Armies of Liberation

The Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights calls for urgent intervention to prevent Yahya Saleh from storming its head quarters in Sanaa, http://bit.ly/qaaZB2 (ar). The Sana’a regime in Yemen, getting closer to a long overdue war crimes trial in the ICC, is attacking the keepers of the evidence; HOOD’s library of human rights abuses was previously burnt to the ground. Idiot Saleh fails to realize that the state’s conduct of the Saada war in and of itself is enough to convict him of collective punishment; the repetitive lethal attacks on southern protesters (2007-2011) are also crimes against humanity. The 500+ protesters killed by state security forces since February are a third and separate range of crimes.

More activists are receiving threats over the phone by security personnel of detention if they dont stop their activism.

Traditionally the US allied National Security under Ammar Saleh has perpetrated most attacks on journalists and activists and may have the lead again in personal threats and assault against the democracy activists now.

al Sahwa: Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of Suhail TV cameraman Ahmad Firas by soldiers form Daylami airbase on the afternoon of 12 August as he was driving with his wife and children, who were released a few hours later.

The same military airbase previously arrested Al-Sahwa reporter Yahi Al-Thalayan and held him for 10 days before letting him go. (Read on …)

Seeks a savior

Hodiedah: In an interview with Marib Press, 12 year old “Hanadi” said she was forced into marriage by her impoverished father to pay a debt. Her husband tried repeatedly to rape her, her tears were no deterrent, and he threatened to beat her. After three days, he drugged by her with sleeping pills in her juice. She woke up bruised, confused and bleeding. The child ran away and is currently in the Hodiedah CID, appealing to Human Rights Organizations to save her. A medical exam proves the child was violently raped. The father and husband were interviewed by police. The father asserts the husband promised not to engage in intercourse until she was older. The husband says he didn’t touch her.

“12 year old Hanadi launched a distress call to the Ministry of Human Rights and human rights organizations demanding urgent intervention and to direct the security agencies to arrest the looter of her childhood and to investigate him and refer him to the judiciary.”

The issue is where is she going to go live. And its questionable if either the father or husband will be charged with a crime. There is no law in Yemen designating a minimum marriage age. Without publicity, she might have to go back. If she does not return to her husband, the father’s debt is still in force because she was basically sold like a slave. Children are frequently used as chattel. At least half of all marriages in Yemen occur before 16. Unsurprisingly, Yemen’s youthful female revolutionaries are quite determined to overthrow the system.

Excellent, now lets see some consequences for the Salehs and all their murders. Is there going to be an Atrocities Czar to go along with the Atrocities Prevention Board? Well its something, but what happens when the war criminals are also our supposed allies against AQ? Then they are not labeled as war criminals.

Related Update: “The Organizational Committee of the People’s Youth Revolution condemns the resumption of U.S. military support for the remnants of the (Saleh) family regime and the use of U.S. weapons in the killing of peaceful civilians and puts a big question mark attached to the U.S. contradictory positions.”

FACT SHEET: President Obama Directs New Steps to Prevent Mass Atrocities and Impose Consequences on Serious Human Rights Violators

“The United States is committed to working with our allies, and to strengthening our own internal capabilities, in order to ensure that the United States and the international community are proactively engaged in a strategic effort to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. In the event that prevention fails, the United States will work both multilaterally and bilaterally to mobilize diplomatic, humanitarian, financial, and—in certain instances—military means to prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities.”

–National Security Strategy of the United States, May 2010

President Obama is committed to strengthening the United States Government’s ability to prevent mass atrocities and serious human rights violations. In 2010, he created the first-ever White House position dedicated to preventing and responding to mass atrocities and war crimes. And in Kyrgyzstan, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Sudan, and elsewhere, this Administration has prioritized the protection of civilians and the prevention of mass atrocity and serious human rights violations, and employed a wide range of economic, diplomatic, and other tools in service of those ends.

Today, President Obama is directing a comprehensive review to strengthen the United States’ ability to prevent mass atrocities. The President’s directive creates an important new tool in this effort, establishing a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board with the authority to develop prevention strategies and to ensure that concerns are elevated for senior decision-making so that we are better able to work with our allies and partners to be responsive to early warning signs and prevent potential atrocities. Today he is also issuing a proclamation that, for the first time, explicitly bars entry into the United States of persons who organize or participate in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of human rights. (Read on …)

IN response to Zindani’s call for an Islamic state, a heated letter defending the principles of the revolution. Its in Arabic but I thought it was important to note the vast majority of protesters are committed to equal rights including the right to worship freely. A secular government is not a God-less one as Zawaheri asserts, but one that affords all equal protections and equal rights to all sects. Religious tolerance is a concept that threatens the foundation of the Saudi theocracy perhaps even more than democracy. However I have a hard time buying Zindani at face value whatever he says; he’s been Saleh’s stooge for years.

Hurriyatsudan:
Statement issued by a number of Yemeni intellectuals and activists on the legitimacy of the civil revolution

“Zindani approach” to the oppression of Islam and the abuse of the revolution
With the dawn of the revolution in the arena of popular youth change in Sanaa, the Zindani and his current hard-line jihadi incitement against the state civil. Like this current horror inside Yemen and the Arab and international, pushing large numbers of the University of radical faith to the scene. (Read on …)

Bara’a, a Yemeni activist in the anti-Saleh protests was “kidnapped and beaten for seven hours,” according to video testimony here.

Mareb Press reports Tawwakol Karman’s house was trashed, and her brother kidnapped. She accused the commander of the Republican Guard, Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, and his cousin, Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, Undersecretary of the National Security Agency, of being behind the raid and looting her home, studio and the Organization of Women Journalists Without Chains. Her brother, the poet Tariq Abdel-Salam Kerman, disappeared four days ago in Taiz, and Karman confirmed that he had been kidnapped by the National Security Agency, after he announced his joining the People’s Revolution for the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

al Sahwa: Reporters Without Borders condemns Al-Sahwa.net correspondent Yahia Al-Thanaya’s abduction at a checkpoint near the Al-Dailami air-base, a few kilometres outside Sanaa, on the night of 19 June, just a few days after he reported that the government was illegally holding activists at a secret detention centre within the base. Reporters Without Borders calls for his immediate release.

The editor of the opposition weekly Al-Wahdawi, Ahmed Sayeed Nasser, was threatened on 16 April by a phone caller who accused him of insulting the president and his family in various articles. The caller also said some of the newspaper’s reporters could be in danger as a result of the publication of documents shedding light on North Yemen President Ibrahim Al-Hamdi’s assassination in 1977.

Hassan Baoum is the subject of a new letter by HRW . Leader of the Southern (pro-independence) Movement Hassan Bauom and his son Fawaz have been missing since February, in the custody of the Yemeni authorities.

Authorities had detained Hassan and Fawaz Baoum three previous times since 2007 on charges that included planning illegal demonstrations and instigating riots. (Read on …)

Beeb: The UN has added two groups in Yemen and two in Iraq to its annual list of those recruiting or abusing children during armed conflicts.

During Yemen’s recent civil war, as many as 15% of the pro-government militia and 20% of the Huthi rebels were made up of children, the UN says.

Even though that conflict was now over, nobody knew where the children were, said a UN special representative.

The annual report said children were involved in warfare in 22 countries.

“2010 proved another tragic year for children in conflicts all over the world,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict

The Saada Wars were fought by children and the state’s policies of collective punishment targeted children. The kids interviewed had been fighting for years already. The age of maturity in Yemen is 15– by that age many are married, armed, working and chewing qat.

The Obama admin exempted Yemen from legal repercussions for the use of child soldiers.

Yemen: Stop Using Children in Armed Forces HRW: Child Soldiers Recruited by Army Now Deployed by Opposition

(New York) – Child soldiers recruited by the Yemeni army are now being used by a breakaway unit to protect anti-government protesters, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States and other governments should call for an immediate end to the use of children as soldiers or in other security forces, whether for the Yemeni government or the opposition. (Read on …)

State.gov: The main government human rights abuses included severe limitations on citizens’ ability to change their government due to, among other factors, corruption, fraudulent voter registration, administrative weakness, and close political-military relationships at high levels. Arbitrary and unlawful killings, politically motivated disappearances, and reports of torture and other physical abuse accompanied the use of excessive force against civilians in internal conflict. Prisons and detention centers were in poor condition, and some private, largely tribal, ones operated without legal authorization or control. Arbitrary arrest and detention, sometimes incommunicado, and denial of fair public trial were widespread. Official impunity was common. The government restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of speech and of the press, including access to the Internet, peaceful assembly, and religious freedom. The judiciary was weak, corrupt, and lacked independence. Official corruption and lack of government transparency were severe problems. International humanitarian groups estimated more than 300,000 persons were internally displaced as a result of the Saada conflict. Pervasive discrimination against women continued, as did early marriage, child labor, and child trafficking. Discrimination on the basis of religion, sect, and ethnicity was common. Workers’ rights were restricted.