Armies of Liberation

The state unilaterally passed an election law (in violation of both the 2006 and 2009 agreements with the opposition JMP). On Tuesday riot police were stationed around Freedom Square and the Parliament to thwar an public protests.

Al Sahwa: Senior opposition leader assaulted in Sana’a, 15/12/2010 –

Sahwa Net- Secretary-General of the Nasserite Unionist People’s Organization Sultan al-Atwani was attacked on Wednesday and taken immediately into hospital. (Read on …)

International lawyer Adel Al Dhahab diagnosed the central obstacle to reform in Yemen: so many are guilty of serious legal infractions. There is no latitude for reform when the establishment of the rule of law would penalize those who are required to implement it. The structural component that has been missing from all proposed solutions to Yemen’s crises is a general amnesty.

Mr. Al Dhahab is a Yemeni practicing law in Canada with vast experience in civil activism, international law, the intricacies of Yemen’s political affairs and the social and tribal dynamics in Yemen.

Al Dhahab explained in a recent paper, The Missing Step, “What Yemen needs is an amnesty that will pardon all offenders across the board, whether political crime or corruption or tribal offenses. It requires selecting a cut-off date where selected crimes that occurred prior are nullified and crimes that happen after are prosecuted. “

Amnesty is a mechanism endorsed by the UN in exceptional circumstances. It was implemented in Algeria in 2006 and Iraq in February 2008. The concept of amnesty also has a strong basis in Islamic law, a prerequisite in the conservative country. (Read on …)

‎Al Iman is headed by Sheik Abdulmagid al Zindani, a specially listed terrorist and political ally of President Saleh. Anwar al Awlaki was a teacher at al Iman and is a member of AQAP which claimed the suicide attack in a written statement. The Houthis have denied that Badr al Din was killed in the attack and say he died of natural causes the next day. Update: Below the fold is an article from from Naba that I’ve been meaning to post since last week about the arrest of six al Iman students in Taiz (who trained in at a mosque in Hodeidah) for terror related charges including a plot to attack the governor of Taiz and vital installations. One member of the cell was killed 10/25/10 aboard a motorcycle when his bomb exploded prematurely.

‎”Aden Times – Special Monday 06/12/2010 Announced local sources Yemen on Monday implicated members of the University of Islamic Faith and administered by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al Zindani-a prominent cleric in Yemen- in the assassination of the spiritual leader Badr Eddin al, who had already announced Houthis his death in November 24 (November) last year. The Yemeni police detained a number of employees of the Islamic University, which take from the capital of Yemen, Sana’a based on suspicion of carrying out the assassination of those. (Read on …)

The widespread civil unrest was triggered by multiple arrests, see list of 90 in Aden below. The most high profile detainee currently is Hassan Baoum, who returned from China several months ago to great celebrations. A general strike was held in Mukallah. From Aden News Agency:

Several protests were organized in southern Yemen by the Southern Movement on the Southern Prisoner’s Day that is staged on Thursdays to demand the release of Southern Movement leaders and activists in local jails and others in the Yemeni capital (Sana’a.) (Read on …)

The Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ), appeal to all the countries of the free world, the Arab League, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the UN Security Council and all international and humanitarian organizations concerned with human rights to act urgently against the practice of the Yemeni Authority and the siege imposed on cities and villages of South Arabia, and especially in the Capital Aden.
(Read on …)

Summary: The Houthis captured AQAP operatives and Dammaj “students” -perhaps teachers- Hussain al-Tais and Mashhour al Ahdel in al Jawf in August. Al Tais, a former Gitmo detainee, was active in Saada, associated with General Ali Mohsen and Ammar al Waeli and thought to be involved with the kidnapping of the Germans in June 09. The rebels turned the two over to the security forces. AQAP then kidnapped the deputy director of the PSO in Saada, Ali Hosam, and issued a deadline for al Tais’s release. There was no further news on al Hosam. The two suicide attacks this week on the Houthis are thought to be in retaliation for al Tais’s capture. Yesterday AQAP kidnapped the head of the hospital in Saada to bargain for al-Tais’s release. They took him to the Wadi Abu Jubarah al Qaeda training camp. Ali Mohsen negotiated successfully with the AQAP kidnappers for the doctor’s release, based on a promise of the prisoners’ release, according to al Eshteraki and Yemen Online. Or possibly blacklisted weapons dealer Fares Manna did the negotiating, according to AFP via al Sahwa:

“Dhafer al-Shihri was freed after mediation led by a tribal chief, Sheikh Fares Mannaa,” the source told AFP, on condition of anonymity. He said the kidnappers who seized the doctor on Sunday had agreed to the release after a pledge that one of the jailed men, Abdullah al-Dibai, held for more than a year on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda, would be freed…

“The kidnappers drove the hostage to the region of Wadi al-Ghabara,” 70 kilometres (40 miles) north of Saada, a local official who asked not to be identified told AFP. They had demanded the release of nine members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) imprisoned in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

“Among them are Saleh al-Tyss (ed- a/k/a Hussain al Tais) and Abdullah al-Ahdal (ed- a/k/a Mashhour al Ahdal per an earlier AQAP statement), two leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula held in Yemen, and Saleh al-Shihri, another AQAP leader jailed in Saudi Arabia,” the local official added….

Tension has been rife between the Shiite rebels and AQAP in northern Yemen since the rebels detained five Al-Qaeda members whom they handed over to Yemeni authorities over the past two weeks.

Also the doctor in an interview after his release reports seeing three other kidnapped Yemenis, including a military officer, so that’s a hopeful indication of the fate of kidnapped PSO Commander Hosam.

(Read on …)

Update: the baby was released from prison after 24 hours. Prison conditions in Yemen are truly horrific. Another young detainee is 15 year old Moataz Alasiaii.

Sabri Ahmed Mohsen Suhaibi, three years old, was arrested along with his father on Saturday in the city of Habilayn, Lahj. Aden FM reports his fifty year old father pleaded, “Take me and leave him.”

Local reports indicate “Habilayn was bombed with light and heavy weapons and aircraft flying in the sky of the city today after a protest against the arrest of one of the citizens named Mohsen Suhaibi, a citizen 50 years and his son, child 3 years old. Mohsen Suhaibi does not recognize the authority of the occupation regime.”

For God’s sake, get this child out of jail. Furthermore, it was a perfectly legitimate protest. Who wouldn’t protest the arrest of a three year old? And in response to the demonstration, the military attacks the city, instead of releasing the kid. Next they will call him al Qaeda. Beyond the immorality and inhumanity of arresting a child to torture the parent, the act is surely against international law.

Update: The Yemen Post reports on the arrests and ensuing clashes:

Fierce clashes erupted between the military camp stationing in downtown Al-Habilain in Lahj Province and gunmen in which light and medium weapons were used…The fighting started after soldiers arrested a separatist activist, Muhsen Al-Suhaibi, 43, from Yafi’a, the sources said, adding that the arrest took place while on his way back after he drove his kids to school.

Also lets take a look at this, the PSO torturing imprisoned democracy activists with electric batons in Hadramout:

Local sources said on Friday that the Yemeni occupation forces proceeded to torture ثلاثة من نشطاء الحراك الجنوبي السلمي في وادي حضرموت خلال احتجازهم Three of the southern movement of peaceful activists in Wadi Hadhramaut during their detention بسجن الامن السياسي بسيؤن. Political Security Prison Bsiwn. (Read on …)

THREE MEN AT IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION
Three men in Yemen had their death sentences sent to the President for ratification in mid-October. If the sentences are ratified by the President, they could be executed at any time.

Amnesty International: The three men, Shaikh Khalid Nahshal, Mabkhout ‘Ali Nahshal and Abduh Muhammad Nahshal, were among 32 people charged in connection with the killing of at least one government official in the district of Khayran in northern Yemen in September 2006. This happened following a dispute over the local and presidential elections and an exchange of fire between a group of armed men and the government official in charge of Khayran. In 2007 six of the defendants were sentenced to death, but three had their sentences commuted to prison terms in June 2009, following an appeal. The remaining 26 received prison sentences. In January 2010, Shaikh Khalid Nahshal, Mabkhout ‘Ali Nahshal and Abduh Muhammad Nahshal had their death sentences upheld by the Supreme Court.

Video of the victim’s testimony here.

Ahmed Saif Hashed website: On Tuesday Oct 21th 2010 , a peaceful rally held by Alga’ashin displaced people in front of the Sana’a-based Algumhuri Hospital was suppressed by security forces. Most of the participants in the rally were arrested, including Fuad Ahmed Naji; one of Alga’ashin’s displaced, who was moved to Alnasr police station, having been beated by those forces. He was also tortured by electricity and live cigarettes by group of the soldiers, taken to hospital after a deteriorated health. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: A leader in the southern movement, Mohsin Al-Twairah, narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt in the southern of Yemen on Saturday after a hidden “sticky” bomb exploded underneath their parked, Toyota, villagers told the Yemen Post.

The car exploded in a pillar of flame and was destroyed. No one was injured in the attack.

I received a call just three minutes before it exploded, and the bomb may have been triggered by remote control,” Villagers cited Al-Twairah as saying.

The explosion happened just after 1: am Saturday in the car park close to a residential area of Jabal Al-Raidah of Halmeen district in Lahj province, the sources said.

There indications that there is some plot afoot to assassinate President Saleh and his son, Ahmed. This would explain Saleh’s renewed interest in bombing al Qaeda. US officials notified Saleh in the summer of 2009 that there was some intel about AQAP plans to target the top of the regime. The only way the assassination of Saleh would benefit AQAP is if the replacement is even more amenable to them, for example General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, who is Ahmed’s rival to the throne and who would enable the further entrenchment of an al Qaeda state. The charges against Abdulelah the journalist are entirely unsubstantiated, and include being part of this plot to assassinate Saleh and Ahmed, which may indicate that the plot, if it exists, is coming out of al Wahishi’s faction.

Sahwa Net – Journalist Abdul-Elah Haidar who was arrested by the Yemeni authorities on August is to be referred to the Specialized Penal Court on Wednesday. The lawyer of Haidar, Abdul-Rahman Barman, said Hiadar was accused of provocation for the killing of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son, Ahmed, and belonging to an armed sabotage gang of al-Qaeda.

CNN, 12/09: “Solid intelligence” from U.S. and Yemen services finally persuaded Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh last summer to accept increased help in fighting al Qaeda in his country, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
After years of pressure from the United States to crack down on al Qaeda in Yemen, Saleh was persuaded to accept help after he was presented with intelligence that al Qaeda “was targeting inner-circle Yemeni leaders,” and that there was a growing number of terrorist training camps in Yemen, the official said.

Update: Regime blames General Nassir al Nuba, after he refused a wedding invitation… Otay. So the al Qaeda spree is over or never was and now its the southerners who are making the attacks? Tomorrow it will be al Qaeda again.

The Interior Ministry said that the Yemeni military campaign of twenty armed men surrounded the shipsets elements of al Qaeda in Icbm Shabwa province (south-east Yemen) against the background of the attack, which targeted the convoy of governor of the province on Wednesday ..

According to the information center security that among the items that targeted the convoy of the governor, Brigadier Nasser Al-Nuba and Ahmed Atef, and that they were among the who fired on a convoy of cars carrying the governor of the province Shabwah and Major General Mohammed Salem Cotton Deputy Reese of Staff for Manpower and a number of military figures and government in the province, which led to the martyrdom of one of the soldiers and wounding 8 others injured in different .. (Read on …)

Aden News Agency:

Armed clashes renewed in the southwestern outskirts of the town of Lauder, between unidentified gunmen and military units belonging to the occupation forces. Local residents, in Lauder said to “Aden news agency that” armed clashes took place at the dawn at 2.00am on Sunday in the vicinity of the power station and army post near Zara town, west of the town of Lauder.

At the time of writing the news, the clashes are still ongoing and it did not know whether they have resulted in casualties. The clash came at dawn today after days of relative calm in the city, despite a state of siege imposed by the occupation authorities in the town since more than two weeks.

According to local reports 8 people killed (2 of citizens and 6 of the army + 6 wounded with minor injuries) and the continued shelling in Alhabaylin. There’s no excuse of al Qaeda in Habalyean, although Im sure the regime will fabricate one.

Yemen Post Two were killed, one soldier, and seven others injured in the clashes that erupted early today between the security forces and armed people, believed to be separatists, in Yemen’s Southern Lahj Province.
(Read on …)

In our Regional this address the issue of five young detainees from the Dali in the central prison in Mansoura Aden in the capital are:
1-Sayyaf Saleh Nasser Almoaker
2 – Alaa Seif al-jaoof
3 – Mohmmad Ali al-Obeidi
4 – Ali Mohsen Ali al-Hassani
5 – Nadhm Alobjar‬
Had been held nearly seven months in the city of Dalia, then deported to the capital of Aden, kept in the central prison was supposed to have been all of the various kinds of torture and forced many of them to sign the papers and records of achievement fake was referred for investigation to the prosecution and the charges of maliciously false, ensuring that a number of lawyers members of the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights to defend them, lawyers Salam Jehafi Yahya Alsaglde, two lawyers, who remain seized of the case, said lawyer Abdul Salam Ahudaani for “Forum Juhav” earlier that the case file is available from the Attorney General in Aden, and that they (ie lawyers) seeking to launch the release of five detainees without trial by the decision of the presidential pardon and promises of release may be obtained. We contacted them where they live behind prison walls, and find them waiting for the moment of departure and return to their families and relatives

Walid Sharafuddin is a political prisoner in Yemen whose wife was beaten during a peaceful protest in his favor, story here with photos. The following is a plea for the release of Walid in the spirit of Ramadan.

The regime is getting lazy lately and running over journalists instead of going through the motions of a bogus trial.

Sahwa Net- The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate has denounced repeated violations and abused practiced against journalist Khalid Dhala’. In a statement, it said that these violations increased and became targeting openly his life as he was subjected to a car crash on 13 July 2010. The statement demanded security forces to protect Dala’a, immediately arrest the criminals and bring them to justice

Press release

Jurist information center condemns abuses against journalists, the latest of which was a journalist Khaled Mohsen Dlaq from the threat of his life and he was run over a car driven by unknown persons in the center of the capital Sanaa, which led to suffering a serious injury in parts of his body and was evacuated to hospital in time, which condemns the information center have been exposed jurist journalist Khaled Dlaq it at the same time demanding the Interior Ministry quickly prosecution of offenders and finding them and bring them to justice to receive their just punishment

Issued by the Information Centre jurist Sana
7-8-20010

Brandon Sun SAN’A, Yemen – A Yemeni opposition member shot in the head after returning from 32 years in exile died Wednesday from his wounds, his son said. Abdel-Raqib al-Qershi fled from Yemen in 1978 after he and his family were accused of leading a rebellion against the government and killing tribal leaders…Al-Qershi’s son, Awad, said his father had returned to San’a in May following an offer of amnesty from the country’s president. A month later, he was shot in the head as he walked out of a local mosque with his sons. The authorities named three suspects in the assassination attempt, but none have been arrested. After an emergency operation in Yemen, Al-Qershi was flown to Syria for further medical treatment where he died.

Original Post: President Saleh invited Abdalrguib Qurashi who was in exile in Syria for 30 years, to return to Yemen under his protection. Last month, Qurashi was shot in the head after returning from prayers in Sana’a, fell into a coma, was transferred to Syria for medical treatment and died today. Qurashi was a leader in the Nasserite party involved in a 1978 assassination attempt on Saleh. Many were killed and periodically the party asks for the location of the graves. (Read on …)

This appears to be the sequence of events: the storming of jail in Aden; round-up of suspected al-Qaida; protests; arrests; one dies in from an “asthma attack”; more protests. The people were not protesting the arrests of al-Qaeda suspects as the official media is suggesting. The southerners believe (true or not) the hunt for al-Qa’ida in Aden is a pretense in order to conduct security operations against secessionists. The assault on the jail may go back to some land theft scheme where al Qamish was cut out or that may just be an incidental side story. Its not al-Qaida’s first assault on the regime reflecting a new level of hostility as some suggest.

The National: Clashes renewed between the police and armed gangs after Friday prayers in Al-Saadah quarter in Yemen’s business capital of Aden, independent sources said.

Today’s confrontations were triggered by the death of a prisoner who was arrested when people took to streets on Thursday to protest mass arrests after Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack on the political security office in the province.

The cause of the death remained unclear.

Ahmed Al-Darwish was among about 9 people arrested in connection with the attack that the authorities said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.

Some reports noted that more than 20 arrests took place when police raided homes and carried out mass arrests in Al-Saadah and Alnasr quarters in Khour Maksar district known as hotbeds of armed outlaws and suspected terrorists.

Most of the arrested were suspected Al-Qaeda operatives, according to security sources. The raids triggered clashes between armed gangs and the police.

On Saturday, gunmen broke into the office in Al-Towahi city shooting bullets and detonating bombs at guards and civilians. Seven soldiers, three women and a child were killed and 15 others were injured.

A day later, the authorities said the mastermind of the attack had been arrested. He was identified as Ghawdal Muhammad Saleh Naji, who the authorities said was a terrorist.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry ordered the security forces to stay on heightened alert to face possible attacks and watch the southern coastline to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into the country.

The tribal paramilitary hasn’t been paid, violence ensues. I believe this happened in the last wars as well, likely the money got pocketed if it was paid at all.

Yemen Post: An army officer has been killed and three soldiers and unidentified number of tribesmen injured in the clashes that are still continuing between the army and tribes in Al-Ashah district in Amran Province. (Read on …)