Armies of Liberation

This is about a week out of date but indicative of what’s going on in terms of smears, slander and threats, from the victims’ view:

Dear Sir or Madam,
We would like to inform you that the a leader of the islamist Al-Islah party, head of the department of information in Aden branch, threatened the publishing team of the blog and Newsletter blog “Aden Alghad” because of their coverage of the violence in Almualla-Aden between members and sympathizers of the Alharak Aljanoubi Assilmi on one side and members of the Islamist Isalh party on the other side on February 3rd 2012. This happened when the Islah leader, Khalid Haidan, with the publishing editor, Fathi Bin lazraq, at the same day. The Islamist leader said that his party will prosecute the team of “Aden Alghad” and that his party might tolerate everything but not the blood of his members. When asked if this was a threat, the Islamist leader replied “consider it as you like”.

This is not the first time that Mr. Lazraq and his team are exposed to threat from leaders of the Islah party. On December 02nd 2011, another leader of the Islah party in Aden, Nabeel Assanii, threatened Mr.Lazraq because of republishing an article written by Assanii in which he describes participants of a demonstration organized by Alharak Aljanoubi Assilmi as drunk and drug-addicted.

We consider such activities by leaders of the Islah Party as a radical threat of the press freedom and the civilian life especially in such a peaceful city like Aden. We condemn the aggressive behavior of the leaders of the Islah which considers itself as one of the changing powers in Yemen and is participating in the current government and of its leader is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2011. We would like herewith to ask you to solidarise with Mr. Lazraq and the team of “Aden Alghad” against these threats and to support them in their struggle for freedom of expression. We warn from any aggression against the team members of “Aden Alghad” and bear the Islah party the full responsibility for the health and wellbeing of Mr. Lazraq and his team members.

Rejecting Taqfirism flat out. And they are correct that a civil state does not reject religion but protects the rights of all religious persuasions equally.

RSF condemns the Takfeer campaign against Yemeni writers

A statement released by Revolution Salvation Front (RSF) on the apostasy campaign against the Yemeni writer, Bushra al-Maqtari

Condemnation Statement

O’ great people..O’ revolutionaries and freedom seekers in all squares of freedom and change
In deliberate abuse to the freedom of belief and approaching elimination and dominance of religion employing, the Yemeni writer Mrs. Bushra al-Maqtari, subjected to Takfeer (apostasy) campaign by known extremist groups.

Recently, these groups issued Fatwa, an Islamic edict by clerics, named as “The Olama’s Fatwa on abuse the Islam and Allah”, in which they named four writers: Bushra al-Maqtari, Fikry Kasim, Muhsin A’aid and Sami Shamsan of being “abused Islam” and described with “apostasy” and “Kufrism”.

The Fatwa elaborated by talking about an article of writer Bushra Maqtari, reported some of severed phrases from the article and interpreted it according their special orientation and political purpose for abuse and incitement to murder against the writer.

The RSF deplores and condemns this unjust Fatwa and that was not in fact Fatwa as it is just exploitation of religion for the liquidation of opponents to insert illegal ambitions, seeking to provoke sedition in society and exclusion of political opponent bigotry and bad interpretation of words away from its meanings.

It rejects the Takfeer at all. The so-called “Olama’s Fatwa on abuse the Islam and Allah” only regarded as a matter of political exploitation of religion to rein the other opinion and intellectually terrify. Such method already used by the same extremist groups against others and authorized the killing of children and women during previous political conflicts especially those infamous fatwa issued against the Yemen southerners during the civil war in 1994, misbelieved as “the war of apostasy and separation”. As well, many writers subjected to such Fatwas, as Dr. Abdul Aziz al-Maqalih and Dr. Hamood al-Awdi.

The RSF warns against going too far in using and monopoly religious and national eligibility by a group extremists and radicalists as Saleh’s regime did to weaken and exclude opposition opponents. Such behavior regarded as a crime must not be silent by the community.

It considered use of the mosques and public spaces to incite against other faiths, beliefs and ideologies as a blatant open call for incitement to murder and crime must be punished.

In this regard, the RSF calls upon the Ministry of Endowment to prevent the use of mosques to religious Takfeer, sedition and hatred in the community.

RSF also calls on political parties, human rights and civil society organizations, social and revolutionary representations, thinkers, writers and all the people to respond to such serious actions that threaten the security, stability and safety of the community.

RSF condemns the sites that published writings of abusive terms such as NabaNews and YemenPress, demanding to be prosecuted in accordance with the law.

Issued by The Peaceful Revolution Salvation Front
Date 03/02/2012

Fatwa is here and Gt’d here in article entitled: “The text of the fatwa, and the image” .. scientists Yemen opinion about insulting the divine: the article described Bushra Maqtari, and demanding closure of sites that published her article, and called for abusers to declare repentance”

Interesting to note that AQAP in Jaar banned some of the same newspapers that the scholars are also railing against.

I add my support. Google translation below:

بيان إدانة واستنكار

في استهداف واضح ومتعمد لحرية التفكير والتعبير، واستمرار لنهج الإقصاء والاستقواء بالدين؛ تتعرض الكاتبة بشرى المقطري لحملة تكفير من قبل جماعات متطرفة تعمد إلى استحضار ثقافة إلغاء العقل، وتجريم الفكر الحر.

وأطلت القوى الظلامية المدججة بفتاوى الإلحاد وتغليب منطق التكفير على رؤى التفكير مجدداً بحملة واسعة النطاق على خلفية مقال كتبته بشرى المقطري الناشطة في أهم ساحة من ساحات الثورة، ساحة الحرية بتعز، لتستعيد موروث التكفير، وتعمل على التحريض ضد الكاتبة بهدف إرهابها، ومنعها من ممارسة حقها في التعبير عن الرأي، قبل أن تتطور تلك الحملة حتى وصلت حدّ التحريض على استهداف حياة المقطري، وقيادة مجاميع متطرفة للمطالبة بإدانتها واستهداف حياتها بحجة الإساءة إلى الدين والذات الإلهية.

إن التكفير هو الداء الرجيم الذي دفعت اليمن ثمنه باهظا من ثلاثينيات القرن الماضي، وقتل بسببه أفضل علماء اليمن ومفكريها بتهمة اختصار القرآن، وشنت بواسطته حرب ضارية على الثورة اليمنية في الشمال والجنوب بتهمة الإلحاد والكفر.

وكان التكفير هو السلاح الذي اغتيل بواسطته أهم مناضلي الثورة اليمنية أيضاً، مثلما كان أحد أهم أسلحة علي عبد الله صالح الذي نشره في طول اليمن وعرضها، حيث تشهد اليمن هذه الأيام سقوط مدن وبلدات بأيدي التنظيمات التكفيرية التي تقاوم الدولة وتقيم إماراتها الخاصة التي تمارس فيها نهجاً وحشياُ في التعامل مع البشر، فتنتهك الحقوق والحريات، وتعدم الأبرياء أو تشوه أجسادهم بزعم إقامة الحدود كما يحدث في جعار وزنجبار ورداع.

إن شن حملة التكفير على الكاتبة بشرى المقطري على إثر مقال كتبته خلال الأسبوع الماضي هو امتداد لثقافة النظام الذي قامت الثورة ضده، والصمت الجبان على هذه الحملة التكفيرية هو معادل لفعل التكفير. (Read on …)

Its lovely that al Jazeera got its license back after the office was looted, but there’s a trial going on regarding al Ayyam which was shot up with women and children inside and even the state’s witnesses are now admitting the evidence and prior testimony is bogus. When can al Ayyam re-publish? Its really a sore spot in the south and across Yemen.

Yemen Fox: Yemeni Information Minister Ali al-Emrani undertook to reopen the office of al-Jazeera TV Channel in Sana’a and return licenses to the crew of the office to practice the profession.

That came in a meeting gathered Information Minister Ali al-Emrani and Envoy of International Federation of Journalists in the Middle East Muneer Zaarur on Wednesday.

For his part, Secretary-General of Journalist Syndicate Marwan Dammaj reviewed the issue of al-Jazeera TV Channels and what it was subjected to from confiscating, looting, closing and pursuing correspondents and staff and canceling license.

Overall assessment: same garbage, new day.

An apt Yemen Times editorial wraps it in a nutshell:

In spite of the fragile and illegitimate parliament we have resurrected, the next phase will be one of ministers and not parliamentarians. This is dangerous, as it means there is no mechanism given to the people by which they can participate in the shaping of their future – outside of political parties, that is.

This also means that the independent youth and any other groups in society have no one to truly represent them and respond to their needs.

The various ministers whose names are bandied about must be able to handle this stage’s demands in practice. Otherwise, Yemen is a lost cause. It may sound scary but the truth is that the fate of Yemen’s development, both today and tomorrow, lies in the hands of the 30 ministers.

Bios of the new cabinet can be found at National Yemen; there’s more info at the Yemen Times.

Its the same faces in new positions without any restructuring of the basic power equation between the governed and government or recognition that the failure of the political party system is what led to the revolution in the first place. The opposition parties were on the sidelines of the revolution, hardly a player until the GCC plan made them one. Meanwhile there’s still a lack of cohesion, strategy, alternative leaders and structures to challenge the perpetuation of the old order and rules of the game which include immunity for Saleh and the continuation of his regime. An internationally approved consensus candidate is scheduled to win the presidential election to be held within two months. Protesters object and protest but do little else.

Storage: The Cabinet breakdown from the Yemen Post:

Ministers nominated by the General People Congress (GPC) and its allies:
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Minister of Foreign Affaires;
Yahya al-Shu’aibi, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research;
Hamoud Ubad, Minister of Endowment and Islamic Affaires;
Amat al-Razzaq Hummad, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor;
Omar al-Kurshumi, Minister of Public Works and Roads;
Awadh Saad al-Socatri, Minister of Fisheries Wealth;
Mohammed Nasir Ahmed, Minister of Defense;
Saleh Hasan Sumai, Minister of Electricity;
Hisham Sharaf, Minister of Oil and Minerals; (Read on …)

Four Yemeni journalists were killed since Saleh’s return in September.

10/25: He was speaking to the International Press Institute’s Naomi Hunt by Skype, which was something of a feat because Skype has been jammed from Yemen since February.

It is just one of the ways in which the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is inhibiting media coverage in his country. (Read on …)

Whenever I am considering retiring, some one beats up* al Khaiwani

and just pisses me off all over again.

Update, ripped shamelessly from Howie:

(Read on …)

The western media black-out continues:

Clearly for FOX News, news worthiness depends on who is doing the killing; one person killed by al Qaeda vastly outweighs the hundred killed by the Yemeni government in the last week. For a day, CNN ran the headline: Yemeni women burn veils, wow, interesting, at least they mentioned “Yemen,” as the state was simultaneously pounding residences in Taiz with artillery and shelling villages in Arhab with missiles.

And neither one can find for five seconds for this from today, (if its not working try this direct link.)

Fox News: Car Bomb Kills Anti-Terror Chief in South Yemen.

VS.

- Airstrikes on Arhab leave 120 civilians killed, 340 wounded

- Nationwide slaughter since UN SC council resolution 2014

- One million demand regime change

- Yemen Post: Several Million of Yemeni gathered nationwide in the streets of Yemen yesterday, demanding the fall of the regime and Ali Abdullah Saleh’s trial as they say the president is continuing to murder his people.

Protesters had spell out “butcher” across their chest in red ink in denunciation of president Saleh’s many crimes. “He’s using snipers to gun down women and children, Sana’a and Taiz are under shelling attacks everyday…Saleh is killing Yemeni and the World stands silent…We will not,” said Mohamed Hassan Said a defected officer.

In Sana’a, the capital, a funeral march was organized to bury the bodies of the victims of the revolution amongst whom was 4 year-old little Waffa. While carrying the coffins the crowd was chorusing anti-regime slogan, asking the international community to bear witness of the crimes committed against peaceful Yemeni people. (Read on …)

Islah’s repression of independent thought and revolutionaries continues:

Yemen Post: Islah profile: As revolutionaries in Yemen are celebrating their victory in eventually obtaining some worldwide attention, and relishing in the fact that western nations have taken up the matter of Saleh’s presidency to the UN Security Council, the main opposition party, al-Islah is slowly but surely high jacking the revolution, rallying to its cause more and more protesters. (Read on …)

Through the years, I would see a Reuters article that made my head spin because it mis-characterized events entirely, and the article was usually written by Presidential employee Sudam. Nonetheless, I am waiting for the widespread denunciations by the Yemeni protesters of this tactic by Mohsen’s forces, if thats what happened.

Gulf News: Sana’a: Mohammad Sudam, Reuters correspondent in Yemen, was kidnapped on Saturday night in Sana’a by forces loyal to defected general Ali Mohsin Al Ahmer, Yemen ministry of defence announced on Sunday.

Sudam, who is also working as a translator to the Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, was arrested at a checkpoint run by Al Ahmer’s forces when he was en route from Sana’a airport to his house.

There has been no comment yet from Al Ahmer’s office. Yemen Journalist’s Syndicate condemned the arrest of Sudam and called for his immediate release.

Five killed since protests began.The media is a favorite Saleh target.

YEMEN – Two more journalists killed in Saleh regime violence

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns cameraman Abdel Hakim Al-Nour’s death during a military offensive last night in Taiz province and reporter Abdel Majid Al-Samawi’s death in a Sanaa hospital on 3 October from the gunshot wound he received more than a week ago.

Their deaths bring to five the number of journalists who have been killed since February, when protests calling for President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s departure began.

A cameraman and producer for the Mas production company Al-Nour was killed during a bombardment of the city Taiz that caused many causalities. He was also the person responsible for media at the Hayel Saeed Anam Association.

Al-Samawi died in Sanaa Technological Hospital from the neck injury he received when a sniper shot him on 25 September. Born in 1956 in a village in Damar province, he leaves a wife and six children.

The three other journalists killed since the start of the protests are Hassan Al-Wadhaf, a cameraman with Al-Hurra TV, Mohamed Yahia Al-Malayia, a correspondent for the Al-Salam and newspapers, and Jamal Al-Sharabi, a photographer for the independent daily Al-Masdar.

Al-Wadhaf died on 23 September from the injuries he received while covering violence against demonstrators in Sanaa five days earlier. Al-Malayia and Al-Sharabi were among the many fatalities when snipers opened fire on demonstrators in Sanaa on 18 March.

Reporters Without Borders offers its condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the two latest victims, and holds the Yemeni authorities responsible for their deaths.

The press freedom organization is very disturbed by the increase in violence against civilians since President Saleh’s return on 3 October from Saudi Arabia, where he spent four months recovering from the injuries he received in an attack on the presidential compound.

They place pro-Saleh opeds in western papers.

Bell Pottinger acted for controversial Yemen organization
September 1st, 2011 | by Melanie Newman Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Bell Pottinger, the London-based public relations firm, has been working for a little-known organization in Yemen with apparent strong links to the country’s president, the Bureau can reveal. (Read on …)

The following interview with the manager of Saada Radio gives a glimpse into Saada and al Jawf including the recent clashes between the Houthis and local Islahis:

Yemen Times
Q: But, some locals in Sa’ada told us that the Houthis do not allow anyone to air an opinion against them, for instance, describing them as Twelver Shiites.

A: First of all it is misleading to say that the Houthis are Twelver Shiites. They are not. They are Zaydis.

Are you a Houthi?

No I’m not Houthi, I’m a state-employee at Sa’ada Radio. We used to be against the Houthis. I’m Zaydi and over 99 percent of the population in Sa’ada is Zaydi, but there is no group here called Twelver Shiites.

And it is not true that the Houthis prohibit others from expressing their opinions. If this were true, they would prevent the Salafists from practicing their traditions such as Taraweeh prayer [a prayer done at night during Ramadan after the Al-Esha festival], which does not exist in the Zaydi school.

But if you went to Sa’ada today, you would find the religious traditions of both Zaydis and Salafists performed in their mosques with no problems. They are not going to bring their prayers out of the mosque and argue that our Zaydi School approves of this religious practice. And not only Salafists, but Islahis practice there as well.

There is also hard-core group of Salafists called Muqbil group. They are extremists and they have their school in Damaj, Sa’ada. They carry out their traditions in complete freedom. (Read on …)

Saleh, despite his claim of democratic legitimacy, has always played the religion card to justify himself, his wars and his refusal to share power. The southerners were described since 1994 as Godless because of the adoption of a socialist economic system and gender equality. The Houthis were described as Satanic. State preachers issued a fatwa that declared Houthi blood is free. Various journalists were described as being of the third sex (as well as CIA agents) or orgy enthusiasts.

During the 2006 presidential election, the Egyptian Sheikh al Masiri (also know as al Maribi because his Dar al Hadith offshoot school is in Marib) issued a fatwa during a live nation wide broadcast that voting for the opposition is condemned under Islamic law. Saleh also trashed the protesters on TV because of gender intermingling. (Yemen is the most gender segregated country on earth.)

The Salafi attitude that it is illegitimate to revolt against a Muslim ruler is supported by many Muslim leaders, but not shared by Zaidis; their tenants find it an obligation to oppose an unjust ruler as well as to rule by consultation. Along with the reinterpretation and interaction with others, these principles led the UN in 2002 to highlight the teachings of Imam Ali as a model for Islamic democracy. This Yemen Times article covers the regime’s use of state preachers to reinforce the message that the Yemeni revolution is un-Islamic. However, even al Zindani’s calls for an Islamic state to follow the current tyranny were widely disputed by activists and intellectuals who argued that a civil state is their right as well as a fulfillment of requirements of justice.

Conversely Saleh’s statements in support of jihad and the Iraqi resistance, Yahya Saleh praising the deaths of US soldiers from the stage at Sanaa University and so on, is an extensive topic on its own.

Yemen Times “Obey your leader even if he whips your back and takes your money.”

Since the beginning of the uprising in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s the regime has used a baffling number of ways to try to stifle the revolution.

One of these ways involves using religion to convince Yemenis that demands for President Saleh’s departure is forbidden and illegal in accordance with the Quran and Hadith (statements of the prophet Mohammed).

Saleh’s loyalists and religious sheikhs have intensified their religious activity during the past six months, using mosques and state-run media channels, with the aim of protecting Saleh from being toppled. (Read on …)

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 …)

In tandem with attacking the media to prevent the real news from escaping Yemen, Field Marshal Saleh hired a PR firm notorious for white washing dictators. One standard tactic is to plant positive op-eds and TV guests. We’ll have to track who gets bought off.

Saleh’s ongoing murder of over 500 protesters since the start of the revolution is exceeded by his war crimes prior (bombing refugee camps etc.) Saleh’s family’s coordination with al Qaeda is well documented as are his criminal networks and looting of the budget. Rebranding Saleh is like rebranding Saddam.

Over 450 serious attacks on journalists have been recorded in the last six months. Fire destroyed the building housing HOOD the leading Human Rights organization, and all its archives on July 18. The deliberate and often random murder of Yemeni citizens is a near daily occurrence over the last months. Security forces containing the CT units under Saleh’s son and nephews have bombed, shot, beaten and burned people alive, including children.

“President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has hired British PR firm Bell Pottinger , through a subcontract from US PR firm Qorvis to promote a better image for the regime in the US and Europe. Bell Pottinger has hired a big suite inside the Sheba Hotel. The company is received about US 2 million per month from Saleh’s family for publishing articles in international newspapers to improve Saleh’s image and employing its relations with US congressmen in favour of the regime. This is part of Saleh’s regime’s better utilisation the country resources and assistance. I am wondering if these companies can prove the image of Yemeni People as terrorists.” More here (ar).

Yemen Post Over the last week, one journalist killed, another escaped an assassination attempt, two were attacked, and the biggest law firm defending journalist rights in Yemen was burnt to ashes….More than 60 newspapers have shut down in three months after security forces confiscate and burn thousands its of newspaper copies. Al-Neda newspaper office was attacked by gunmen and property was damaged…This comes as government spokesperson Abdu Ganadi accused journalists in Yemen are serving foreign agendas.

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 …)

Update 3: JMP officially withdraws from Gulf intiative

Update 2: report from Abyan- Fadhli is not involved with any kind of clashes right now. Residents are evacuating Zanjibar. The militants that the Yemeni government claims are AQ are not AQ but rather loyalists to Salah. Airstrikes are not targeting them but instead they target civilians. There is no security in the city whatsoever, just chaos.

Military camps have surrendered their weapons to these militants. Saleh has instructed commanders of the camps to give up and surrender. The militants are not in one place; they have spread all over the city. Fadhli’s house was hit. People are panicking, even those with Fahdli have no idea how should they act now.

Update: So far so good, no mass casualty event overnight in Sanaa. The fighting appears to be about taking over government buildings. YP: “Clashes resumed in Sana’a Wednesday morning after a mediation committee failed to reach a ceasefire between al-Ahmar family and the Yemeni government. Hundreds of explosions were heard in the capital today. Ahmar tribes have retaken the ministries it handed over to the mediation committee earlier this week and is expanding. This comes as 2000 additional govt troops have been deployed near change square Sana’a. Protesters fear that a new massacre will take place in Sana’a after more than 61 protesters were killed by security forces in Taiz.”

Seven killed in Taiz as protesters regroup. Update: 12, damn, 7 of them in Wadi Al-Qadi, 2 in Markazi and 2 on Misrakh Road in Taiz. Female protesters refuse to leave and surrounded as live fire continues in Wadi al Qadi.

Zanjibar: via the English FB news group: “Anees Mansour to AJA: Navy forces fired missiles at the city while civilians wave white flags. The people that fleed Zanjibar broke into schools in Aden to find themselves a home; hospital is full of injured and appeals to address the humanitarian situation. All attemps to take out the gunmen have failed because of the inistence of the gunmen on rejecting, all calming attemps have been refused by the gunmen. The victories that the regime is announcing are imaginary vitories and civilians are paying the price; military enhancements that the regime is talking of, did not arrive until now…Saleh’s forces are artillery shelling Hamza Mosque in Ja’ar near MTN and the girls school, Abyan.”

The British travel warning is dire: Anyone with British relatives or friends in strife-torn Yemen is being urged to contact them and plead with them to get out of the country while they still can.

General Hussain Arab denies authorizing his name to be included on Military Statement 1. His signature on the travel document for al Nashiri was supposed to be a forgery too.

Original: The Communications Ministry confirms Sabaphone is shut down, citing violations but it is retaliation toward Hamid al Ahmar, majority shareholder. Or worse yet, a black out in advance of impending crimes. The official TV channels are shutting down, the government announced it as generator maintenance. Its 3 am in Sanaa. All international calls from cell phones are blocked. Cutting the phones is standard proceedure for the Saleh regime; the tactic was used in years past during the Saada War and in Dhalie. The electricity is off in broad sections of Sanaa and Yemen further interrupting communications. And there’s sounds of gunfire and bombing throughout the capital. They always attack at night. It was 3 am when they set the tents ablaze in Taiz. The protesters there are still facing live fire when they try to re-enter the square.

All sorts of large explosions are being reported in Sanaa. (Read on …)

Al Jazeera

The kidnapping

Kamal was with Abdelillah when he was first kidnapped in July 2010. Two cars pulled up and eight men in civilian clothes carrying guns violently forced him out of the car.

“You crossed red lines in your statements on satellite television and if you don’t listen to what we say and understand the message we will destroy your life,” they told him.
(Read on …)

A few days ago the Yemeni Defense Ministry urged soldiers not to hesitate when shooting pro-democracy protesters (see (Xinhua) ) and now Tariq al Shamy, Yemen’s official liar in chief, is scolding the JMP for describing the statement as a declaration of war. Al Shamy is quite the propagandist and normally says the opposite of what is true.

Almotamar.net – Sana’a- Head of the Information Office at the General People’s Congress (GPC), the ruling party in Yemen, Tareq al-Shamy has Saturday disapproved interpretations by the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) of what was mentioned in the speech of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the massive gathering on the Friday of Unity at Sabeen Square in the capital Sana’a.

Al-Shamy queried does the JMP view the call for dialogue as a call for war? Does the rejection of law-violating acts and acts of violence and sabotage, and facing them is considered by the JMP as a call for war?