Armies of Liberation

Al Estraki

مر أكثر من عام منذ اعتقال ثلاثة من نشطاء حقوق الإنسان. Over more than a year since the arrest of three human rights activists. عرفتهم مشاركين في اعتصامات ومواقف تضامنية مع معتقلين أو مخفيين أو أي قضية انتهاك لحق إنسان. Knew the participants in the protests and the positions of solidarity with the detainees or hidden, or any case of violation of the right people. (Read on …)

Click this: Kamal Art for Kamal Sharef’s website. He was arrested because he is a friend of Abdulelah Shaea, who has access to AQAP. Sharef’s work includes a lot of social commentary diametrically opposed to the Al Qaeda ideology including opposition of child marriages and support of w omen’s rights.

The pdf of the report is here. 114 pages

And this is what Centcom wants to fund. I’m happy to hear the State Department and Seche were arguing against it.

Human Rights Ministry: “Do producers of the report see that it is fair protecting terrorist and saboteurs and endangering people’s rights ,freedoms, blood and honor to non-humanitarian tampering?”, the ministry wondered.

Really tragic numbers here.

Daily Times: A study carried out in 2010 by the US-based aid group CHF International revealed that out of Yemen’s 11 million children, five million are currently employed. Three-fifths of those do not receive an education while the remaining two million both study and work at the same time.
CHF said that 40 percent of Yemeni children are drawn into the labour market between the ages of seven and 13. (Read on …)

CNN:
Washington (CNN) — Federal authorities Wednesday granted two civil liberties groups a license they need in challenging the government’s authority to use lethal force against U.S. citizens designated as terrorists. (Read on …)

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.

AFP SANAA — Officially, slavery was abolished back in 1962 but a judge’s decision to pass on the title deed of a “slave” from one master to another has blown the lid off the hidden bondage of hundreds of Yemenis. The judge in the town of Hajja, which is home to some 300 slaves, according to residents, said he had certified the transfer only because the new owner planned to free the slave. But his decision has triggered a campaign by local human right activists. (Read on …)

Al Jazeera

At least 30 people have been arrested in the Yemeni port city of Aden during a two-day hunt for suspected al-Qaeda operatives behind an attack on an intelligence building. More operations will continue in Saada province for suspected fighters, Yemen’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday. (Read on …)

Actual slaves: al Masdar

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

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

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 …)

Ali Ibrahim al-Rahman was arrested when he went to visit his brother in jail in 2007, and later charged with involvement in the fifth war’s battle at Bani Hushaish, although he was in jail since the fourth war. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to three years in May 2009. In February, Ali was eligible for release counting time served, but he is back in the PSO prison and remains among hundreds of other innocents jailed in regard to the Sa’ada Wars.

Al Esheraki- Ali Ibrahim al-Rahman (21 years old) students and a Yemeni national who lives in the area Shoveler – the Yemeni capital Sanaa

2- تم اعتقاله قبِل ثلاث سنوات وتحديدا بتاريخ 14ابريل 2007م أثناء زيارته لأخيه عبد الخالق اِلسياني في اِلسجن المركزي بصنعاء بدون أي مسوغ قانوني ولا يوجد عليه أي تهمة 2 – he was arrested three years ago, specifically on April 14, 2007 during a visit to his brother, Abd al-Khaliq al-Saiani in the central prison in Sana’a, without any legal justification and there was no charge

3- تم سجنه في الأمن السياسي ومن ثم السجن المركزي لمدة عام تقريبا 3 – was imprisoned in the Political Security Central Prison and then for almost a year (Read on …)

Quite a logical manifesto by one of Yemen’s leading female activists

Marriage of the Small Girls, and the Absence of Religious Renewal and Reform

By / Tawakkol Abdul Salam Karman*

In our jurisprudence heritage there is a wide place for harmony and compatibility with the claims of banning the marriage of small girls and determining the age of eighteen as a minimum for marriage for girls, and this is exactly what is deemed by the Maliki school.. It is exactly what was transformed by Ibn Abbas, whom he said 23 years old, and 25 said by others, and who knows maybe there is space for what is higher.

In light of the broad claims by engaging the need to complete the process of religious reform and renewal, it is painful that we find that the horizon is narrower than the eye of a needle; since it was supposed to accomplish many of jurisprudence that achieve urgent requirements of the times .. and provide evidence that Islam is valid for all times and places. They are glued deep in the heritage and are looking for fatwas that are closer to the shackles and handcuffs which ,in the best situations, are no longer valid since hundreds of years.

The following day to the protest of Aleeman University in front of the Yemeni parliament opposed to enact a law forbids marriage of small girls, it was quoted by the news that ((a handicapped girl had been raped by several persons)), unless they will not hear in the future that there is a similar demonstration will emerge to claim the application of the punishments of God in the perpetrators, so I will claim from now, that the law of God has nothing to do with all this drivel, and what is required is a show of force and political presence, which is closer to the bad exploitation of religion for instantaneous political purposes.

* Anomaly and the psychological deviation (Read on …)

That would be very good.

France24: AFP – Yemeni authorities have reached agreement with management of the banned Al-Ayyam daily to free three detained staff members, the newspaper’s director told AFP on Wednesday.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with Al-Ayyam staff members Tuesday and promised to ensure the trio would be freed, said the director, Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel.

He named the three as Hani Hisham Bashraheel, Mohammed Hisham Bashraheel and Arhab Hassan Yassin. (Read on …)

Update: the opposing view

LAT Sheik Mohammed Hamzi, an official of the Islamist Yemeni opposition party Islaah and the imam of the Al-Rahman mosque in the Yemeni capital of Sana, is one of those who staunchly opposes a legal ban on child marriage… “I am against the child marriage law because it restrains the freedom of others. When a certain age [for marriage] is set, it violates the rights of others. For example, imagine a young man of 13 or 14 years of age who wants to have sex. … This is a violation of his rights,” Sheik Hamzi told The Times in an interview at his Sana home last week.

Wow, how warped is that thinking? Boys have a right to have sex whenever they have the urge, but girls do not have the right not to be raped. On to the original post, an article published by the Yemen Times:

There is no law in Yemeni legislation that defines a minimum age for marriage. However, there are Islamic legislations that prevent men from forcing their wives into intercourse. Renowned religious scholar Mohammed Hassan said that the Islamic Jurisprudence prohibits forced intercourse between the husband and wife.

“If a woman is forced to bed by her husband, she should know that he is committing a sin and should be punished according the jurisprudence. She should not think that Islam discriminates against women, it is the sole act of this man,” he said.

He emphasized that, in Islam, marriage is a relationship based on kindness and empathy as read in the Roman’s Chapter in the Quran verse 21: “And among His signs is that He created spouses for you from yourselves for you to gain rest from them, and kept love and mercy between yourselves; indeed in this are signs for the people who ponder.”

“The essence of the marital relationship is passion and the husband should make his wife feel that he wants more than just her body for early pleasure but also her companionship and emotions, and so should the wife. Aggressiveness and violence in the bedroom is not acceptable in Islam,” he added.

The Prophet Mohammed (MPBH) had said: “Do not fall onto your wife like an animal, and have a messenger between the two of you.” He was asked: “What is this messenger?” He replied: “The kiss and the conversation.”

God help us all.

Boston Herald: A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who bled to death shortly after marriage was tied down and forced to have sex by her husband, according to interviews with the child’s mother, police and medical reports.

The girl’s mother, Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press that before her daughter lost consciousness, she said that her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. “She looked like she was butchered,” she said about her daughter’s injuries.

Elham Assi, 13, bled to death hours after she spoke to her mother and just days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. She died on April 2 in the deeply poor Yemeni village of Shueba, some 200 kilometers northwest of the capital. Her husband, Abed al-Hikmi, is in police custody.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen where a quarter of all females marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs. Traditional families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children.

Legislation to ban child brides has been stalled by opposition from religious leaders. There has been no government comment over the case.

The girl — one of eight siblings — was pushed into marriage after an agreement between her brother and her future-husband to marry each other’s sisters to avoid having to pay expensive bride-prices — a common arrangement in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.

According to police notes from the interrogation of the husband, he was upset because he could not consummate their relationship and felt under pressure to prove his manhood.

Assi’s mother said she also tried to persuade her daughter to have sex with her husband so as not to shame the family.

Al-Hikmi took his young bride to a nearby medical clinic, asking a doctor there to administer her tranquilizers so she would not resist his advances. The clinic said it refused.

Al-Hikmi then obtained performance enhancing pills, according to the police interrogation, and that night completed the act while she screamed.

The next day, he returned to the same medical clinic carrying Assi because she could not walk.

“I told him not to go near her for at least ten days,” said Dr. Fathiya Haidar. She said Assi’s vaginal canal was ripped.

A forensic report obtained by the AP showed that Assi’s injuries were much more extensive, including extensive tearing around the vagina and rectum, suggesting that there might have been additional intercourse after the clinic visit.

Her mother said she visited Assi later that day, where she found her daughter fading in and out of consciousness.

“She whispered in my ear that he had tied her up and had sex with her violently,” she said. “I said to her husband, what have you done, you criminal?”

She said al-Hikmi told her that the young bride was just possessed by spirits and said he would take her to a folk healer to cast them out. Hours later, Assi was dead.

“She asked me to stay beside her,” her mother said. (Read on …)

This is from the guy who said women cant talk and remember at the same time. At least I think thats what he said because I can’t remember now that I’m talking. Sheik Zindani has a new statement that nine is a fine age to marry and any one who supports a ban on child rape is an apostate. Its not a small thing in Yemen to be takfired, and it comes with a level of risk. First though, the news that a 13 year old child died from bleeding four days into her marriage. The tragedy reminds me of the 12 year old who died in childbirth after four days of painful labor.

WaPo Some of Yemen’s most influential Islamic leaders, including one the U.S. says mentored Osama bin Laden, have declared supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates.

The religious decree, issued Sunday, deeply imperils efforts to salvage legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry.

The practice is widespread in Yemen and has been particularly hard to discourage in part because of the country’s gripping poverty – bride-prices in the hundreds of dollars are especially difficult for poor families to pass up. (Read on …)

The National:

The Yemeni state security court in the capital sentenced Hussein Muthana al Akil, a professor at Aden University, to three years in prison for supporting the growing secessionist movement. Fadi Hasan Ba’om, the son of a senior leader in the movement, was given five years for calling for the separation of southern Yemen, instigating civil disorder and violent acts and inciting sectarian division and hatred among the Yemeni people.

The sentences were the latest setback for the southern movement, which is facing increasing pressure from the embattled Yemeni government in Sana’a.

Judge Ridhwan al Namir said al Akil was guilty of publishing “false information and inciting an armed disobedience and committing crimes aimed at harming national unity as well as abusing the president of the republic”. The court said al Akil published articles in which he wrote that “the northern occupation forces are looting the oil of the south”. (Read on …)

HRW urges Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Yemen, quite a good suggestion. The following from Relief Web by Christoph Wilcke, a senior Middle East and North Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Abu Dhabi is the host today for the inaugural gathering of Friends of Yemen, a group established in January at an international meeting of concerned states in London. This members, consisting of Gulf and key Western states in addition to representatives of intergovernmental institutions,need to address Yemen’s human rights problems honestly if they want to assist its people and address the threats emanating from that troubled Arabian country. (Read on …)

The US State Department report on Human Rights Practices in Yemen 2009 is accurate and thorough. I thought they might dumb it down a bit considering the increased level of US support, but they didn’t. Click here for the report.

Yemeni film maker chronicles Akhdam women’s struggle for life and dignity in Yemen at HUB, click here for vid.

“Breaking the Silence” chronicles the lives and injustices against the Akhdam women in Yemen. The ‘Akhdam’ , singular Khadem, meaning “servant” in Arabic, are a social group in Yemen, distinct from the majority by their darker skin and African descent. Although they are Arabic-speaking and practicing Muslims, they are regarded as non-Arabs and designated as a low caste group, frequently discriminated against and confined to unskilled and menial labor. In a society already riddled with patriarchy and poverty, the distain and discrimination against the Akhdam renders Akhdam women easy targets of violence and abuse. Akhdam women are subject to hate-based attacks and sexual assaults without any type of legal or social recourse.

This video, produced by Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights and WITNESS, featuring the stories and voices of these three women, Haddah, Qobol, and Om Ali recounting their stories of violence, injustice and forced poverty uncover the legacy of discrimination the ‘Akhdam’ live with daily and the necessity for urgent action against these atrocities.

(ed-This poor guy was just sitting in his car when the police grabbed him, tortured him brutally for three days and then shot him in the head in a bit of drunken hilarity.)

Thousands of Southern Yemenis marched in the funeral Monday of 28 year old Fares Zaid al Tamah, who died in police custody in Aden on January 30. Mr. al Tamah was allegedly tortured to death in the latest incident of escalating government violence against activists and protesters in Yemen.

Separatist sentiment is running high in southern Yemen where 70% of residents favor dissolution of the unified state. Activists claim they have been illegally occupied since 1994’s civil war while southern oil deposits and land were looted by the tribesmen and relatives of northern President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The deceased was arrested in Abyan in his Landcruiser, his relatives said, while he was listening to an audio of the singer Aboud Khawaga, whose material often includes political themes.

Mr. al Tamah was killed following three days of torture, activists allege. He was hung from the ceiling upside down for 12 hours, burnt with cigar butts and shocked with electricity, other prisoners in the Malla police station reported. On January 30, Mr. al Tamah was found dead on the floor in a pool of blood by visitors.

Stretching for miles, the funeral march began at Aljamohria hospital in Aden and concluded at the southern martyrs cemetery Radfan, Lahj . Mr. Al Tamah was buried alongside dozens of other southerners killed by Yemeni security forces.

Protests began in 2007 calling for equal rights and political inclusion and were met by mass arrests. Dozens of unarmed protesters have been killed by police in southern Yemen, Human Rights Watch found. A pattern of wide spread and brutal abuses characterized the state’s response to the growing protests, triggering a spiral of “repression, protests, and more repression.”

A report issued by a southern activist last week detailed 147 civilians killed by Yemeni security forces in the last year.

In November, Amnesty International issued a statement noting that “torture and other ill-treatment are widespread practices in Yemen and are committed, generally with impunity, against both detainees held in connection with politically motivated acts or protests and ordinary criminal suspects. Methods of torture and other ill-treatment are reported to include beatings all over the body with sticks, rifle butts, punching, kicking, prolonged suspension by the wrists or ankles, burning with cigarettes, being stripped naked, denial of food and prompt access to medical help, as well as threats of sexual abuse.”

HOOD, a leading Yemeni civil rights advocacy group in Yemen, disclosed this week that it had obtained video evidence of prisoner torture at the Criminal Investigation Prison in Taiz province. Ammar al-Tayar, 23 years old, was in custody of the Shar’ab al-Salam Security after a family dispute on January 16, 2010. Al-Tayar alleged he was subjected to beatings, electric shock and burning at the prison by three men while he was blindfolded. The video tape revealed scars and other indications of the torture, which were on his upper region of the shoulders, back, fingers and different parts of his body.

The UN’s Committee against Torture found the “widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment” in Yemen. Yemen failed to appear as requested at the UN Committee’s examination.

Journalist Mohammed al Maqaleh described his four months of torture to a union representative in February as including severe beatings, mock executions and starvation. Amnesty International has repeatedly issued statements warning that southern editors Hasham, Hani and Mohammed Bashraheel are at risk of severe torture since their “arrest” in January.

Press Release: Women Journalists without Chains

35th Sit in the Liberty Square : Security enhancements are great, continued preventing journalists and activists from photograph the sit-in, the protesters moved to the Justice Ministry to demand to stop unconstitutional special court for journalists and the release of Journalists: Bashrahil, Maqaleh, Ghanem, Saklady, Rashed, Rabeezy and to Free JAASHEEN in IBB governerate (Read on …)

This case is a snap shot of the brutal tactics of Yemeni government in suppressing popular efforts to create a better Yemen. Al Wazir was kidnapped, held incommunicado, tortured, charged with bogus allegations, given an unfair trial and sentenced to eight years. Twenty-five rights organization are expressing full solidarity with al Wazir and demanding his release.

IFEX: – 4 February 2010 – The undersigned organizations wish to express their grave concern about the worrisome deterioration of the state of human rights in Yemen. The Yemeni authorities are increasingly taking retaliatory measures against human rights defenders who have the courage to expose human rights abuses in the country, both those occurring in the context of the war in Saada in the north and those accompanying the repression of social and political ferment in the south.

The undersigned organizations condemn in particular the unfair prosecution of rights defender Yasser al-Wazir, a member of the Yemeni Organization for the Defense of Rights and Democratic Freedoms, who just a few days ago was sentenced to eight years in prison. This wrongful punishment is only the most recent of a string of abuses targeting al-Wazir – abuses closely related to his activities as a rights activist and the role his organization plays in documenting abuses related to the war in Saada, where members of the Zaidi confession, who constitute a majority of the population in Saada, have been exposed to all manner of collective punishment, discrimination, and repression because of their faith.

Yasser al-Wazir was abducted more than 18 months ago by the political police. For more than three months, his whereabouts were unknown and he was denied family visits. It is believed that he was tortured and spent long stretches of time in solitary confinement during this period. Al-Wazir remained detained without charge until two months ago, when the authorities referred him to trial on trumped-up charges, including charges of forming an armed group, although al-Wazir was never questioned about this accusation.

His trial was conducted in semi-secret conditions, in closed sessions, and al-Wazir was not informed about the trial dates. His attorney did not attend the trial, which was conducted before the Special Criminal Court, a state security court whose constitutionality is questionable. Defendants in this court are not given the procedural and legal rights that guarantee due process and a fair trial.

The undersigned organizations express their full solidarity with Yasser al-Wazir and all members of the human rights movement in Yemen, which is currently working amid an atmosphere of fear in which the authorities are blocking all avenues of peaceful expression and silencing voices critical of the catastrophic policies of the Yemeni regime, which threaten to completely tear apart what remains of the central state structure. (Read on …)

First, AFP: The arrests of the 72 “outlaw partisans” were made on Tuesday in Lahj province, the ministry’s 26sep.net news website cited Mohsen al-Naqib, the province’s governor, as saying.

Second, Al Fadhli announces “a stone intifada” ratcheting up the civil unrest a level. But considering the fragmented nature of the southern movement, its not a decision that has the approval of all the factions. The movement was established two years before al Fadhli joined and has been dedicated to a non-violent strategy, as the following statement points out as the National Authority for the Independence of the South rejects al Fadhli’s invitation:

Statement issued by the Supreme National Authority for the independence of the South -
Brothers, heads and members of the components of this popular movement Abyan province and to all the loyal stakeholders in a peaceful popular movement in the southern province of Abyan. (Read on …)

Lawyer and leading Human Rights activist Mohammed Allaow, at a symposium on the establishment of the new Special Press Court, expressed his opinion that the court was unconstitutional. He is not alone in this view. Many judicial experts also consider the Specialized Terrorism Court unconstitutional, based on their reading of the law. This week Allaow was charged with “insulting the judiciary” for his statements. The US State Department’s latest report on Human Rights in Yemen found that Yemen is not an electoral democracy, as Yemenis are unable to change their government. They are unable to discuss it without retribution either.

HOOD Online: Mansour Shayee, head of Yemen’s new “Special Press Court,” has transferred charges against Mohammed Naji Allaow, a leading human rights activist, to the prosecution.

Mr. Allaow, a lawyer and former Parliamentarian, was charged with insulting the judiciary. Allaow is chairman of the Yemeni Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, a pioneering rights group, better known as HOOD.

The court’s decision was based on Allaow’s criticism of the establishment of the Special Press Court itself. Allaow’s remarks came during a symposium held by Sajeen organization in March 2009.

Al-Balagh newspaper published the proceedings of the symposium, and the newspaper was also referred to trial. The session will be on February 27, 2010.
(Read on …)

We knew that but its nice to have documentation. Dozens of Yemeni political and news sites are blocked in Yemen. Yemen Portal publishes their content. (see “English translated pages” and then on the right side, “page blocked sites” for automatic translation of the blocked sites.)

Al Sahwa – Yemen Net, the only provider of internet in Yemen has admitted that it blocked Almasdar Online (www.almasdaronline.com) on the bases of security directions. Deputy Manager of Yemen Net, Yasser al-Emad told the management of Almasdar Online that the security authorities ordered the block of the news website. (Read on …)

If, in its quest to mitigate al Qaeda in Yemen, the Obama adminstration has lost all democratic idealism and committment to civil rights and human rights, you would think on a pragmatic level they still would do one of two things: support freedom of the press for its open source intel value alone or insist that Yemen censor and block Al Qaeda sites and forums on the web as strictly as it censors and blocks the refomers’ sites, independent news sites and opposition newspapers. The internet is a major terrorist theater, for both recuitment and operations. (Awlaki anyone?) Its also where the indigenous counter-narrative to al Qaeda exists and spreads. All the good guys are blocked inside Yemen, while the bad guys have total freedom on the internet. Head to head, the good guys win, but they don’t have a chance to compete when their part of the internet is censored from the Yemeni public’s view.

Al Sahwa: The management of Almasdar Online has accused the Ministry of Communication of blocking its news website on Tuesday, expressing, in the meantime, its surprise as the ministry resort to such illegal acts, pointing out that it knows the causes behind the blocking.

While the management of Almasdar Online held the Ministry of Communication responsible for the blocking, it stressed that it would sue a file against the ministry.

It further demanded the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate to confront what it described a “farce” practiced by Yemen’s authorities against news websites in Yemen, calling all journalists, activists and civil society organizations to stand by the website.

Killed while in police custody in Ma’alla

Aden News Agency:

Local sources in Aden – one the largest cities in the south of Yemen- have declared that the political prisoner ( Faris Zeid Abullkareem Tamah ) was killed by the police of Al-Malla’a city in Aden, after being kept there for days, while the circumstances of his death still unknown until this moment. (Read on …)

As HOOD inaugurates its Human Rights Award, it is a good time to note the contribution that HOOD itself has made to the human rights environment in Yemen.

The primary focus of the HOOD Organization, the National Organization for Protecting Rights and Freedoms, is the defense of human rights in Yemen. HOOD raises public awareness of legal rights and mobilizes public support for the victims of human rights abuses. HOOD works within the judicial system to protect and defend the victims of human rights abuses. HOOD also encourages governmental bodies to secure human rights and civil rights as granted by the Yemeni constitution and international protocols.

HOOD holds the police, security forces, judiciary and other public institutions to account for violating human rights. Often victims of human rights abuses in Yemen are subject to a second wave of targeting after their claims are documented and publicized. However, once the HOOD organization adopts a case of human rights abuse, its support remains steadfast regardless of the ensuing danger and harassment. (Read on …)

In other news, the UK raises its alert level prior to the Yemen conference, the US is searching for Western female suicide bombers trained in Yemen, and Carlos Bledsoe says his lethal attack on a Arkansas recruiting station was jihad, justified by Islamic law and that he is linked to AQAP.

Sahwa Net – Thousands of people in various areas of South Yemen have taken into streets on Thursday, protesting the release of detainees of what is called the Southern Movement and calling the London Conference to be held on next Wednesday to consider their grievances.

In Radfan city, thousands of people took into streets shouting anti-regime slogans, calling in the same time, the London conference to put and end to violations against newspapers and journalists in Yemen.

During the protest, one person was wounded and other 25 were arrested by the Yemeni authorities which shot fire and heavily used tear gas to disperse the protests.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called an international conference in London to discuss how to help Yemen to tackle extremism.

Human Rights Watch

Allegations that the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda was behind the attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day 2009 have dramatically increased international attention to the threat of terrorism emanating from Yemen.

To be effective, international counterterrorism policy in Yemen should take into account the lessons from the response to al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan: military tactics such as airstrikes that cause high civilian casualties, and arbitrary arrests and abusive treatment of suspected militants undermine efforts to reduce local support for al Qaeda. The Yemeni government has engaged in all of these actions against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Second, engagement with Yemen must also address the serious human rights problems that have turned large segments of Yemeni society against the government, and thus reduced the government’s ability to fight terrorism effectively. Ongoing human rights violations by the state security forces (particularly the Central Security Forces, the Political Security Organization, and the National Security Organization), risk providing an even more fertile base of support for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen’s most serious human rights violations arise in the context of two pressing internal conflicts-the government’s war with Huthi rebels in the north of the country, and its repression of a secessionist movement in the south. Officials have recently warned against “internationalizing” these two conflicts, but it would be a mistake if international efforts to assist the government ignored the grievances underlying those conflicts. Yemen’s military and policing approaches have resulted in numerous violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, which have alienated large segments of Yemeni society.

Most Yemenis do not see AQAP as a threat to them. They are more concerned about the government’s repressive practices and rampant corruption, as well as the lack of jobs for the country’s booming population, a looming water crisis, and rapidly depleting oil reserves, the main source of revenue, along with the conflicts in the north and south. Resolving the human rights grievances underlying those two conflicts and strengthening human rights protections generally is critical to creating a more stable government in Yemen and empowering it to address the country’s economic and development problems.

Recommendations to Yemen’s allies:

1. Increase development aid to Yemen, ensuring a cohesive strategy in collaboration with the appropriate UN agencies, and use aid to address human rights concerns that drive instability.

2. Support establishment in Yemen of a human rights monitoring mission by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with a mandate to publicly report on human rights abuses by all parties to Yemen’s conflicts, and press the government of Yemen to cooperate in the establishment of such a mission.

3. Add effective human rights components to any bilateral aid for security forces, such as law enforcement and military training and equipment, including non-lethal methods of crowd control, respect for the laws of war, measures to combat torture, and internal accountability.

4. Stress the importance of an independent judiciary with the resources and competence to address accountability for human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and torture.

5. Urge the government to ensure that impartial humanitarian agencies have access to all places of detention in Yemen, and end the use of private or unauthorized detention sites.

6. Ensure that no assistance goes to units of security forces implicated in unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and other serious human rights abuses. Publicly speak out when such violations occur.

7. Assist the United States and Yemen in repatriating or resettling Yemenis held without charge at Guantanamo, including the 40 Yemenis that the US government has already cleared for release.

1. Do not turn Al Qaeda’s enemies into its friends (Read on …)

Amnesty International: Yemen must set aside prison sentence on female journalist, 19 January 2010

Amnesty International has called on the Yemeni authorities to set aside a three month prison sentence imposed on a woman journalist after she was convicted of defaming President ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Saleh.

According to media reports, Anissa ‘Uthman, a journalist working for al-Wassat, a weekly newspaper, was prosecuted because of articles she wrote criticizing the arrest and imprisonment of human rights activists. (Read on …)

The PSO is one of President Saleh’s main instruments of terror and intimidation of civil society, journalists and the forces of progress. Lets not forget about the Mohammed al Maqaleh disappeared since August, the closure of al Ayyam and the recent arrest of several of its editors and the continuing detention of Salah Alsagalde, Fuad Rashid, and Ahmed Alzubairi and the continuing ban on several newspapers, and the destruction of News Yemen, and the blocking of dozens of political websites in Yemen (but not the jihaddis ones).

Threats to liquidate the managing editor of Sahwa Net:

إشارة إلى الموضوع أعلاه، فإن مدير تحرير الصحوة نت الزميل محمد العلواني تلقى تهديدات هاتفية بالتصفية الجسدية من الرقم (777128007) من شخص قال بأنه يعمل في الأمن السياسي. A reference to the above subject, the managing editor of Sahwa Net colleague Mohamed al-Alwani, received telephone threats of physical liquidation of the number (777128007) from someone who said that he was working in the Political Security. (Read on …)

Such total garbage, but its a good example of how the Yemeni government spins every event for the western audience.

Free Media : VIENNA, 7 Jan. 2010: The arrest on 6 January of the editor and publisher of Yemen’s Al-Ayyam newspaper, Hisham Bashraheel, has reinforced concerns that Yemen’s high-profile clampdown on militants is being used as a pretext to further suppress media freedom. (Read on …)

I lost the link! I think its from the Yemen Times, I have to check it.

Governmental offices’ corruption cases are totaling to more that YR1.5 trillion in illegal transfering, equivalent to the current state’s budget, said a first draft report by Yemen Journalists Against Corruption (Yemen JAC), in collaboration with the Journalists Without Chains Organization.

The report registered 126 corruption cases last year. The oil sector, registering 19 cases, was at the top of the list, with more than YR700 billion in corrupt deals. Aden Oil Refinery Company illegally bought oil products worth YR300 billion alone without announcing bids. “This contradicts the Bid Act by which all companies should abide,” said Nabeel Abdurab, one member of Yemen (JAC). (Read on …)

The Christmas airliner plot that originated in Yemen brought renewed focus on Yemen’s counter-terror efforts, but not on the crimes against Yemeni citizens systematically committed by the Yemeni government.

Let’s see what Yemeni President Saleh is getting a pass on, in exchange for temporarily going through the motions of hunting al Qaeda. There’s the collective punishment of civilians in the Sa’ada war, this includes indiscriminate bombing and intentional starvation. Then there’s the mass arbitrary arrests of political opponents, Hashemites and often relatives of wanted persons. In the south we have the repetitive murder of protesters by security forces and more arbitrary arrests. And, as you’d probably expect, widespread torture in prisons. Last on our list, the violent repression of the media. It is these practices that are at the root of the instability in Yemen, which Ms. Clinton referred to yesterday as a global threat. The Yemeni oligachy also loots the public budget and officials facilitate a variety of regional criminal enterprises including drug and weapons smuggling.

The civil rights protest also centered on the the kidnapping of journalist Mohammed al Maqaleh in August after he reported on a government air strike on a refugee camp in the northern Sa’ada province that killed 87.

The extreme clamp down on the press in Yemen coincides with the increasing frustration of the citizenry, which among other things, provides a greater pool of recruits for al Qaeda. The incredibly corrupt Yemeni government is quite inefficient at running the country and providing basic services but quite good at 1) mis-appropriating public funds and b) devising propaganda on the state controlled media.

Yemen Times In a similar activity, organized by the ‘Women Journalists Without Chains’ organization, in Sana’a, on Tuesday, Dec, 22, the organization protested for the 27th time to release the Al-Ayam newspaper that was confiscated and banned from publishing in April and release the disappeared journalist Mohamed Al-Maqaleh. Mohamed Al-Maqaleh disappeared in August.

It is worth mentioning that this year witnessed the biggest campaign against the press in Yemen that included the confiscation of around eight local newspapers and seizing international newspapers at the airport such as the Al-Quds newspaper.

After it lost YR40 million

News Yemen calls press freedom advocates to support it against attack
News Yemen website has set up an old webpage for limited usage after the web experienced a horrible piracy last November 28th. The webpage will be available temporary.

News Yemen apologizes for being unable to post more news stories but coverage of the consequences of the piracy and robbery against the web and efforts the web staff and its partners are exerting to solve technical and material problems.
On Saturday, the website Editor-in-Chief, Nabil al-Sofi, received a promise from the Minister of Telecommunication, Kamal al-Jebri, in a meeting on Saturday to provide all necessary information on the web hacker and to ask for assistance of international experts. Al-Jebri confirmed that anyone from the ministry proved involved in the attack on News Yemen would be punished.

According to the hosting company, based in the United States, the ID of the hacker was for Yaser al-Emad, the director of the Internet Department in the Ministry of Telecommunication, but the minister al-Jebri said the government respects the performance of newsyemen. (Read on …)

Its so brutal. Click here for first hand testimony from tortured prisoners.

Amnesty International
PUBLIC STATEMENT
27 November 2009
Index: MDE 31/017/2009

Yemen: Government should announce commitment to tackle ‘widespread’ torture
(Read on …)

What follows is the Arab Sisters Forum press release on the escalating attacks on Amal Basha, head of the organization. She was repeatedly threatened, had a liquid sprayed in her face on the street, the headquarters was broken into and trashed, and the brakes on her car were cut in an assassination attempt.

Triggers for the attacks include advocacy for arbitrarily detained prisoners and a report on torture in Yemen submitted by several Yemeni human rights organizations to the UN which contributed to the UN’s findings on November 19th, expressing “grave concern” and calling for an investigation of unlawful killings (murder) by security forces.

Its actions like these that belie the Saleh regime’s commitment to both democracy and stability and expose the administration as a thuggish mafia whose only goals are staying in power and stealing money. (Read on …)

The Twenty-Fourth Sit-In to Demand the Release of Alayyam Newspaper and Journalist Mohamed Almaqaleh and journalists Alsaglade and Rashid

On Tuesday 17/11/2009 hundreds of lawyers, politicians , journalists and relatives of kidnapped and forced hidden people, sit in the twenty-fourth protest in Freedom Square to demand the release of Alayyam newspaper and the release of journalist Mohamed Almaqaleh and journalists Alsaglade and Fouad Rashid, and for the lifting of the violations of Almasdar and Aldiar newspapers.

In the sit-in called by the Organization of Women Journalists Without Chains Sultan Alsamaee the parliamentary spokesman for the Movement for Justice and Change said the express of solidarity with freedom of expression, and with all the journalists against violations under scrutiny, and emphasized the importance of continuing the peaceful sit-ins in order to reach the rights and punish those who violated the rights of the people of this nation; journalists, jurists and citizens. (Read on …)

Kidnapped September 18th and held incommunicado by security forces after publishing news of a military strike on a refugee camp that killed 87 civilians.

Its amazing the way all these authoritarian regimes use similiar tactics to inhibit power sharing. A press release from the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights noting Mohammed Al-Maskati, its President of BYSHR, is on trial (again) for working in a civil society organization without it being registered.

6 months Imprisonment and/or 500 BD should he be Found Guilty
The need to amend Laws related to the work of Societies

11 November 2009 www.byshr.org

The President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Mr. Mohammed Al-Maskati, 22 years, is facing up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine of BD 500, should he be found guilty of violating the controversial Bahraini Societies Law which has been found restrictive by numerous international human rights organizations including Amnesty International, the FIDH and Human Rights Watch. (Read on …)

Good!

News Yemen The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a has reaffirmed its support for freedom of press in Yemen.

On November 3, the U.S. Ambassador Stephen Seche met with al-Masdar Chief Editor Samir Jubran at the Embassy and discussed with him the recent ruling by the Special Court for Press and Publications against Jubran and the Yemeni-American journalist Munir al-Mawiri, a press release by the U.S. Embassy saidm on Monday. (Read on …)

The funny thing is Lawzi is insisting there is a free press in Yemen. The media is understood by some as a tool for use by political powers, not as a mechanism of transparency against them.

RSF: Convictions and bans pile up against journalists amidst unacceptable indifference

Reporters Without Borders today strongly condemned the decision of a court specialising in press offences that sentenced journalist Munir Al-Mawari of independent weekly Al-Masdar in his absence to two years in prison for libelling President Ali Abdallah Saleh and also banned him for life from working as a journalist. (Read on …)

They were only 10 years late on the first report.

Committee against Torture

The Committee against Torture this morning considered the second periodic report of Yemen on the efforts of that country to give effect to the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in the absence of a delegation.

Serving as Rapporteur for the report of Yemen, Committee Expert Nora Sveaass, began by noting that the initial report of Yemen had been considered in 2003, 10 years’ late; that there had never been replies to communications regarding follow-up to the Committee’s concluding observations on that report (although the report before them did undertake to respond to them); and that there had been no reply from Yemen to the Committee’s list of issues, sent to the Government six months ago, despite repeated reminders sent. They were now considering the report of Yemen without a delegation from the State party – a situation that was far from ideal.

Ms. Sveaass observed that the Committee had received reports on a lack of openness and transparency with regard to torture cases in Yemen, in particular a lack of willingness to receive information on allegations of torture, to undertake transparent investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable. According to the information before the Committee, draft laws and security laws were at the heart of that matter. In the course of the anti-terror war many persons had been detained and protests and demonstrations were very seriously met. There was also the issue of the practice of incommunicado detention, which appeared to be upheld under Yemeni law, as well as a number of reports of detentions without charges, or prolonged detentions without trials. Also alarming was that there appeared to be no mechanism to enforce the rights of detainees. A concern included hostage taking – reports that family members were abducted and held to ensure that a person sought would give themselves up.

This insane sentence is not only a punishment for the two journalists, Yemeni-American Munier Mawari and Samir Jubran of al Masdar, for daring to question the God-like wisdom of Field Marshal Saleh. Its also a message to the other journalists as was the kidnapping of Mohammed al Maqaleh. (The Committee to Protect Journalists has an article profiling Tawwakol Karaman and the drive for press freedom and civil rights in Yemen.)

News Yemen: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the intensifying judicial and media campaign to silence critical journalists and eradicate press freedom.

On Saturday, the newly established Press and Publications Court in Sana’a sentenced Munir Mawari, a Washington-based Yemeni journalist and contributor to the independent weekly Al-Masdar, to two years in prison on charges of defaming the president, journalists told CPJ.

The court also barred him for life from practicing journalism in Yemen. The court handed a suspended one-year jail term to Samir Jubran, editor of Al-Masdar, on the same charge and banned him from writing and running his newspaper for one year.

The case stems from a November 25, 2008, opinion piece in which Mawari called Saleh’s leadership style a kind of “weapon of mass destruction. (Read on …)

Among the latest violations by the Yemeni government was snatching Editor Mohammed al Maqaleh off the street over a month ago and continuing to hold him incommunicado. Another sorry designation, Yemen remains in last place globally on the ranking of gender equality.

Yemen Times SANA’A, Oct. 27 — With the latest public protest by journalists last Tuesday prevented by security, the Yemeni government has continued a trend it started in the beginning of this year against press freedom. The journalists were protesting the detention of colleagues.

“This year has been very bad for journalists,” says Saeed Thabet, secretary general of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Yemen’s press freedom at 167 out of 175 countries it has surveyed this year. This rank is twelve points lower compared to last year and by this not only is Yemen in the list of ten worst countries regarding press freedom in the world, it is also the only Arab country in this margin. (Read on …)

Yes Saleh’s nephew is the de facto head of the National Security. The Yemeni government switched the authority for handling the airports from the PSO to the National Security in 2006 after the planeloads of jihaddis flying out on Yemenia got a bit embarrassing. The National Security in its new role cracked down hard- on opposition politicians, journalists and activists attempting to fly out of Sana’a.

al Sahwa
Yemeni parliament has approved to summon the deputy chief of the National Security Organization Ammar Mohammad Abdullah Saleh, nephew of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, on grounds of violations oppositionists face in the Sana’a International Airport.

Parliamentarians stressed the importance of summoning Ammar considering him the de facto official of the security organization.

The demands of summoning came following the complaints raised by the representative Abdul-Salam Zabia last week as he was interrupted at the airport and prevented from travel by security organization.

Zabia said he was prevented from traveling abroad and he was investigated and threatened by pointing weapon at him.

Abdul-Razaq al-Hajri, MP, considered what happened to his colleague as a dangerous indication of violations Yemenis face in the airport.

It is worth noticing MPs, politicians, journalists and activists are always interrupted and prevented from travel by the National Security Organization.

If Taiz stands up, there’s no sitting it back down… And the government response to the protests is what happens every time the citizenry attempts to influence government through peaceful means- either the people are ignored or arrested and shot. But the blatant racism of those who call this “instability” while lauding Iranian and Lebanese popular movements is astounding. (But then again, Obama did throw the Iranian protesters under the bus.) What is the logical outcome of quelling the civil rights movement in Yemen, and maintaining the status quo? Stronger al Qaeda, more regional crime and smuggling, and an impoverished, illiterate and angry nation.

Yemen Post: Dozens were arrested on Thursday by the Taiz authorities when many people attended a rally to declare the popular movement for justice and change.

Head of the preparatory committee for the movement MP Sultan Al-Same’e expressed astonishment over imposing an emergency state in the province in western Yemen as well as suppressive security measures. (Read on …)

URGENT ACTION, YEMENI JOURNALIST ABDUCTED

A male Yemeni journalist, Muhammad al-Maqalih, has been abducted in the capital, Sana’a, after criticizing the government over continuing armed clashes in Sa’da province, northern Yemen. Muhammad al-Maqalih’s whereabouts are unknown, and his life is at risk.

Muhammad al-Maqalih, a 49-year-old father of seven children, was abducted from a street in Sana’a at 11pm on 17 September. Eyewitnesses told his family that he was taken by a group of men who arrived in a white minibus, which had its licence plates obscured. The men took Muhammad al-Maqalih, and deflated one of the tyres on his car, which was nearby. There has been no news of Muhammad al-Maqalih since.

Muhammad al-Maqalih is a journalist and a member of the Yemeni Socialist Party. Human rights activists in Yemen suspect that he may have been abducted by plain-clothes security forces personnel because of his criticism of the government, in particular with regards to the clashes between the army and followers of a Shi’a Muslim cleric in Sa’da. His comments criticizing the army’s killing of civilians were published on the Yemeni Socialist Party’s website (http://www.aleshteraki.net).

Abduction of political opponents and critics of the state by security agents is a known practice in Yemen, particularly during political crises such as the clashes in Sa’da. Those abducted are often tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English or your own language:
n Calling on the authorities to clarify Muhammed al-Maqalih’s whereabouts and to release him without delay if he is being held solely for his criticism of the government;
n Noting that, if this is the case, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience; (Read on …)

Muamar Mohmmed al-Abdali a 34 year old human rights activist was arbitrarily arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department of Aden province on July 13, and immediately transferred to the National Security Office in Sana’a. He spent nearly a month there during investigation of the vague charge of “harming the National Security of Yemen.” He then was transfered to the Political Security which continues to deny Mr. al-Abdali is in their custody. (Read on …)

Theres a lot of conflicting reports, but HOOD has credibility.

Sahwa Net –Hood, a Yemeni human rights organization, has warned of a humanitarian crisis for children displaced to refugee camps in Saada due to the ongoing war between the government and Houhi rebels.

In an interview with al-Hiwar satellite channel, the executive director of Hood Khalid al-Anisi explained that Saada children are dislodged in camps in large numbers, emphasizing that children are mistreated and used as human shields by Houthi rebels.

He further mentioned that children are recruited by both the military and al-Houthis, citing that the numbers of children recruited by the rebels are more.

For its part, Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection has warned from a humanitarian crisis against Saada children displaced in camps and villages.

The organization expressed deep concern over the recruiting of juveniles by Houthi rebels, warning form using children and civilians as human shields.

It never ends. You can’t change reality arresting the journalists who report the news. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate stopped advocating for jouranalists since the last YJS election.

Referred the political security file colleague Fouad Rashid, editor of Al-Mukalla Press on behalf of the state security, Rashid was arrested on 5 – May forum Alkhisp cultural Mukalla and deposited the Political Security Prison in Al-Mukalla and Sana’a, transfer to 23.6.2009 and since his relatives were allowed to Sanaa yesterday 2/9/2009 visit did not allow non-relatives, journalists and activists to visit him or visit the rest of the detainees at the disposal of mobility in the southern governorates
On the same level appealed to the family of our colleague Iyad Ghanem, who has been in prison since the patience of the province of pilgrimage 1/7/2009 (Read on …)

Well thats good. I’ll go back and update the prior post also. Odd that the Yemeni government was praising Kuwait’s decision, well not that odd.

News Yemen: A diplomat source in the Kuwaiti embassy in Yemen denied press reports that the Kuwaiti government had shut down the Yemeni Suhail TV.

The Kuwaiti diplomat said in an interview with Anneda independent newspaper that Kuwait has not issued a license to Suhail TV to broadcast from Kuwait and has not banned it.

Local press reported last week that the Kuwaiti authorities had banned Suhail to broadcast from Kuwait.

“We welcome this positive decision by the Kuwaiti authorities as Suhail TV’s programs incite sedition in the country,” media cited an unidentified Yemeni official as saying.

Minister of Information, who is also the spokesman of the government, praised the Kuwaiti decision and relations between the two countries.

Suhail TV, which is owned by Hamdan al-Ahmar, brother of well-known opponent Hamid al-Ahmar, denied any political involvement and affiliation with any political organizations.

A source in Suhail TV said it would resume broadcasting from a western country.

Arabic below the fold.

The Human Rights Institutes and Human Rights defenders for Human Rights expressed its profound concern as regards the Yemeni authorities’ detention of the eminent human rights defender, Yasser AL-Wazier a member of the Yemeni organization for Defending Human Rights, Democracy & freedoms – AL-Wazier had been forced disappearance for three months than continued his detention for a year, those measures taken against AL-Wazier are closely related to his eminent role in defending the victims of human rights violations in Yemen and all norms’ of discrimination, accordingly security bodies decided to punish him for his human rights activity and his professional life as a teacher and fighting all norm of discrimination done by the government against Zaidiah as the main consequences of Sa’adah War.

While stressing utter condemnation of AL-Wazier detention we deems the arrest a threatening message to all human rights defenders who boldly work on monitoring the daily violations of the Yemeni authorities against citizens. It is also an attempt to hush the victims’ voices that are heard by the world via Yemeni human rights organizations, despite the non-stop Yemeni oppression and the legislative arsenal that aims at terrorizing and undermining all government critics and opponents and all those seeking freedom and respect of human rights.

We calls upon the Yemeni authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Yasser AL-Wazier and Mr. Alezi Rajah, Mohammed,Ahmed, Abdulelah, Abdulrahman AL-Syani, Ahsan AL-Madani, Mohammed AL-Taiab,Mohammed AL-Kawoly, and Mohammed AL-Zubairi , stop all pressures exerted on human rights defenders, and set free all opinion prisoners religious. (Read on …)

Update 8/30/09: Kuwaiti diplomat denies the station even asked for a license and thus Kuwait never pulled it despite Yemeni government statements to the contrary.

Original post: Yemen is trying to shut down speech that they find too illuminating everywhere- including here in the US. Did Zindani ever get his programing up and running? That initiative was welcomed by Saleh but Hamid Al Ahmar’s satellite channel was fought vigorously through diplomatic channels. There was some prior tension between Yemen and Kuwait when Sana’a set up mourning tents for Saddam.

Kuwait government’s decision of closing down Suhail TV Channel, welcomed
Tuesday, 25-August-2009
al Motamar
Almotamar.net – A Yemeni official information source on Tuesday welcomed a decision taken by the Kuwaiti government on closing down transmission of Kuwait-based Suhail Satellite TV Channel owned by Hamid al-Ahmar.

The source said that positive decision has been received with big welcome by by the yemerni people’s circles owing to what that channel was broadcasting of programmes promoting to oisons of sedition , division and delusion of the public opinion and offending the reputation of the Yemeni people.

The source has , meanwhile , praised the brotherly relations between yemen and Kuwait and that of their two political leaderships in addition to the steady development of those relations in interest of the two Yemeni and Kuwaiti peoples.

Yemen also regrets the Iranian media “provocative campaign.”

Al-Marsad and Hemayah Human Rights Organizations demand release of human rights activist Sadiq Al-Sharafi in Yemen.

An important figure at a human rights organization protested that the human rights activist Sadiq Al-Sharafi is still in the prison since 14th of July when the security authority took him to the jail of the National Security before taking him to the Political jail.

” Al-Sharafi’s family members and relatives did not feel any progress in his case except changing his prison from the National to the Political” said Abdulmutaleb Al-Shami- the responsible figure for the legal affairs at Hemayah for Human Rights Organization. (Read on …)

The Director of South Youth Forums recieved death threats here in the US.

Raed Qasim Ismail is a political activist and director of the forum and website of the South Youth of Aden, Shababshaib, editor of the Algnoub Alhur Magazine.

Mr. Ismail was threatened during telephone calls, emails and messages received from anonymous persons who ordered him to stop his journalistic activities and close down the South Youth website. The callers said “they” knew where he lived in the US, were monitoring his movements and his continued activity would result in harm to himself and his family both here and in Yemen.

Mr. Ismail said said he is accustomed to such threats, adding that there were attempts by unidentified bodies to hack the website several times.

Despite the death threats by email and telephone, Mr. Isamil confirmed that he will continue to exercise his right of free speech, adding that he is not afraid of such threats, and nor will he be deterred from continuing his career with his (Southern Yemeni) people until their independence.

Mr. Ismail is concerned by the threats that were received by his family in Yemen, noting that the Sana’a regime and his men bear the full responsibility for any harm to him or any one of his family members.

The existance of Yemeni intelligence operatives here in the US is well known, and numerous Yemeni-Americans in the US have been threatened by Yemeni operatives for engaging in their legally protected rights of assembly and speech in the US.

Acting as an undeclared agent of a foreign state is illegal.

Seyaj is a good organization that does excellent work on behalf of children, but they are underfunded and overwhelmed by the number of kids who need their help.

SEYAJ organization for childhood protection has launched stage 1 of “Dignity Preserving Campaign” to raise funds for psychological and legal assistance for children against crimes and violence, spreading awareness of the importance of countering violence against children, and setting up networks involving all concerned .

Monitoring and legal & psychological assisting unit’s director, Miss Nora Al-Amodi, had argued businessmen and beneficent to donate in “Dignity Preserving” fund which will use in providing psychological support, advocates and promote the unite role.

“SEYAJ is receiving donations into its account No (357475) at Tadhamon International Islamic Bank – Hasba Branch, confirming that the money will be used for the purpose” she added.

“One of the campaign’s main goals is to give the opportunity to all society people to participate in helping children and be partners against violence and crimes which children face. Businessmen and beneficent are most welcomed to be in the lead of donators” Al-Amodi said.

“The rate of crimes against children in Yemen is pushing all peoples to take serious stand as a common responsibility and provide support” she added.

Worth to be mentioned, that about 500 assistances were provided by SEYAJ for abused children – most of them from girls – since establishing the unit late of 2008.

The campaign shall run till the end of October, 2009.

More on SEYAJ

There’s a list no one can publish that names dozens of women who went into a specific jail and then had a baby more than a year later. The abuse (is that word strong enough?) of female prisoners is systemic and in some areas, organized. Its really very depressing, some of these are young girls.

Update: The post seems to be generating some response, including shock, so here’s a bit of our earlier coverage of the topic: Women Raped and Babies Sold from Jail, a report by the Sajeen Organization; Rape Victim Victimized a Second Time by the State, the cases of Susan M.S. Al-Mudhla’ and Anisa al-Shuaibi; Witness Testimony from Yemeni Prisons, heartbreaking stuff there; and CID Investigated on Rape Charge, not much happened…

The following is a bit from the current report from the Yemen Times:

Hodeida jails house large-scale human rights abuses, including rape, illegal detentions, overcrowding and shortages of food and water, according to a new report prepared by the National Forum for Human Rights.

The worst abuses take place when male guards are in charge of women, said Abdulhafidh Mu’jab, who prepared the report after a team of nine lawyers toured Hodeida detention centers.

“Women located in these unsafe places encourages violations or rapes,” he said.

And many women in Hodeida are detained before trial longer than is legal or humane, in facilities that are inadequate for female prisoners, he added.

“They should work on procedures to release women from prison and makes these procedures as fast as possible,” Mu’jab said.

According to Khalid Ayash, who heads the organization, women do not to report sexual assaults in jails because they fear the severe social stigma associated with rape in Yemen. (Read on …)

To follow, al Tagheer published published an Arabic statement by al Ayyam detailing the chronology of the events surrounding the closure of al Ayyam, the confiscation of its papers, assaults on its drivers and vendors, the violent police siege on the offices, the later arrest of protesters, and the prohibition of its editors from leaving Yemen, although the elder Mr. Bashrahil requires urgent medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

(This is the CPJ statement from May; things just got worse after that. )

التغيير – صنعاء : Change – SANAA:

أصدرت صحيفة “الأيام” بيانا وضحت فيه مجمل الأحداث التي تسببت في توقفها عن الصدور ، والذي قالت إنه بمثابة بلاغ منها إلى الرأي العام في الداخل والخارج وإلى المنظمات الحقوقية والصحفية العربية والأجنبية لتوضيح حقيقة الأوضاع التي فرضتها عليها قوى في الداخل ، مشيدة بكل من تضامنوا معها من أشخاص وجهات ومؤسسات . Issued the “days” a statement setting out the overall events that caused the suspension of the publication, which said it was a communication to the public opinion at home and abroad and to human rights organizations and Arab and foreign press to explain the fact that conditions imposed by the forces in the home, built in all of them have shown solidarity the views of persons and institutions. (Read on …)

Al Sahwa

Sahwa Net – The correspondent of Sahwa Net and Alsahwa newspaper in Hodeida province Abdul-Hafeez al-Hattami was attacked by gunmen on Wednesday, while he was covering tribal disputes on lands.

Hadi Heij, an opposition leader in Hodeida hold the authorities responsible for protecting journalist, pointing out that some security members were available as al-Hattami was attacked , but they did nothing, according to him. (Read on …)

I think President Ali Saleh is insane,a delusional dissembling megalomaniac who believes his own lies. Perhaps he’s a “borderline personality.” That would fit, considering his disconnect with reality, the perpetual claims of victimization and his complete failure to take responsibility for the outcome of any of his actions.

al Sahwa – The supreme council of the Joint Meeting Parties condemned what it called “fierce media attacks” and threats against its spokesman Naif al-Qanis.

JMP demanded that authorities to bring repeated media intimidations against its spokesman and Al-Haq party to an end, bringing the authorities responsible for al-Qanis’s safety.

JMP’s supreme council discussed arrests carried out against political activists including Moamad al-Obdil who was arrested Sunday in Aden and Abdul-Rahman al-Sharafi who was arrests on Tuesday on Sana’a, expressing its solidarity with the activists.

Deviants he calls them…

Al Motamar

Al-Zandani calls for clear stabs towards calls for apostasy
Wednesday, 08-July-2009
Almotamar.net – Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zandani called Wednesday on those reciting the Holy Koran to translate it on the ground. In a ceremony honouring 550 persons finishing a course in Koran recitation held by Al-Hikma al Yamania Society in Yemen this morning, al-Zandani said the entire nation is in need of competing the structure through learning Islamic sciences. He clarified the reality of the Yemeni nation is divided into two realities; an honourable reality and a deviant reality. The deviant reality calls for colonization of Yemen and calls on world countries to “invade us and impose guardianship on us.” He asked was not what happened to Iraq because of some deluded ones who called long time in Iraq, questioning what the result was after occupation. One million martyrs and two million wounded. (Read on …)

Here we go, finally getting to the reason I’m back on the blog today- Sami Ghalib on trial for reporting the news… I’m temporarily speechless; its just that stupid.

The Yemeni government ratched up its campaign to bankrupt, imprison and intimidate the non-governmental media in Yemen. There’s over 200 journalists out of work. Sit-ins in solidarity with al Ayyam newspaper are being broken up by force.

The regime was effective in muzzling the coverage of the Sa’ada War by excluding journalists from the governorate. Now its apparently looking to take down the entire industry to keep quiet the incredible level of unrest in the south, with nary a peep from the donors.

The case against al Needa began in 2006 when the paper disclosed accusations of corruption in the Hajj department of the Minstry of Endowments, demonstrating the reform and accountability meme is a sham, as if there was any doubt. Many of the violations against journalists occur when they uncover corruption.

Yemen Times SANA’A, July 12 — Amid international cries for freedom of expression and rising concern for Yemen’s press, the government’s special “press court” held its first hearing for a journalist on Saturday.

The defendant is Sami Ghalib, editor-in-chief of Al-Nida newspaper. A special press prosecution has been investigating Ghalib for more than two years.

The court is to look into about 150 press-related cases forwarded by courts of first instance.

Journalists, lawyers and human right activists, however, have described the court as illegal, and as a government attempt to control the independent press.

The government decided to set up the special court in May to deal exclusively with press-related offenses following the media coverage of the unrest in the south of Yemen.

In December 2006, the former deputy Minister of Endowments Hassan Al-Ahdal requested the prosecutor investigate Ghalib, after his newspaper published a story in which private travel agencies accused the Hajj and Umrah sectors at the ministry of corruption. (Read on …)

frm the Yemen Post:

Like Ali, thousands of Yemeni women work in unpaid jobs and these jobs include farming, herding, collecting firewood, etc. They are denied any rights. They receive no medical care or education.
Compared to women of rural areas who work in unpaid jobs, the unemployment rates hit high among urban area women. There is just a small number of women who work in public and private sectors.
According to official statistics, women’s unemployment rates reaches 39 percent in Yemen while it is just 16 percent among men. (Read on …)

Followg the first statement of the Southern Womans Union, ( see here) Yemeni security raided the home of Zahra Saleh Abdullah, the president of the Union.

Second statement by Southern Yemeni Womans Union:

Our fighting sons and revolutionist brothers,

We as southern women believe in the right to restore our land, the land of law and order, The Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen.

We came to protest in front of the Ayyam newspaper, the paper that provided the truth, and acted as a torch of light and liberty in the darkness that the occupation made us live in. We reject the repression of freedom that was given to us a right in all the constitutions and international covenants. (Read on …)

The Yemeni government has shut down seven independant Arabic language newspapers and established a new press court for trials of journalists. Now the government is taking aim at the English language Yemen Post, warning the paper not to cooperate with international media- or else.

From the Yemen Post

Over the last two weeks, the Yemen Post received numerous threats from different sides due to its coverage of the foreigners that were kidnapped and killed. The Yemen Post was the main independent source for 90% of the international media. Its comments were even given priority over the government and what it announced.
Last week, meetings took place between the Yemen Post and leading figures of the government. In the meetings, The Yemen Post was firmly asked not to work with international media outlets and to limit its self to local media. Direct threats were given. The option on the table was to agree to cooperate with the government whether it was right or wrong in what they announce. In the end, the Yemen Post refused.
It is sad that these people don’t understand that the job of media is not covering what it is asked of it to cover, but to cover the truth.
Yemen has not yet understood the difference between independent and governmental media, and the Yemen Post has vowed to show everyone the difference.
What I clearly want to say is that the Yemen Post is doing what it was established to do, and that is lead Yemeni media, raise its standards, and through its sources throughout the country, be able to serve not only Yemen, but the international community with concrete information about what is really happening.
Even with the threats we are given, the Post will not soften its stance and will work to be the most trusted local and international news source in Yemen.

Its very good of the CPJ and RSF and other journalists organizations are staying on top of the assualt on the Yemeni media, but why are the donors so quiet on the issue that is so clear cut?

From News Yemen:

Six newspapers the Ministry of Information have suspended since a month have lost Yr 80 million (almost $400,000) and as many as 200 staff lost their income sources due to the suspension and suppression against those newspapers, said a press report prepared by journalist Mohammad al-Hakimi.

A source in the Aden-based al-Ayyam daily said the newspaper lost Yr 181 million until now, approximately Yr 21 million per a week. He said the paper continues to lose money. It added that 1185 vendors who used to circulate the paper have lost their income resource due to the suppression against the paper.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end censorship of independent newspapers and to identify and prosecute those who assaulted Al-Jazeera journalists on two occasions in the south of the country.
Fans of the suspended newspapers organized in Karesh district in Lahj last Thursday a protest to the government’s policy against newspapers.

More from the Yemen Post:
(Read on …)

Lets see if Mujawar can get his orders implemented and if the Ministry of Information recognizes his authority. Government journalists to get a raise. Meanwhile the non-governmental media has been crippled.

Mujawar order to transform journalists’ inspiration into action SANA’A, June 25 (Saba) – Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar on Thursday ordered the relevant authorities to implement the March 10 cabinet decision on the journalists job description as soon as possible.

The project calls for job description and classification at the media institutions including the Yemen News Agency Saba, the General Radio and Television Corporation and the military media institutions.

The PM’s order comes in reply to notes sent by the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate in which the government was urged to transform the idea into a concrete action as well as providing necessary funds for the media sector within the next year’s budget.

Mujawar also ordered to give back money cut from the budget allocated for the journalists and approve salary increases ordered previously.

He also called on the Ministry of Public Health and Population to care of the journalists and their families through enabling them to get special treatment at the public hospitals.

The PM also called on the Communication Ministry to provide free internet services for the journalists, asking them to go after many Arab countries.

He also ordered the Information Ministry to continue publishing national newspapers at the al-Thawra Printings according to contracts signed with papers.

What is that? One office for every newspaper that they want to drive out of business?

Yemen Post

As Ministry of Information has recently been transformed to a new site, President Ali Abdullah Saleh paid a short visit to the new ministry building earlier this week. News about the visit has two different sides.

The state-run news agency “Saba” reported that the President congratulated the ministry employees for the new building, and urged members of various media organs, audio, visual and print media, to improve and upgrade the information content and provide a meaningful messages that help the country towards progress and advancement adding that he inspected the various facilities of the ministry, the ongoing work as well as the work plan of the various institutions and organs of the ministry, however informed sources said that the President’s visit had a completely different aim.

Sources at the Ministry of Information said that during his visit to the ministry building, the President directed the ministry leadership to vacate the new building of the Ministry.
“Due to the huge size of the building compared with the small staff number of the ministry, President directed that the ministry should be moved again to the previous building giving no more details about any other body that might receive the building instead ” the source said.
The new six-store building of the Ministry of Information was inaugurated in March 19 2009 at a total cost of YR1, 899,984,000.

The building contains 142 offices; set In 264.43 square meters .It includes a kindergarten for the employees’ children, a hall for events, activities and workshops, in addition to two gardens, inside and outside car parks for more than 300 cars.

Yemen Post

Yemeni vice-president Mr. Abdu Rabou Mansour Hadi ordered fifty six prisoners, who were arrested after taking part in the protests that took place in Al-Sheher province, to be released.

According to the Information Center of the Interior Ministry, the prisoners were released after they vowed not to come back to riots, disorder, vandalism and acts of lawlessness that threaten civil peace and social tranquility. The center added that three prisoners, who were said to be accused of inciting riots and violence, are still arrested.

Meanwhile, about 70 others, who were arrested for protesting in the 21st of May, are still in jail in Aden province.

On the same regard, Mr. Lahasson Saleh Musleh, Deputy-governor of Al-Dale’e province, said that 43 people were arrested on charges of separatism, chanting anti-unity slogans, destroying public and private property during the demonstrations, during which one person was killed and 13 others injured.
Lahasson added that the elements opened fire and threw hand grenades at the security forces in three separate places, one of which hit a number of security personnel.
For his part, Mr.Yahya Al-Raei, the head of the Parliament, attacked the elements and described them to be imbued with apostasy, separation and hatred, demanding them to stop their hostile and subversive acts against the people and the country.

Politically speaking, the opposition parties represented by (JMP) attacked the speech delivered by President Saleh in Taiz province early this week. “Saleh’s statement contained serious signs, descriptions and charges against various political forces. It included implicit messages of violence, showing that the situation may be further aggravated in the future and the consequences may not be safe. This had negatively the Yemeni public opinion and increased the level of tensions and anxiety,” they said.

Probably every one of the 22 newly licensed papers is pro-regime and Tawwakol Karaman (WJWC) didn’t get her license yet. I would love to be wrong, really I would.

Al Qaeda can publish magazines and statements on the internet, but not civil society. Whats up with that? Everybody is blocked in Yemen except al Qaeda? The newspapers are inciting hatred but not Wahishi? Such garbage.

Zawya Yemen granted licenses for 22 new newspapers including 14 local newspapers, three newspapers for civil organizations and five for political parties in accordance with legal procedures, said Deputy Minister of Information Mohammed Shaher. Shaher said that there were further requests for issuing newspapers which are under studying by the ministry.

Currently around eight newspapers in Yemen were banned by the information ministry from printing and are accused of inciting hatred and indiscrimination in the country after covering what is happening in the southern governorates. Many local and international organizations have demanded that Yemeni government stop violating the rights of newspapers and freedom of the press.

Previously, Minister of information Hassan al-Lawzi said in a press conference that all Yemeni newspapers must take into consideration the national principles and the common interest of the nation when they are dealing with their press coverage.

Habeleen, Lahj May 27, 2009: A protester is draped in the flag of the formerly independent South Yemen which merged with North Yemen in 1990.

On the heels of earlier bloody protests in Aden on May 21 that resulted in ten deaths and nearly a thousand arrests, last week saw continuing unrest in south Yemen in most provinces. New arrests and civilian injuries were reported in several cities. Several times when the Yemeni government forced pro-unity demonstrations, the crowds instead began chanting pro-independence slogans, and the gatherings turned into clashes. In some cases, the protests were in reaction to the earlier arbitrary arrests of protesters in south Yemen. The institutional media blackout continues in an attempt to limit national and international awareness of the southern independence movement.

May 25 There was a demonstration was in Abyan, reportedly attended by tens of thousands. Tareq al Fadhli addressed the crowds.

May 27 A large anti-government rally was held in Dahlie

May 27 Radfan, one of the hot spots of the protests since 2007, held another large protest.

May 27 Habeleen in Laehj saw demonstrations as well.

May 28 A protest in Al-Shehr in Hadhramaut resulted in many injuries and about 30 arrests when the police opened fire on protesters.

May 28 Several demonstrations were held in Lahj including a large gathering in the capital, al Houta. The regime had organized a forced pro-unity demonstration supporting President Saleh, but the people began repeating slogans for calling independence and a republic with its capital Aden. Hundreds were arrested in Lahj, among them dozens of students.

May 28, Also in Lahj, in Yafea, demonstrations were held in Al Maflehi and Alasadi cities.

This is amazing stuff right here and could change the Middle East quicker, more cheaply and with a better outcome than anything else going on.

Yemen Times

CAIRO, May 16 — A new tool to circumvent website censorship named “Alkasir” was released today in its BETA version 1.0 and is now in the public domain. The release comes after the software was publicly revealed for the first time in Cairo yesterday during the first day of the “Blogging the Future” summit organized by the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research.

The software, whose name originates from the Arabic word ‘alkasir’, meaning ‘the circumventer’, is now accessible and according to its developer, Walid Al-Saqaf, an be downloaded directly from the web at http://alkasir.com/download. (Read on …)

Where are the donors? The UN? Ah yes, the UN praised Yemen’s HR record and the donors are interested in al Qaeda and in stabilizing the criminalized regime of Ali Abduallh Saleh. What kind of moronic, shortsighted 9/10 type of thinking is that? Not a creative, pragmatic or forward thinking individual in the bunch. To the extent that the circumstance in 2009 was predictable in 2004, averting the looming disaster on all fronts certainly cannot be a function of more of the same reactive policies.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, May 17— The government has prevented the distribution of seven independent newspapers for the second week running and charged its journalists with attempting to harm supreme national interests, triggering widespread condemnation from media and human rights organizations worldwide.

Up to 30 editors and journalists from newspapers Al-Share’, Al-Masdar, Al-Diyar, Al-Nida’, Al-Watani and Al-Ahali, as well as Al-Ayyam, have been accused of inciting their readers to armed insurrection and posing a threat to national unity.

Based on a request by the Ministry of Information, the Press and Publication Prosecution last week questioned journalists from these newspapers, before charging them with, among others, provoking sectarian strife among Yemenis. (Read on …)

A paper by parliament member, Ahmad Saif Hashid, presented at the media women forum, on freedom of the audio & visual media.

The real situation of the media in Yemen is still a bad one and suffers great guardianship and forbidding either implicitly or explicitly. For example, possessing satellite channels is absolutely not allowed as well as the mobile short news messages service is subjected only to desire of the government, while about twenty electronic media news websites are veiled. The print media is overloaded with a great deal of materials that are prohibited, to be published, by disgraceful law. The Illegal acts committed against the press and journalists are beyond calculation and the worst is that such acts are practiced daily or semi-daily. (Read on …)

Not one group in Yemen is capable of putting out a press release in English, sorry, so here we have more bad google translation:

Press release

We, the heads of editors of the independent newspaper the undersigned express our condemnation of the serious action taken by the Ministry of Information recently, which is an explicit reversal of the Constitution of the Republic of Yemen, and the most important pillars of the state unit, which celebrates the anniversary of the Yemeni after 19 days. (Read on …)

The disappointing thing is not that the dictators club in the UN praised Yemen, but that the Western democracies were too intimidated to speak the truth. Pathetic.

From the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies

Yemen: A leader in Human Rights?
Yemen’s repressive government praised by UN Human Rights Council

On May 11 and 13, 2009, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) debated and adopted a report on the human rights policies of Yemen. Despite the dire human rights situation in this country, the vast majority of states involved in the process offered praise for the government’s human rights policies, or failed to make substantive recommendations on how to improve the situation. (Read on …)

Not to mention kidnapping, death threats, license refusal etc etc

Yemen: Halt Crackdowns on Newspapers
Censorship by Printing Ban, Military Assault and Special Court

(New York, May 16, 2009) – Yemen’s government should immediately cease attacks on independent newspapers and scrap plans for a special court to try media cases, Human Rights Watch said today.

“These actions are a clear effort to silence independent voices in Yemen,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “President Abdullah Ali Saleh needs to end this campaign of intimidation and censorship.” (Read on …)

the internet is already blocked….

What they mean is any paper that publishes news of the southern unrest is violating the press and publications law which prohibits articles based on the effect they have on the public, and one outlawed effect is “undermining unity”. It shows how draconian the law is. There should be something along soon in English.

from al Thawra, govt paper:

وزارةالإعلام : الصحف التي تمس بالوحدة الوطنية سيجري ايقافها And Zarpalialam: newspapers, which affect the national unity will be stopped
الإثنين – 4 – مايو – 2009 – الثورة نت Monday – 4 – May – 2009 – Net Revolution

قالت وزارة الإعلام انه سيتم تطبيق القانون بحق الصحف التي تمس بالثوابت الوطنية والدينية , وقال محمد شاهر وكيل وزارة الإعلام انه سيتم ايقاف كل الصحف التي تمس بالوحدة الوطنية, ودعا محمد شاهر الإعلام الوطني الرسمي والحزبي والاهلي والمستقل بكل أنواعه سواء منه المرئي أو المقروء او المسموع في اليمن الى الارتقاء بنفسه الى مستوى المسؤلية الوطنية وعدم المساس بالثوابت الوطنية أو الدينية وقال وكيل وزارة الإعلام ان أي وسيلة إعلامية ايا كان نوعها أو طبيعة عملها الإعلامي تقوم في ممارستها الإعلامية على المساس بوحدة الوطن فهي بذلك تخالف قانون الصحافة والمطبوعات والنشر وسيتم مباشرة التصدي لها من قبل وزارة الإعلام بحسب ما هو مخولا لها قانونيا واتخاذ الإجراءات الصارمة بحقها . Ministry of Information said it will be the application of the law affecting the right of the newspapers that national and religious principles, “said Mohammad Shaher and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information he will stop all the newspapers, which affect the national unity, and called Muhammad Shahir national media and party official, al-Ahli, independent of all kinds, whether it video or audio, or reading in the Yemen to promote himself to the level of national responsibility and not compromising the principles of national or religious, said Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information means any information of any kind or nature of work in the media briefing on the exercise of prejudice to the unity of the homeland are so contrary to the law of the press and publishing and printing and will be directly addressed by Ministry of Information as it is legally empowered to take strict measures against them.

Ok here we go, English. Thank goodness the CPJ is on it at least, but how pathetic another news blackout like Sa’ada. We know what that means- its going to get bad. What a shame that they stopped printing, the regime should be ashamed at this thuggish behaivor but they are the psychotics of governance, no conscience at all:

Yemen On Line Government seizes newspaper offices in Yemen
After confiscating thousands of copies of a critical independent newspaper, authorities laid siege today to the paper’s offices in Aden, Yemen. The daily, Al-Ayyam, has been covering the ongoing conflict in the country’s southern region. (Read on …)

I have to check the vids but there were no deaths or injuries, always a very good thing, and no arrests but some property damage. (Update: 25 arrests in Hadarmout). Aden, Hadramout and Dhalie protests were blocked by security but in Abyan, it went off (see vid below). There were expectations that the protest in Zanjibar would be huge, since al Fadhli called for it. The whole scenario is odd.

Saleh’s rhetoric is heated, as one would expect from him, and the attempt to extradite the former leaders from Saudi Arabia and Oman is a typical Saleh move. But where is (al Fadhli’s brother in law and Saleh’s half brother) Ali Mohsen al Ahmar standing amid all reallignment?

Sahwa Net – Security forces in Aden province dispersed on Monday dozens of protestors who demanded political rights at al-Hashimi square.

Confrontations between the security and protestors did not result in any injures , according to Sahwa Net correspondent . However, many sellers closed down their shops in the wake of security deployment at al-Hashimi square.

Meanwhile, strict security measures are still taken in the entrances of Aden and Abyan provinces in a bid to prevent comers who intend to take part in southern protesting rallies.

Update: The videos show good sized marches. Here’s one:

Update: Official source ridicules Tariq’s speech and calls him a terrorist, thug and thief, a plunderer of public property, a mentor of bin Laden, and fails to recall he was Saleh’s ally until last month:

al Tagheer: The source said in a statement to the Yemen News Agency (Saba), “It is strange and ridiculous to talk about Fadli invaders land and wealth, which I Alnhab of land and wealth through what he has done illegally on the territory of the vast territory of the State in the province of Abyan and other extended from the area of Zanzibar, and even science , and gave itself the right to own and dispose of them illegally with false documents and .. in addition to what he has done for the rape of some public property Balrdm and some private housing to citizens of all methods of using fraud and thuggery, terrorism and violence to seize those homes for himself and without any right to become as a result One of the rich and big land owners .. who returned home after the blessed unity in the 22 May 1990 and has maintained his dignity and his life after he had been living in exile sent Creda despoiled of everything, to suffer hardship and humiliation of homelessness, both in some Ooi Gulf cities or in the mountains of Afghanistan, where he is a hobby of terrorism and murder as well as mentor and leader in the terrorism of Osama bin Laden. “

Islah condemns rioting:

Sahwa Net – The Yemeni Congregation of Reform ( the Islah Party) in Abyan governorate has said the best way to have rights and freedoms is the peaceful struggle, condemning riots and sabotage acts occurred at Zongbar city of Abyan.

The Islah demanded to control security , protect citizens and their assets ,and bring the assaulters accountable.

Car and shops had been attacked in Mukla and Zongbar following a rallies to mark a civil war in 1994 . Yemeni police clashed with protesters on Monday , but no causalities were reported .

Asharq Alawsat “Say No to Sucession in Yemen”, Therefore, we must help Yemen eliminate the concept of secession; not in the sense of providing financial aid but by taking decisive stands against separatists and spurring the Yemeni state to find solutions to the unresolved issues between the people of one nation. Ah. Saleh just needs a good talking to…

Update: the Yemen Times has a whole other spin on the incident. The father is a rapist/murderer and the mother a prostitute, not that the charges justify mob rule.

Original: The fanatics killing people in Ja’ar were no anomoly. Salafis destroying satellite dishes in Tharmar and Hodeidah.

Yemen Post: People destroyed the three-storey house of a citizen who they accused of tearing and stepping on the holy book of Quran in Sana’a on Tuesday night.
Eyewitnesses said the man tore the Quran and treaded on it before citizens but the reason for the transgression has not been identified.
Some people in the area called the police and informed them about a person who insulted the Quran. (Read on …)

Just one of the many targets though…

Bloomberg

April 20 (Bloomberg) — Yemen is in danger of losing what’s left of its Jewish community, which has called the country home for more than 2,500 years and provided its kings for a century.

Growing intimidation and violence are pushing the 300 Jews left in the Arabian Peninsula country to flee to Israel or the U.S. Four months ago, a Muslim extremist gunned down Jewish- studies teacher Moshe Yaish Nahari, a father of nine, in the town of Raida, north of the capital of Sana’a. (Read on …)

Further damage control on the son of the Yemeni president being a thief according to US federal courts: here here and here

al Motamar

US State Department reports are political targeting: Human Rights Minister
Tuesday, 14-April-2009
Almotamar.net – Yemen Human Rights Minister Dr Huda al-Ban has on Tuesday revealed a government tendency for engaging civil society organisations working in human rights field in the reply to international reports issued by the US State Department, Amnesty International, Freedom House and others, so that the reply would be a national one instead of official. She has accused report by the US State Department of inaccuracy, reshuffling cards and fabrication of non-existing realities. She added that 95% of the issues and incidents the report has tackled had been literally mentioned in previous years. (Read on …)

(Update: My post 12/12/06: Ali al Dailimi’s testimony at a HOOD press conference about being tortured and beaten by the PSO, and 6/3/08 witness testimony of children and adults imprisoned and tortured in relation to the Sa’ada War.)

Some of these prisoners have been in jail for years, snatched off the street and never charged, suspected of Houthism because they are Hashimites:

al Sahwa

Sahwa Net –The Front Line organization has expressed concern over the safety of a Yemeni activist Ali Hussein al-Dailami after he received direct threats and nuisance calls due his role in the ongoing campaign for the release of the detainees related to Saada conflict .

” These threats and harassment are an attempt to hinder his legitimate and peaceful activities in the defence of human rights, especially the rights of the detainees” said Front Line.

The organization cited that al-Dailami received threats from an officer of the Political Security Apparatus(PSA) that he would be detained soon because he went too far in crossing the red lines.

According to the Front Line , al-Dailami had filed a complaint to the Interior Minister and provide a list of telephone number from which he had been receiving threats…Al-Dailami who is the director of the Yemeni Organization for Defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms was imprisoned and tortured in 2006.

If Saleh ordered the Sa’ada prisoners released on 12/08 and they are still in jail, then its either a ploy or he can’t get his own directives implemented.

The presidential order:

The hand written order:

Its an organization focused on the protection of children. And they do very good advocacy work.

Naba News
هاكرز يلحقون دماراً كاملاً بموقع منظمة سياج لحماية الطفولة Hackers wreak havoc in full the location of the fence for the Protection of Children
الخميس, 09-إبريل-2009 Thursday, 09 – April -2009
نبأ نيوز – News report –

دانت منظمة سياج لحماية الطفولة بشدة جريمة القرصنة الإلكترونية التي تعرض لها موقعها على شبكة الانترنت ( www.seyaj.org ) والتي أدت إلى تدميره بكافة محتوياته ومواده الصحفية. Denounced the fence to the protection of children seriously the crime of piracy against the electronic website (Www.seyaj.org), which led to the destruction of all its contents and press articles. (Read on …)

Nice, a list. There’s so many attacks lately I lost track…

Recent attacks and threats on journalists and editors in Yemen
Yemen, Politics, 4/6/2009, Arabic News

The organization ARTICLE 19 said last Monday it is monitoring with great concern the most recent pattern of threats and attacks on journalists in Yemen.

“No journalist should be arrested or attacked because of his/her work and opinion,” says Dr. Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director. “Authorities should immediately investigate these incidents and provide effective protection to journalists under threat.”

Some of the recent incidents include:

- Managing Editor of Mareb Press, Mohammad Salhi, was abducted on 19 March 2009 by security officers and imprisoned for eight hours before his release. Salhi was arrested for allegedly trying to take photos of the scene where four South Korean tourists were killed and three others wounded in a terrorist attack in the city of Shibam on 14 March – On 23 March Abdel Malek Shrai, journalist for the independent Al-Ayyam daily, was attacked during his coverage of the murder story of the general director of Khdair governorate. He was beaten up, slandered and banned from writing about the case – Mohammad Shar’abi, an editor at the independent Al Diyar newspaper, has received life threatening messages because of his critical writings and opinions. On 24 March his house in Taiz governorate was bombed. Shar’abi had also been attacked before when unknown assailants shot at his house in November 2008 while his family and children were inside – Associated Press correspondent Ahmad Al Haj has also received threatening messages on his mobile phone from a private unknown caller who described him as an agent and mercenary – In addition, independent journalists in Yemen are being prosecuted for simply doing their job. There are six legal cases against the Nasserite newspaper, Al Wahdawi, for publishing stories related to corruption and investigative material

The one positive note in this negative atmosphere is a speech delivered at the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate General Assembly in mid March by Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh in which he instructed the government to grant licenses to satellite broadcasting channels and to allow the transmission of private radios to any party who requests it.

Yemeni-American analyst Munier al Mawari wrote an article that was published in Yemen and he has been declared a fugative for not showing up in court. He’s in DC. The concern of course is for the editor in Yemen who is also facing charges. There’s a few journalists beaten, arrested and harrassed lately, but they are doing a very poor job in getting the information out in English. I’m trying to make a master list.

al Eshteraki Court postponed its secretariat in the West on Monday morning to consider the issue of the source until 20 April next لإتاحة الفرصة للنيابة إبلاغ الصحفي منير الماوري بقرار الاتهام. For the opportunity to inform the press on behalf of the Maori Munir’s decision to charge. (Read on …)

These are not random cases of rape. Its an organized system of forced prostitution. In Taiz, there’s a substantial number of babies born to women who were in jail for more than a year.

Yemen Post

Newborns of female prisoners at Yemen’s central jails are subjected to be sold, an organization interested in prisoner affairs said on Saturday.
The Sajeen Organization said at a symposium on female prisoners in Yemen that most prisoners are tortured at jails and sometimes raped.
And when they try to protest maltreatment and illegal acts they are threatened by officials at the jails.

Chairman of the organization said a daughter, named Muntaha, was sold in August 2008 for YR 15,000 that went for her mother and $5000 for her father who works in Sana’a.

Many others abuse issues of female prisoners in the country go unreported, lawyer Abdul Rahman Berman said. Female prisoners face difficult moments during investigations as they are prevented from hiring lawyers.

For her part, Amal Al-Basha, Chairwoman of the Sisters Forum said violations against female prisoner rights take place with permission from the leadership.

She added that human rights organizations and activists are prevented from meeting female prisoners in the country, criticizing arrest and imprisonment measures.

Many are jailed over honor charges and when a female inmate ends her term she finds none to help here and house her. As a result, many female inmates turn into bad community assets.

Related, in Yemen if you don’t have someone to bring you food or money in jail, then you don’t eat

Sahwa Net – Yemeni human rights groups have demanded the Yemeni government to lift suffers of Yemen’s prisoners resulted in by government reducing to food and care expanses allotted to them.

In a letter to President Saleh, the groups which included HOOD , the Arab Sister Forum , Prisoner Organization and human rights activists demanded to grant prisoners all their rights guaranteed by the constitution and law.

The students have been demanding for over a year that the military be withdrawn from the campus.
The National

SANA’A // The shooting of a student at Sana’a University in Yemen by a soldier has sparked protests on the campus and raised concerns about the increased presence of the military at the institute.
(Read on …)

How nicely edited this one is and it includes good goverance as a goal…

Cultural Association of Iraqi Youth
established in 2005 to help a generation Iraqis reap the benefits of democracy

General Information
Address: Cultural Association of Iraqi Youth,
Abdelbari i 2, Kut City, Wasit Province, Iraq
Phone: 009647702625845.
E-mail: asd_bad2001@yahoo.com
Registration: General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Office to assist Non-Governmental Organizations, Registration No. 1z40800, dated 21/9/2005
Target group: Iraqis twelve years and old of both sexes
Funding: Self

The Objectives of the Organization
1- The organization seeks to enfranchise young people in the Iraqi civil and political system by teaching them the technical, administrative and leadership skills necessary to utilize the democratic process.
2- The organization seeks to develop the next generation of national, regional and local leaders with an entrenched set of egalitarian values far from sectarianism, racism, nationalism and geography.
3- The organization seeks to defend the civil rights of Iraqi youth and help them develop strategies to protect and enhance their civil liberties.

Mission Statement
“Awareness of young people and the consolidation of democracy in Iraq opened the way for the growing participation of Iraqi youth in determining the governance and the future of Iraq.” (Read on …)

Keeping with our regional theme today:

www.byshr.org, full report

Introduction

The Kingdom of Bahrain, since 2004, has been waging a campaign against the defenders of human rights in Bahrain. It started this campaign by closing down the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and forbidding the establishment of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. This campaign has continued in an escalating manner, until the “Bandar” report appeared – Salah Al-Bandar is the former government adviser – where the report pointed out that there is a continuous plan to target human rights defenders and their organizations.

Since the issuance of the report – Bandar – the authorities started to wage organized campaigns against the defenders of human rights, and the campaigns intensified with the death of the activist Ali Jassim, who died in mysterious circumstances after his participation in the annual demonstration organized by the National Committee of Martyrs and Torture Victims in December every year.

From that moment onwards, the defenders in Bahrain are being caught in the midst of the danger of torture in the investigation centers – Criminal Investigation Bureau – and the danger of arrest and imprisonment, where the Bahraini authorities accused the activists of committing capital crimes against the country. The Public Prosecution, however, was only able to prove those accusations after it had practiced extreme torture against all the defendants in criminal cases with the help of the National Security Service.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights had filed several complaints to the Special Rapporteur for the Defenders of Human Rights in the United Nations, and had also filed complaints to the Special Rapporteur for Arbitrary Arrest.

The BYSHR believes that the international organizations and panels should pay more notice to the cases of human rights defenders, especially in the period which is the focus of the report – December 2007 until February 2009 – due to the increase of torture, arbitrary arrest and unfair trial incidents for the defenders.

The BYSHR extends an invitation to the Special Rapporteurs – Arbitrary Arrest, Torture, and Defenders of Human Rights – to visit Bahrain and to have a close look into the situation of human rights defenders, and to meet the different segments of society, in addition to the human rights organizations.

Note: The methods of torture that will be mentioned in the report were taken from the complaint forms submitted to the Special Rapporteur against torture and degrading treatment.

For more information: Mohammed Al-Maskati – president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
+973-36437088 or mohdmaskati@byshr.org

Nader Al-Salatna – Vice president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
+973-39596196 or naderalsalatna@byshr.org

Lets recall that al Khaiwani was arrested as a personal vendetta by Saleh, beat up, his kid slapped, interrogated for a week, released and then kidnapped and really beat up badly, convicted and imprisoned for months, pardoned and re-convicted and now pardoned again. (This is not even counting what happened to him in 2004/5.) Its like battered wife syndrome translated to the national level, yes its nice the abuse stopped momentarily but its important not to lose sight of the over-riding fact that it never should have occurred in the first place.

And the announcement about freeing the broadcast media is getting old also; its about the fifth time I heard that in the last five years, nothing happens. More talk, headlines and propaganda and when the dust settles, journalists are still getting beat up, no new licenses or as we saw recently, the new TV channel goes to al Zindani… So it would be nice if true but Saleh’s words are meaningless, so lets see what happens before celebrating this announcement.

Alarab

Yemen pardons opposition journalist facing jail

Yemen’s president said on Saturday he had pardoned an opposition journalist facing a six-year jail sentence for links to armed rebels. A Yemeni court last year convicted Abdelkarim al-Khaywani, editor of opposition newspaper al-Shura, to six years in jail after he was found carrying images and statements of the rebels.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced the pardon in a speech to a journalist union’s conference, in which he also called for new legislation to allow private television and radio stations and easing rules for the launch of new publications.

Battles with the Shi’ite Muslim rebels, which had raged on and off since 2004 in the north of the poor Arab country, subsided last year. Hundreds of people have been killed in the conflict and thousands have fled their homes.

Sunni Muslims form a majority of Yemen’s 19 million population, while most of the rest are Shi’ite Zaydis.

Update: Yemen Times

In the last minutes of the nomination process, three candidates for the chairperson position withdrew, decreasing the total number of candidates to five. All five of these nominees work with government media establishments as every opposition newspaper and independent candidate withdrew. Two of the five candidates standout: Dr. Raufa Hassan, university professor and director of an NGO, and Yaseen Al-Masoudi from Al-Thawra state run newspaper.

If elected, Dr. Raufa Hassan will be the first woman to chair the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. She emphasized the necessity of meeting the journalists’ demands. “I will take it upon me to achieve the recommendations which the fourth conference for journalists will bring about,” she said.

Original Post: The last head of the YJS was the head of the state news agency SABA and was a total tool. The regime’s choice for this term is the vice at al Thawra, and there is a lot of contention about the regime’s strong arming the union to select and “elect” its candidate. (See Almotamar.net article for regime endorsement.) The non-governmental journalists are concerned with several important issues as the following Yemen Times oped explains:

Political parties are focusing their attention these days on the upcoming Yemen Journalists Syndicate (YJS) general assembly meeting to elect a new board and chairman. Being the most effective and important civil society organization, both tae ruling party and opposition have been conducting intensive meetings, trying to mobilize journalists to vote for their candidates. The ruling party, in particular, has been mustering journalists working for the state-run media to vote for a selected list representing the party. Heads of these media outlets have used their positions to influence their journalists to vote for a specific group of journalists. This demonstrates how these parties are keen to control the YJS and manipulate it to serve their own political agenda.
(Read on …)

So how are they supposed to get their back pay?

Yemen Post: Tens have been arrested when police broke up on Tuesday a strike by the employees of the Aden branch of the Yemen oil company.

Many other employees and people of those whose homes are close to the company complex, including children, were injured when police fired live bullets and used tear gas to disperse the protesting workers who began a full-scale strike last Saturday demanding financial rights. (Read on …)