Ungoverned Yemen, Citizens Demand Imposition of Law
Ungoverned Yemen: Al-Ja’ashin civilians launch hunger strike demanding state action
A press release from HOOD
By Nisreen Shadad, edited by Jane Novak
Residents of the beleaguered Al-Ja’ashin district in Ibb began a hunger strike on July 25, 2010 to demand the state assert its authority in their district. The villagers have been camped out in Sana’a for months after being ejected from their village by Sheikh Ahmed Mansour.
In some areas of rural Yemen, often called “ungoverned regions,” the state abdicated its authority to tribal proxies. Al-Ja’ashin residents struggled for years against tyrannical practices including illegal taxes, seizure of personal property, physical assaults and imprisonment in Sheik Mansour’s private prison.
“We will never eat until we die and go to a world without oppression and fear or to go to our homes and live safely under the law,” according to the al-Ja’ashin statement. The Al-Ja’ashin civilians began their hunger strike in front of the Parliamentary Council, as they had been unable to gain redress through any other means.
“For eight months we have been displaced and suffering in the streets of Sana’a. The public authority didn’t respond to our needs. Hunger, disease, rain and heat are exhausting us, while we are waiting for fair acts towards our case and the kind touch of people who are after all Yemenis and Muslims like you,” said the statement. The villagers demanded security and compensation for what was stolen by Sheikh Mansour and his followers.
“We want to live with dignity as human beings in Allah’s land. Islamic Sharea’a and Yemeni law should protect us from Sheikh Mansour and his soldiers and provide all weak people a life with dignity and peace,” the statement declared.
Parliament ordered a new committee to consider the issue of al-Ja’ashin and scheduled discussions for next Monday. A Parliamentary report issued in March said that while the nearly one hundred villagers were camped out in the capital, Mansour’s militia “looted their cows, ships, gold and all their home furnishings.”
“Mansour has unauthorized private prisons in which he punishes citizens, indicating a lack of the state sovereignty in the district,” Parliament found.The findings echo a 2007 Parliamentary report that concluded that Parliament must “compel the Government to impose the authority of the State in Al-Jasheen area as part of the territory of the Republic of Yemen.”
Many parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the al-Ja’ashin civilians including MP Ahmed Saif Hashid, MP Sahwqi al-Qadhi, Tawakul Karman, the head of Women Journalist Without Chains and Mohammed Naji Allaow, the General Coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD).
“As Muslims and Yemenis, we have the rights of citizenship, equity and advocacy. We are oppressed, however, for eight months. We have been humiliated from you, the police officers and others who may relate to you or not, until we are disappointed and willing to die. Your negligence and humiliation make us feel we are unseen insects,” said the villagers’ statement.
HOOD called on all free people to declare their solidarity with Al-Ja’ashin and their demand to live under the protection of the law. For their courage, the al Jasheen villagers won HOOD’s 2009 Human Rights Award. In presenting the award, HOOD’s director, Khalid al Ansi said that the villagers overcame “historical inherited fear” in challenging the Sheik’s tyranny.
