed to al Qaeda, and Jewish people lived in Sa’ada alongside the Zaidis for centuries without incident. Wahabbi extremists were responsible for the recent targeting of Yemen’s Jews and the murder of the Rabbi.

Haaretz: Yemen Al-Qaida training Gaza groups to attack Israel

Documents sent to Haaretz by Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between Al-Qaida and Gaza Strip supporters.

The Yemen-based arm of Al-Qaida recently sent members of the organization in the Gaza Strip a training manual with instructions for building a light aircraft and using it against Israeli targets near the border with the Strip. The plane is powered by a car engine and can be used to launch explosives into Israel.

Documents sent to Haaretz by a group of Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between the Al-Qaida organization in that country and supporters in the Gaza Strip. Some of the latter are active in Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, which has carried out terror attacks against resorts in Sinai.

The Shi’ite rebels who passed the latest communication, and several previous ones, to Haaretz, are demanding Yemeni government recognition of their civil rights. They are keen to distinguish themselves from Al-Qaida. (Read on …)

Al Ansi, Saleh’s assistant since 1989, promises the hunting will continue.

Manhunt for al-Awlaki will continue in Yemen
[23/May/2010] Saba
SANA’A, May 23 (Saba) – Yemen will continue the manhunt for Anwar al-Awlaki, a most wanted terrorist, until he is arrested or he surrenders, head of the National Security System has said.

We can’t arrest someone based on just accusations but after the authorities found out the man was involved in terrorism, the search for him was expanded, Ahmed al-Anesi, who is also director of the Presidency Office, said. (Read on …)

The Yemeni Organisation for Defending Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom would like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to make this statement on the continuous violations of the Yemeni government of its obligations under the Convention against Torture. At this point, I would like to remind the Committee of the Yemeni government’s commitments to the Human Rights Council during its UPR review in September 2009 when it assured the Council that the people of Yemen would be protected against torture, forced disappearances and solitary imprisonment. (Read on …)

MEMRI

Saudi Daily Reports: American-Yemeni Imam Al-Awlaki Seen In Southern Yemen

The Saudi ‘Okaz daily on May 18th reported that Fareed Abu Bakr Al-Awlaki, a tribal source, has said that American-Yemeni imam Anwar Al-Awlaki was seen a few days ago in the Al-Saeed directorate, in Shabwa province in southern Yemen. (Read on …)

Spiegel has some disturbing details.

When Manuela-Anett T. met her cousins Lydia, 6, and Anna, 4, in a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, it was as if the girls they knew had been swapped for others. The girls shyly said that their names were now Fatima and Sarah. And when questioned in German, they answered in Arabic.
(Read on …)

In 2005, it was the odd mix of dialysis patients, motorcycle drivers, journalists and teachers. Now its the journalists (still), al Jasheen villagers and the issue of Dr. Qadasi’s murderers, who are still wandering free.

Yemen Times:

SANA’A May 16 — The police last Tuesday arrested a number of human rights activists in Freedom Square, in the capital. These activists have been arranging a weekly protest every Tuesday in the square.

The police also have confiscated cameras from the Women Journalists Without Chains Organization and assaulted protestors in an attempt to stop them from continuing their protest.

The weekly protest is organized at Freedom Square by Women Journalists Without Chains, in solidarity with the banned Al-Ayyam newspaper and Al-Ja’shin Displaced People. They also demand the stop of military operations in Shara’b Al-Sallam district in Taiz, the release of detained journalists and activists and to bring the murderers of the physician Al-Qadasi to trial. (Read on …)

Here’s another write up at the VOA. She got tired and confused after two days of interrogation and told Yemeni authorities more than she wanted. Apparently they also got her email passwords. Its such a thug regime.

By Heather Murdock SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

In San’a, we were questioned again, and I was asked to write all of the passwords to my e-mail accounts. Our equipment was inventoried out of Aden custody and into San’a custody. The chief who had been so angry three days earlier was jovial and friendly, and rushed to get rid of our belongings. But as he left, I sunk. We were not being freed. We were being transferred to a higher security prison. (Read on …)

The US sanctions al Qahtani after his death, and then the US says he died previously building a bomb. Meanwhile, expert Abdulelah Haider Shayer says he died in a shoot out with Saudi forces last month. Qassim al Reimi was sanctioned at the same time as al Qahtani.

Fox: A man whom the U.S. described as a key figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula accidentally blew himself up, U.S. military officials told Fox News. The officials say Nayif Al-Qahtani was “messing with a bomb” when it went off. U.S. officials had been watching him, but Fox News’ sources insist the U.S. had nothing to do with his death.

Al-Qahtani was “a vibrant guy linked to ongoing operations planning, and his death will have an impact,” one official told Fox News.

An Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula newsletter was the first to announce his death a week after the United States put terror sanctions on him. The newsletter did not say when it happened but said Al-Qahtani died in Yemen’s Abyan province in the south of the country.

The State Department recently described al-Qahtani as “a liaison between Al Qaeda cells in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.” It said he manages Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s operations in Yemen and receives financial support from abroad to launch attacks in both Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Isn’t Saudi Arabia meddling enough in the affairs of Yemen, do we need a hoard of Saudi women blowing things up?

AKI
Sanaa, 20 May- Al-Qaeda has launched an appeal to Muslim women, particularly those in Saudi Arabia, to travel to Yemen and wage jihad. The appeal was made by Wafa al-Shahri, wife of Al-Qaeda’s second in command in Yemen, Said al-Shahri, in an article published in the latest issue of the online magazine ‘Sada al-Malahim’.

The woman, considered the most important among terrorist organisations, was directing her message in particular to Al-Qaeda colleagues in Saudi Arabia. (Read on …)

I know there are many different views on unity, the government and Yemen’s history itself, but one thing we can all agree on is that Yemen is an amazing country, worth all the effort and sacrifice that people put in over the last 20 years to make it better.

To mark the occasion, Saleh pardons everybody. The journalists will be the easiest to track and hopefully they all walk today. The Houthi rebels have been pardoned five times already, so its questionable whether they will really be released, but it would go a long way toward ratcheting down the tensions if they were. Many remain “disappeared” despite the peace deal. As for the southerners, many journalists and politicians are being held under charges of undermining unity and many others with no charges at all. Also we have to watch to see if there is an exodus of al Qaeda from the jails, which I think is rather likely.

More details from Nasser Arrabyee

“According to this dialogue, it is possible to form a government of all the influential political parties represented in the parliament,” said Saleh, speaking in the city of Taez, 230 kilometres (140 miles) southwest of Sanaa…He said the amnesty would apply to “all outlaws” — a reference to the southern separatists, and “anti-government elements who were arrested” in the north, where the Shiite rebels are based on the border with Saudi Arabia. The pardon would affect an estimated 800 prisoners linked to the southern separatists and about 2,000 Shiite rebels or sympathisers in the north. Saleh said that the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), which is agitating to re-establish south Yemen as an independent state, would be a principal partner in the political dialogue.

Its not the YSP that is agitating for independence. Some YSP members have joined the southern movement but the party is seen by many southerners as a sell out to “northern” interests.

TAIZ, May 22 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned on Saturday all journalists on trial and those sentenced due to public right cases.

The pardon was granted as the president attended the festival organized on the 20th anniversary of unification in the western province of Taiz.

In his address to the nation on the eve of Unification Day, Saleh ordered to release all detainees held in connection with the Houthi rebellion in the far north, which ended in February this year, and the rioting in some southern provinces.

They just came in and flattened it with bulldozers, no notice and no compensation. The peace deal with the Houthi rebels includes provisions for a buffer zone, but not for the Saudis to invade Yemen to make it. Other reports have indicated resumption of Saudi over-flights in Sa’ada. The following is a Google translation. There’s video links at the end. Its an interesting tie in to the fact that Saudi forces rescued the German children on Yemeni soil.

Update: English from the Yemen Observer:

Saudi bulldozers exceeded the Yemeni border towards a village of Sa’adah province and destroyed the entire village, informed sources in Sa’adah local council told Yemen Observer.

The village, Um Quaia’ah, directorate of Shada, Sa’adah province, was ravaged by Saudi bulldozers, including mosques and electricity poles, eyewitnesses said. (Read on …)

Update: Four injured and a lot of horror as plain clothes police open fire in the streets and tanks began shelling the city:

Yemen Post: At least four people, two soldiers and two passers-by, were injured in Al-Habilian district, Lahj, in fierce clashes between police and armed gangs on Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses were quoted by the Alsahwa website that the casualties took place after policemen spread early today with civil uniforms and personal guns and clashed with armed gangs believed to be of the secessionist movement in the south.

Amid the clashes, armed forces stationing in the area intervened and randomly opened fire using artilleries and tanks causing a state of horror among the people, the sources said. Homes and commercial shops were affected with some burned. Some people including children survived being killed or injured when bullets just missed them.

The clashes were the fiercest ever in one of the districts worst hit by violence in recent years amid separation bids and injustices claims. They also came as President Saleh paid a visit to Lahj and met with the provincial leadership and social figures and security and military leaders in Radfan.

Original post: South Arabian News service and many individuals are reporting the state is shelling the Alhabylyn area from the Alanad military base.

Al-Habilyn / Aden News Agency / Exclusive / 18-05-2010

At least, two other injured, by bullets fired from the military sector in Al-Habilyn city on the platform known as the “platform of martyrs”, After nearly three hours from the cessation of indiscriminate shelling this morning which aimed at the districts of Al-Habilyn and Habeel Gaber and caused two wounded, according to local sources. (Read on …)

AFP’s headline is: US giving Qaeda ‘1,000 reasons’ to attack: Yemen chief
Qasim al Reimi is spouting threats after two were killed in Abyan in March.

Al-Qaeda’s military chief in Yemen said Washington has been giving the jihadist network “1,000 reasons” to strike the US mainland, in an audio message released on Monday.

“By killing al-Ambari … you have given us 1,000 new excuses and reasons to attack you in your homeland,” the military chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), known as Qassim al-Rimi, said addressing Americans in a message posted on a Jihadist forum. (Read on …)

CNN reports a Saudi-Yemeni operation secured the release of two kidnapped German toddlers in Yemen. German authorities report the two little girls are in the hospital and will be flying home tomorrow, but their brother is probably dead. The children were rescued from somewhere in the war torn Sada’a province, the same area they were kidnapped from. The Germans and Saudis are still working to secure the release of their parents. A British engineer is also still being held. (Read on …)

This is a ridiculous statement. Are they saying if the US does not target Awlaki, then AQAP won’t launch attacks? The statement at a minimum is the second indication that Awlaki is a member of AQAP’s elite. Awlaki’s recent appearance on an AQAP video was the first open acknowledgment of the relationship. Some had contended that Awlaki had no relationship with the group at all, beyond incitement-providing ideological legitimacy for random murder sprees. Naser al Wahishi had been silent following the air strikes in December and January, leading to speculation that he was killed. The prior threats issued from Awlaki’s tribe were shown to be false when the Awlaki Sheik denied that a meeting had occurred or a statement issued.

(Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s regional wing in Yemen has threatened the United States with more attacks should any harm come to a U.S.-born radical cleric wanted dead or alive by Washington, according to an audio tape posted online on Sunday. (Read on …)

President Saleh wasn’t in the car but Deputy PM for Defense and Security Rashad Mohammed al Alimi was. Al Qaeda or the southerners is the question. The paper is following the lead of the Yemeni government in pinning it on the southerners, and beyond assassinating several security officers, al Qaeda hasn’t targeted any Yemeni officials, ever.

Xinhuanet: Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Rashad al-Alami survived an ambush by gunmen of separatist movement in the southern restive province of Lahj on Saturday, security officials said.

“Two security escorts were killed and another four were seriously wounded when they returned fire against the armed attackers,” an official of the Interior Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

According to the official, the accident took place Saturday afternoon in al-Habilain town in the province of Lahj, as the official convoy was traveling from the southern port city Aden to Sanaa.

(Read on …)

Aha, we are still waiting for Yemen to investigate itself on several issues including the September 2009 airstrikes that killed 87 civilian refugees sheltering in a field.

(Reuters) – The United Nations torture watchdog urged Syria, Yemen and Jordan Friday to investigate what it called numerous and credible allegations that their police and prison authorities routinely tortured detainees. Its 10 independent experts also voiced concern at “honor” crimes by family members in Syria and Jordan which go unpunished and violence against women and children in Yemen. (Read on …)

Qatani was designated as a member of a terror group this week by the US. State Dept. and the UN along with Qasim al Reimi.

Guardian A senior leader of the al-Qaida cell which attempted to assassinate the British ambassador to Sanaa and blow up a US passenger jet last Christmas has been killed in Saudi Arabia, according to a Yemeni source close to the group.

Nayif Mohammed Saeed al-Qahtani, described as the link man between the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed in a shoot-out last month with Saudi security forces, according to a Yemeni journalist, AbdulElah Shaea. (Read on …)

Their statement pretty much echos what al Zindani said earlier in the year about the Brits.

AFP: WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the April 26 attack on Britain’s envoy to Yemen Timothy Torlot in a statement posted Tuesday on jihadist forums, the US monitoring group SITE said. (Read on …)

Oh yes and its a democracy too! The local elections were stupendous, the media is free and the anti-corruption efforts are zooming right along. They lie and lie and lie some more. The problem with reform efforts in Yemen is that no one in the Saleh administration will acknowledge basic realities. Illegal, retaliatory and arbitrary arrests are among the main drivers of instability and civil unrest. Political prisoners include journalists, children and activists as well as persons officially designated as “hostages” by the state, a particularly abhorrent practice of imprisoning an individual in order to pressure a wanted family member. The comments came at a “Friends of Yemen” technical meeting, held in the hopes of instigating judicial reform, but if the state insists the judiciary is perfect, then there’s nothing to discuss.

SABA: No political prisoner in Yemeni jails, says minister

No political prisoner in Yemeni jails, Minister of Justice Ghazi al-Aghbari re-confirmed on Wednesday. In his meeting with the technical team of Yemen Friends Group over justice and security, the minister said that there are only detainees on charges of committing crimes and outlaw acts based on the 1992 law of punishments.

He pointed out to the outlaw elements that blocked roads, looting and burning public and private possessions under pretext of asking rights and freedom of expression, saying no law in the world authorizes to do such crimes.

The minister reviewed needs of Yemen that might friends of Yemen could support in field of judicial reforms in the country.

Just more total garbage from Reuters, linking the attack trying to free Fares Manna to the Houthi rebels. Meanwhile Reuters fails to mention a) Manna is president Saleh’s long time partner b) Manna was Saleh’s representative to the mediation with the rebels c) it was his relatives, tribal allies who assaulted the convoy d) all his arms deals were legal e) the government agreed to buy his weapons stockpile. Almost every story carried by Reuters spins the news to the position of the Yemeni government.

Reuters Ambush on security convoy in Yemen capital kills one

SANAA, May 11 (Reuters) – Yemeni gunmen trying to free an accused arms dealer with links to Shi’ite rebels fired on a convoy ferrying him from jail to court in Sanaa on Tuesday, killing a bystander, security officials and witnesses said. (Read on …)

RSF: Two journalists have been freed in the past 24 hours. Al-Ayyam editor Hani Bashraheel, who was arrested on 6 January, was freed yesterday while Moaz Ashhabi, who was sentenced to a year in prison on 16 January, was freed yesterday.

But a harsh crackdown on independent and opposition media continues, with another journalist, Hossein Al-Leswas, getting a one-year sentence last week and more trials due to be held in the coming weeks. (Read on …)

Yemen Observer – The General Labor Union in Yemen (GLU) called all workers in Yemen to initiate a general strike starting on Saturday, May 15. (Read on …)

Alia al Wazir was stopped in the airport en route to a Freedom House conference and prohibited from leaving the country. No male escort (mahram) was the official reason, not that there’s a law on the books to that effect, and its likely due to the trial of her husband, UN employee Walid Sharaf al-Din, charged with communicating with Iran. The National Security can’t prevent al Qaeda from exiting and entering Yemen but they do a whopper of a job on the activists, journalists and civil rights workers. Update: the state hasn’t presented any evidence against al Din and his lawyers demanded the judge recuse himself. The trial has been continually postponed.

al Eshteraki: منعت سلطات مطار صنعاء الدولي زوجة معتقل في الأمن السياسي من السفر إلى بيروت يوم الأحد. Authorities banned Sana’a International Airport wife was detained in the political security of travel to Beirut on Sunday. (Read on …)

What happened is some “pro-government fighters” assassinated a Hashimi mosque preacher in Sa’ada in an attempt to take over the mosque. The Houthis demanded the killer be turned over, and warned the women and children by loudspeaker that violence was impending before the assault began. To the extent that the Yemeni military has sanctioned these “pro-government tribesmen,” it bears the responsibility for their actions. The mosque take-overs are a big issue. None have been returned. Also rebels occupy schools in a bid to force the release of 1000 prisoners as required by the peace deal. Only 80,000 of the 120,000 school age kids were able to return to school, and the rebels have been charged with trying to indoctrinate teenagers.

Yemen Post: Militants belong to Houthi rebels are waging an offensive against Mad Tribes, a pro-government tribes, since Saturday afternoon, according to local sources in Sa’ada province Northern Yemen.

The sources revealed that the Houthi-attack came as a result of an attack by the tribesmen against Houthi elements, which killed a number of Houthis and others were detained, as well as supporting the Yemeni government in its sixth war against the Houthi insurgents.

The sources pointed out that before the breakout of the war between Houthis and the tribesmen, Houthi elements made such an appeal through loudspeakers to free the areas from women and children.

However, they confirmed that a deadly war is currently raging between the Houthis and Mad tribe’s fighters; medium and heavy weapons are used in the clashes. (Read on …)

Keep it classy Ali.

Threatened to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that he would resort to cut off the genitals of all the leaders of the joint meeting and the southern movement in the event that did not stop these leaders for their opposition to the regime led by, came the threat of benefit within the context of his speech at the gala workers on Monday in Sana’a and was heard by thousands of workers and officials. (Read on …)

Lets see who gets the contracts and if anything ever gets built.

TML: Yemen plans to build six beach resorts over the next five years to change the image of the war-torn country and draw tourists. (Read on …)

The story that has everything: influential people deploying the army for political purposes, tribal conflict over water, the state bombing a village and utterly incompetent management. Water is another corrupt enterprise in Yemen. Also the Political Security director in Aden died of his wounds sustained in a bombing- actually a police officer. France 24

AFP – Two Yemenis, including a police officer, were killed and seven others wounded in clashes between security forces and locals over digging a well in a village south of Sanaa, local tribesmen said Friday.

Clashes erupted on Wednesday between the army and police, on one side, and locals on the other, in the village of Mikhlaf, in the province of Taiz. Sultan al-Mikhlafi, a local tribal chief told AFP the fighting was a result of a “military expedition sent by local authorities to the area to prevent the digging of a well for potable water…which has already been authorised” and is intended for public use.

“The forces shelled more than six houses,” he said, adding that the civilian Abdul Qawi Ali Hamid was killed by a shell that hit his house on Thursday. Mikhlafi accused “powerful people in the area with links to the governor” of being behind the military campaign to stop the work on digging the well.

The local councils re-elected their leaderships as directed by the GPC; the “independents” are largely GPC members running against other GPC members. In the one election where Islah won, the results have been disputed by the state. Its a total farce. The same thing happened during the governors’ elections. The local councils were told who to elect, and the results were overturned in the one case where the outcome was different. This course is the problem with “federalism” as a solution for Yemen’s over-centralization. Stats below.

Yemen Observer: The local election of al-Sabeen directorate in the capital Sana’a was postponed until Thursday, following objection by the some local members, requesting to remain anonymous.

The election, held on Wednesday all over Yemen, was to elect current members to the secretary general posts and to some specialized committees at the local and municipal level…The members, all of them from the General People’s Congress (GPC) party, said that they rejected the election as high senior officials, including members of GPC, had been putting pressure on them to re-elect the previous members. (Read on …)

Yemen says that they will try Anwar Awlaki in Yemen, however jihad abroad is not illegal in Yemen. The law allows for sentences up to ten years for “forming an armed gang” with the intent to launch attacks within Yemen. The law has been used to prosecute kidnappers and Houthi rebels. USS Cole bomber Fahd al Quso is among the few al Qaeda operatives sentenced to ten years; he was released after three and is currently on the US’s most wanted terrorists list. Awlaki is thought to still be in Shabwa province, along with al Quso.

Yemen Post: Yemen will not extradite Anwar Al-Awlaki to the U.S. because the man is now wanted by the national government due to his recent terrorist activity, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi has said.

The man the U.S. wants to be extradited must stand trial in Yemen under the national law because he is now wanted by the Yemeni government due to his recent terrorist activity, the minister said in an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Dar Newspaper.

Yemen’s position over handing the man to the U.S. is clear and firm because we refuse to hand our people to other countries, he affirmed.

The wanted Saudi female preacher is new. Why is AQAP emailing Xihua or who was the intermediary? Saudi Arabia has a lot of financial interests in Yemen, as well as a big build up in intelligence forces over the last year.

SANA’A, May 7 (Bernama) — The Yemen-based al-Qaeda group vowed to wage more attacks against Saudi government’s interests inside Yemen and beyond after the claim that the government forces raided their fellow Mohammad al-Metiq and female preacher Om Rabab’s house on Feb 21.

The group, in a statement obtained by China’s Xinhua news agency on Friday, said: “We will not let this attack by Saudi Interior Ministry passes without taking revenge for the honour of our Muslim brothers and sisters”.

Both al-Metiq and Rabab was on the ministry’s wanted list.

“And, we ask God to help us to free our jailed Muslim sisters and brothers who were detained at the Saudi prisons,” the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula vowed in their statement.

Wow. Jay Nordlinger attended the Oslo Freedom Forum, the human-rights conference in the Norwegian capital and wrote it up for the National Review. Among the speakers was Abdulkarim al Khaiwani). Abdulkarim has won several prestigious awards for his dedication to his ideals and his courage, in between being repeatedly kidnapped, beaten, bugged, smeared and jailed. He’s also an extremely talented writer.

Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani repeatedly appeals for solidarity. I mentioned him in this journal a few days ago — he is the journalist from Yemen who has endured kidnappings, beatings, imprisonment, and other ghastly things. Here in theater, he says that “living in Yemen is like being trapped on a hijacked plane.” Elections are never fair, and the judiciary is directly controlled by the presidency. It is “dangerous” to be a journalist in Yemen, he says — as his life has proven.

He mentions the prominent American journalist Thomas Friedman. He expresses disappointment: saying that Friedman came to Yemen and stuck close to the government, his hosts, without “going into the streets” or “meeting any journalists.” (I have no idea whether this charge is true.) He then says, “I would like to salute the American blogger Jane Novak, who learned about Yemen and led an international campaign to free me. Jane restored my faith in human beings.” He pleads with journalists in free countries to keep an eye on their colleagues in unfree countries, and yell as loud as they can when those colleagues are in danger.

He closes his remarks by saying, “I have made it a tradition to write an article entitled ‘We Shall Continue’ every time I leave prison. And I say to you now, ‘We shall continue.’”

That’s a very nice salute. Actually I led two campaigns to free him, 2005 and 2008, but who’s counting? I had a lot of help from the other bloggers and HAMSA was incredible in the second campaign. Al Khaiwani is absolutely correct that if journalists with rights focused the spotlight on the brutal targeting of journalists with no rights, the world would get better much faster. Information is power, and journalists and bloggers give it to the people. And what do we have? Olberman. The US media entirely ignores the plight of their colleagues abroad when they could do so much so easily.

Update: full Arabic text below

Khaiwani Oslo: failed democratic experience in Yemen.
الإثنين 10-05-2010 01:36 صباحا Monday 05/10/2010 1:36

المصدر صحيفة النداء. Source newspaper appeal.
السلام عليكم.. Peace be upon you .. ونهاركم جميل كأوسلو Beautiful and a Good Kooslo
أولا أشكر منظمة العفو التي جاءت لتقديمي إليكم اليوم. First, I thank the Amnesty, which came to a presentation to you today.
- أولاً اسمحوا لي باسمي وباسم الصحفيين اليمنيين أن أوجه – First let me on my behalf and on behalf of Yemeni journalists to draw
الشكر لمنتدى أوسلو للحريات لإتاحة الفرصة لنقل واقع الحرب Thanks to the Oslo forum freedoms to allow for the transfer of the reality of war
التي تشن على الصحفيين اليمنيين. Being waged against Yemeni journalists. (Read on …)

Sure took them long enough

SANAA, May 6 (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have begun questioning a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who is accused of killing a guard as he tried to escape a hospital, a state-run website said on Thursday.

Sharif Mobley, arrested in March along with 10 al Qaeda suspects, was handed over to a court in the capital Sanaa. He also faces charges of wounding another guard as he tried to shoot his way out of the hospital where he was being treated, the Yemeni Defence Ministry website said. (Read on …)

Update: The WSJ clarifies:

U.S. officials said that Mr. Shahzad didn’t appear to have communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S.-born cleric who exchanged dozens of emails with suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan in the run-up to the November assault that left 13 soldiers dead.

But the officials said Mr. Shahzad told his interrogators that he read Mr. Awlaki’s English-language writings calling for holy war against Western targets and was moved to action, at least in part, by the cleric’s exhortations.

(Read on …)

Amnesty International has called on the Yemeni authorities to end their crackdown on the media after one dissenting journalist was jailed and another arrested this week.

Hussein Mohammed al-Leswas, 25, was sentenced to one year in jail by the press court in the capital Sana’a on Sunday for “defamation of a public official”, among other charges, after he wrote articles critical of the government.

The following day, another journalist was arrested for holding a placard calling for al-Leswas’s release. ‘Abdul Salam Mutbeq, a newspaper editor, was detained on Monday for raising the placard at an official event celebrating Yemeni unity in al-Baydah, southern Yemen.

Hussein Mohammed al-Leswas was convicted following articles he wrote in early 2009 accusing the state-owned electricity company of mismanagement.
(Read on …)

The cost of diesel in Yemen is about 60% under world consumer prices, and the two million spent on the subsidies primarily benefit smugglers. The cut in the subsidies should be incremental and accompanied by an increase in the social safety net and firm anti-corruption measures.

WaPo: The Yemeni government, struggling to turn around its economy, raised the price of gasoline to 70 rials ($0.339) per liter from 65 rials, while the cost of kerosene was raised to 45 rials per liter from a previous 40 rials, officials from the Yemeni Oil Ministry told Reuters. (Read on …)

Suckers. The US State Dept AGAIN congratulates Yemen on air strikes that killed civilians not terrorists. Its not even in dispute that 43 civilians were killed in Abyan. The US needs to come up with a more nuanced phrase because the current one appears very callous. Also Mueller was in Yemen praising the regime’s counter-terror efforts according to government press releases. Other reports indicate that he discussed the Gitmo detainees, which is out of their scope, and/or extraditing Jaber Elbanah and Anwar Awlaki, both US citizens. I guess they gave up on al Quso and al Badawi. And of course the normal regime line will be that its against the constitution, but Yemen signed an extradition treaty with Spain and extradited Nankli, who was in jail forever, a few years ago. Granted Nankli was Spanish-Syrian but when does Saleh follow the constitution anyway?

Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula had already shown itself to be a formidable threat to Yemen’s internal security, with attacks on the Yemeni security forces, as well as a threat to Saudi Arabia, with an August 2009 attempted assassination against the head of counterterrorism in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Nayif. The administration recognized the threat in Yemen as from day one, and has been focused on Yemen since then.

The U.S. strategy in Yemen recognizes that Yemen has not always had the political will or focused attention to address its problems. We are encouraged that President Saleh and his government have shown more resolve than ever before to confront AQAP and to engage with the international community on domestic non-security issues. The United States commends Yemen on its December counterterrorism operations and we are committed to continuing support for security initiatives and economic-development initiatives.

Its a rouge regime, in addition to all the war crimes and systemic human rights violations. There is no way to incrementally push Saleh back to the light. What a political embarrassment it would have been for Yemen’s allies if the attempt succeeded. And the Houthis are correct, that’s the standard way Saleh deals with his opponents.

Palestinian Telegraph: Sana’a, Yemen, May 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph, by Anwar Al-Shoaybi) – The AL-Houthi rebel group has denounced the assassinations attempts by gunmen against a prominent Yemeni opposition leader as a “serious crime”.

“The crime stresses our argument that the regime is seeking to liquidate all those opposing it even in terms of holding different opinion,” Mohammed Abdul Salam, the group’s spokesman, told reporters Wednesday.

“Broadly Speaking, we don’t rule out that a military campaign might be conducted against our brothers affiliated with the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), and that they might be assaulted, called traitors, and their rights confiscated just the way the regime used to deal with us, as it (the regime) doesn’t want anyone opposing it, even with respect to opinion,” said Abdul Salam. (Read on …)

Rand issues a 410 page report on the Sa’ada War. “Continuing the conflict makes Yemen a U.S. policy liability.” This is their full press release:

Conflict in Yemen Fueled by Tribalism, Religious Conflicts

Armed conflict between the government of Yemen and an opposition movement in the nation’s north has spilled across its borders into Saudi Arabia, posing a potential threat to U.S. interests, according to a study issued today by the RAND Corporation. (Read on …)

The defense for the Walid Sharaf al-Din, Muammar al-Abdali, Abdullah al-Dailami is demanding the resignation of Judge Mohsen Alwan because of several issues pertaining to the litigation in state security court Monday, April 26, 2010
(Read on …)

Provided that all his weapons stocks are sold to the authorities, tribal guarantee by Sadiq al Ahmar: Marib Press: These sources revealed that the release of Manna came recognizance by Sheikh Sadiq Bin Abdullah al-Ahmar. Authorities required security to a dealer Manna sale of all weapons owned to the Yemeni government.

Because of his solidarity with detained journalist/political writer Hussein Allswas…

Hood condemns the arbitrary arrests and the confiscation of freedom of the press Abdul Salam Motbaq editor in chief of the al Baydha’a News, who was arrested from the province of white hall after raising a symbol of solidarity with the journalist, Hussein Allswas detained in the central prison in Sana’a against the background of a judicial ruling unfair. (Read on …)

RSF: “There are 40 names on this year’s list of Predators of Press Freedom – 40 politicians, government officials, religious leaders, militias and criminal organisations that cannot stand the press, treat it as an enemy and directly attack journalists. They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law.” RSF ranks Yemen 167 of 175 on press freedom index.

RSF: Ali Abdallah Saleh had ruled the Arab Republic of [North] Yemen since 1978 before becoming president of the unified Yemen in 1990. The authorities reinforced their already tight control over the media in 2009 in order to impose a news blackout on military offensives taking place in the north and the south of the country. At the same time, vague and subjective concepts in the 1990 press law such as attacking “national security,” threatening “national unity” or undermining “the country’s foreign relations” are used to gag journalists. Since May 2009 many journalists and netizens have been arrested, or in some cases kidnapped, and then sentenced to long jail terms accompanied by an archaic ban on writing. Eight independent newspapers are currently subject to a printing ban for “separatism.” The Internet has not been forgotten. And the authorities have created a special court for press offences, which forms the cornerstone of their repressive system.

President Saleh’s partner who owes billions YR to the state budget. Note that he wasn’t arrested. The only thing that happened was the smuggled diesel was seized. Tawfiq is the sole distributor of diesel in Yemen, buying fuel from the oil ministry and selling it to the power stations. His relationship with Saleh began years ago in Taiz, according to reports, when soldier Saleh was selling army diesel to Tawfiq’s petrol station.
Update: Tawfiq owes YR 2 Billion to the state and was awarded new contracts.

Yemen Post: Police seized on Saturday four trucks carrying large quantities of smuggled diesel on the way from Taiz province to Abyan province, the Alsahwa website reported.

The trucks belonged to the company of Tawfiq Abdul Rahim, famous Yemeni petroleum investor dubbed as the head of private corruption, and the more than 31000 liters of diesel were going for foreign cement investment companies in the country sold for prices higher than the fixed prices.

Sources were quoted by the website as saying that businessman Tawfiq Abdul Rahim buys diesel as an undertaker for the Public Electricity Corporation for YR 17 per liter but he sells it to foreign companies for YR 70 per liter. Tribal elders coordinated the seizure.

The figure includes persons who became al Qaeda after their deaths, innocent civilians, tribesmen, southerners and children.

UPI: SANAA, Yemen, May 3 (UPI) — Pre-emptive military strikes in Yemen have killed more than 35 al-Qaida operatives and resulted in the arrest of dozens more in recent months, authorities said. (Read on …)

Yemen announces Parliamentary elections will proceed although no reforms have been implemented. The Yemeni opposition argues that the system is procedurally unfair. After the 2006 elections, the EU monitoring mission came up with a list of improvements that would level the playing field, and both sides agreed in theory. However, discussions stalled, and the February 2009 Parliamentary elections were postponed for two years to allow more time for reaching a consensus. No discussions occurred. The JMP insisted that political prisoners be released prior to talks, stating the atmosphere of threats and intimidation poisoned negotiations before they started. The international community called the 2006 elections “mostly free and fair” but numerous irregularities occurred which would have negated the outcome in any democratic country. Protests are continuing in South Yemen, and violence escalating. The international monitors failed to note that leaders in the southern regions called for a boycott of the 2006 Presidential election, and many eligible voters did not go to the polls. Intimidation and ballot stuffing was widespread around the country. The number of registered male voters exceed the number of men in Yemen by several hundred thousand.

The National: “The election will be conducted in its due time without any delay. We have made a mistake in postponing the election and the JMP [Joint Meeting Parties] is to be blamed for that,” Mr Saleh said during a speech on Saturday at a ceremony marking International Labour Day…“I do not know what democracy is this … the opposition parties should have demanded that elections should be run in its due course of time or earlier. But [these] parties are calling for the postponement of the election. Why the worries? Let us be in the command of the balloting boxes,” Mr Saleh said.

Mr Saleh said the dialogue with the JMP should focus on implementing the February agreement and forming a committee to oversee the election process as well as granting more power to the local elected representatives.

“Any dialogue beyond these issues is rejected. Let them dialogue with themselves,” Mr Saleh said, referring to the demands of the JMP to release Southern Movement activists, stop the use of government media to attack them and end the harassment of democracy activists.