Armies of Liberation

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.

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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:
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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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.

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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 …)

Not just the journalists barred at the gate, poor Najoud can’t leave either. The idiot regime doesn’t realize that her story is one of courage and progress and reflects very well on Yemen, or how stupid they look saying she is too young to get on a plane when Parliament hasn’t ratified the change in the law for the minimum marriage age.

VIENNA — Yemen has barred a former child bride from being honored in Austria, saying she is too young to travel alone. When she was less than 10 years old, the girl was forced to marry a man at least three times her age. After being raped and abused by him, she successfully filed for divorce and traveled abroad to talk about her ordeal.

(Read on …)

The more there is to report, the more the journalists get beat up. Yemen Times:

SANA’A, Feb. 24 — The fourth press freedoms report recently issued by Women Journalists Without Chains indicates that press violations in Yemen are on the rise.

In 2005 there were 53 violations and in 2006 the number reached nearly 67 violations. In 2007 the violations increased to 112, and in 2008 the number shot up to 248 violation cases, which is about five incidents in one week.

(Read on …)

Lets see what happens. The odds are 87% (96%?) in the favor of the Yemeni government going the smoke and mirrors route, like with the governors “elections”. However, even grudging reforms are still reforms. The JMP has a lot of work to do internally.

Yemen Online

Yemen: Provisions of the agreement between GPC and JMP.
YemenOnline. Feb 25 - After several dialogues that the President called for between representatives of the General People’s Congress GPC and the Joint Meeting Parties JMP represented in the Council, and given the requirements of the national interest in carrying out free, fair and secure elections under a favorable political environment in which all political spectrums participate, all of the political parties represented in the Parliament hereinafter undersigned - the General People’s Congress, Islah Party, the Yemeni Socialist Party, the Unionist Nasserite People Party and the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party - request from the Parliament Presidency to take necessary constitutional procedures to amend Article 65 of the Constitution related to the Parliament duration in accordance with the law, allowing the extension period of the present Parliament for two years due to the lack of sufficient time for implementing the following reforms:

Firstly, parties, political organizations and civil society organizations should be given the opportunity to carry out the constitutional amendments necessary for the development of the political and electoral systems, including the Quota.

Secondly, the political parties represented in the Parliament should be enabled to complete the discussion of topics that have not been agreed upon during the preparation of amendments to the electoral law and integrating what was agreed upon at the heart of law.

Thirdly, the Higher Committee of Elections and Referendum be reconstructed as provided by law.

They have no heart. None. A 92 year old man, think about that.

HOOD online-Translation: Radhia Khairan-Editor: Jane Novak

Yemeni Military Police have detained a 92 year old as a hostage and are refusing to inform his family of his location.

The police and other security forces in Yemen use the tactic of hostage taking to exert pressure on relatives. In this case, the Military Police incarcerated 92 year old Ali Ali Ahmed Shubaih in a bid to pressure his son to turn himself in to the police. His son is wanted in connection with an alleged land dispute.

Mr. Shubaih was arrested on February 3 although he had committed no crime. He was held on remand in Area Number Five at the Security Center in Sana’a. Mr. Shubaih is infirm, suffers from dementia and multiple ailments related to his age. Mr. Shubaih’s relatives filed a complaint with HOOD over the illegal and unconstitutional detention.

One of HOOD’s lawyers visited the detention center Saturday and found that the elderly gentleman was both blind and nearly unconscious. Mr. Shubaih was distraught, infirm and did not know where he was. He was transferred to hospital after HOOD’s visit and later returned to the jail.

Mr. Shbaih’s family reports today that security officials said Mr. Shubaih was transferred to another facility and refused to disclose his location. The family is extremely concerned for his well being.

HOOD sent a complaint to the General Prosecution maintaining that Mr. Shubaih’s detention is against law. HOOD seeks an investigation of the incident, the immediate release Mr. Shubaih and the prosecution of those responsible for this egregious act.

This was by no means the first incident of its type. In a similar case, 82 year old Sheikh Isshaq was detained as a hostage for two months in the Political Security’s center.

Editor: Jane Novak

This report has really gotten much more accurate in the last five years.

US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices Yemen Summary:

Significant human rights problems persisted. There were limitations on citizens’ ability to change their government due to corruption, fraudulent voter registration, and administrative weakness. There were reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings by government forces, politically motivated disappearances, and torture in many prisons. Prolonged pretrial detention, judicial weakness and fiat, serious corruption, and poor prison conditions were also problems. During the year excessive government force was reportedly used against participants in public demonstrations. Arbitrary arrest and detention and other abuses increased, particularly of individuals with suspected links to the Zaydi Shia al-Houthi movement in and around the northern governorate of Saada and to the series of political demonstrations in Lahj governorate in the southern part of the coutnry.International humanitarian groups estimated that in the summer there were as many as 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of the Saada conflict. By the end of the year, about 6,000 persons were living in refugee camps in Saada. Academic freedom was restricted. Restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, and peaceful assembly increased, and harassment and intimidation of journalists and oppositionists continued. Pervasive and significant discrimination against women continued to occur, as did child labor and child trafficking. The right of workers to associate was also restricted.

Its very good. They nailed it. Some of what may seem to be under-reporting on the number of people killed or arrested probably results when the USG is unable to verify the reporting, and not a deliberate error as some habitually suggest. This is why its important to document abuses with dates, names and places, not poetry.

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the government generally did not observe these prohibitions. Enforcement of the law was irregular and in some cases, particularly those involving suspected security offenses, was nonexistent. Ouch!

The True, Sad and Bizarre:

-Other unauthorized private prisons reportedly existed at the National Drug Company, the Yemen Television Corporation, the MOI, and the Ministry of Religious Guidance.

-According to HRW, among those released in August are former mediation committee member Shaikh Salih al-Wajman, who had been jailed at the MOI for two years…

-In June 2007 the government suspended the text message news service sponsored by Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC). The head of WJWC, Tawwakul Karman, unsuccessfully appealed the decision. The government instead suspended all text message news services, eventually restoring all except those of WJWC and the Islah-affiliated Nass Mobile Service. Karman staged sit-ins throughout the summer of 2007 in an attempt to overturn the ruling.At year’s end WJWC’s news text message service remained suspended, despite a parliamentary order allowing it to be reestablished, according to WJWC.

-There were no new government cloned newspapers during the year.

-On March 30, a sit-in in Dhale’ of more than 200 young men protesting the lack of acceptance of southerners into military service was broken up by security authorities with live bullets and tear gas.

-(This is a first for the report I think.) After the 1994 civil war, the northern government forced thousands of southern military and civilian officials to retire. These individuals have continued to demand reintegration compensation and other redress and were especially active in 2007. Their movement expanded throughout the year with significant southern political support.

- The MSAL also refused to register Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) or HOOD, both NGOS that were often critical of the government.

-Unlike the four previous years, the government allowed the people of Saada to celebrate Ghadeer Day, a holiday celebrated by some Shia. However, media outlets reported that government officials used the occasion to arrest individuals allegedly associated with the Houthis.

-(This has been irking me since 2005. Somethings are hard to wrap your head around as an American, forced conversion among them.) The government also… reassigned some imams who were thought to espouse Shia ideology or Zaydi doctrine, replacing them with Shafi’i or Salafi preachers—There were credible reports that authorities banned publishing of some materials that promoted Zaydi-Shiite Islam. (But but but, President Saleh is a Zaidi! I’m joking, people used to tell me the targeting of Hashemites was impossible becasue Saleh is a Zaidi.)

-Local NGOs also alleged that deceased citizens were registered as voters.

-The headquarters of the Union for Popular Forces was seized by armed men and the party was forcibly recreated under dubious circumstances.

-Many government officials received salaries for jobs they did not perform or multiple salaries for the same job.

-The rape victim was often prosecuted on charges of fornication after the perpetrator was set free…According to the law, a woman may not refuse sexual relations with her husband; accordingly, spousal rape is not criminalized.

-The MOHR announced in April 2007 it was launching a nationwide hotline to receive complaints on abuses of human rights; it was unclear how many domestic violence cases the MOHR hotline received. Hotline service was interrupted due to technical difficulties.

-(Exactly!) The MOI and PSO tolerated and unofficially facilitated prostitution and sex tourism through corruption for financial and operational gain.

-Most women had little access to basic health care.

-The government lacked the political will and necessary resources to ensure adequate education, health care, and welfare services for children.

-Women’s groups reported FGM rates as high as 90 percent in some coastal areas, such as Mahara and Hodeida

-Two inflammatory government newspapers, Al Dostor and Akhbar Al Youm, continuously published propaganda for the purpose of slander and incitement to discrimination or violence.

- CHF 2007 estimated that approximately 52 percent of male children between the ages of 10 and 14 were in the workforce, compared to 48 percent of female children in the same age group.

-Local observers reported that half or more of the fighters involved in armed conflict between the al-Osaimat and Harf Sufian tribes in Amran governorate, which broke out in November, were boys ranging from 12 to 15 years of age.

Really a good report, comprehensive and accurate.

If I was going to pick, the only thing I could say is the internet section could have been a little more detailed. There’s over 40 blocked political websites and many online journalists harrassed. The following is not entirely correct but its the UNHCR’s report: Some IDPs were able to return to their homes, but thousands remained in camps for fear of retaliation from the al-Houthi rebels, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). But all in all, they covered all the topics rather well.