Armies of Liberation

Yemen on Line:

Amnesty International expresses concern about human rights situation in Yemen

Yemenonline-Nov 12,2008- In its submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review in the Fifth session of the UPR Working Group of the Human Rights Council on May 2009,Amnesty International expresses concern about human rights situation in Yemen.

The report criticized continuing pattern of serious human rights violations, including the extensive use of the death penalty; restrictions on the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly; and discrimination and violence against women, which would be exacerbated if the proposed new laws and amendments to existing laws .IntroductionThrough its executive, legislative and judicial branches the government is in the process of preparing new laws and revising current laws. This process will impact on the framework of protection of fundamental human rights. Some of the proposed new legislation fails to conform to the requirements of international human rights law and, if implemented, could seriously undermine the many positive features of the human rights framework in Yemen. These proposals also have to be seen in the context of existing laws and practices that are in violation of Yemen’s obligations under international human rights law. B. Normative and institutional framework of the State: Failure to bring laws into line with international standards The government has initiated a review of the Constitution and a number of existing laws and has proposed new draft laws, including to counter terrorism. Laws put forward for review include the Penal Code (PC)[1] and the Press and Publication Law (PPL).[2] The new draft laws include a Counter Terrorism Law (CTL) and a Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Law (MLFTL). Human rights defenders in Yemen perceive both threats and opportunities in these legislative proposals. The new laws could be used to undermine the many important human rights achievements in the country since the establishment of the Republic of Yemen in 1990 (following unification of the then People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic) and Yemen’s adherence to its obligations under international human rights law.

Yet, Yemeni human rights defenders also see the proposed new laws as providing an opportunity to enhance the protection of human rights framework, which has seen the state’s ratification of many key international human rights treaties;[3] general respect for freedom of expression, association and assembly; criminalization of arbitrary arrest, detention and torture; and legal protection of the right to fair trial. Concerns that the legislative proposals may impact negatively on the current human rights framework are based on the assessment that they would expand the scope of the death penalty, criminalize legitimate freedoms, extend executive powers and the use of special procedures, and further entrench discrimination against women. The death penaltyIn addition to proposing an expansion in the scope of application of the death penalty, the new draft legislation would decrease further the few safeguards provided in the PC. Currently, the PC prescribes the death penalty under Shari’a law (Islamic Law) for murder (Qisas) and Hudud (divinely prescribed fixed offences and punishments), including for apostasy and adultery (where the punishment is death by stoning) and Hiraba (rebellion, unlawful war, spreading disorder on land), in addition to numerous capital offences related to state security. All of these capital offences are retained under the draft legislation and nine additional capital offences have been proposed; three as amendments to the PC[4] and six in the new CTL.[5]

(Read on …)

SNACC looms prosecuting 1650 Yemeni officials

SANA’A, Sep. 13 (Saba)- The Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) loomed on Saturday prosecuting 1650 Yemeni officials who didn’t deliver their financial disclosures yet.

Member of NSACC Mohammed al-Matari said that the number of financial disclosures received by the national commission reached to 5200 financial disclosures.

The al-Matari pointed out that the SNACC had sent legal notes to officials in some government bodies whom exceeded the legal limit for the delivery of financial disclosures.

“The SNACC is going to take a legal action against those officials”, said al-Matari.

two, i guess thats a step in the right direction but its a long journey ahead

Anti-corruption authority refers two cases to public prosecution

SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) - The Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) announced on Monday that it had filed two cases against the project of repairing the Cairo citadel in Taiz province and allocations related to supporting Yemeni communities’ schools abroad due to financial irregularities.

In its reported submitted recently to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the parliament, the authority said that the results of its investigations in the first case had revealed financial abuses reached more than YR 2 billion, adding that the second corruption case included the abuse of public office and exploiting it to achieve personal benefits which damaged the public funds.

“The authority is still pursuing the liquidation of the financial disclosures accumulated by the cultural attachés of Yemen embassies abroad, affirming that they did not present financial reports for the period 2001 to 2007.

According to the report, more than YR 4 billion and 257 million of the total financial disclosures reaching about YR 16 billion and 81 million had been settled till the end of last June.

The government body said it had received 71 complaints during the second quarter of 2008, noting it is completing the investigations in nine corruption cases, including irregularities related to biddings and bids, forgery offences and the seizure of public funds and properties as well as tax and customs evasions.

YT

SANA’A, July 22 — The Anticorruption Authority (SNACC) stated that it has received 3,200 financial declarations from various government officials and 212 notifications on issues regarding corruption, some of which were transferred to the Office of Public Prosecution to begin cracking down on government corruption.

Since it began last year, SNACC has been trying to enforce a new law that requires government officials to turn in financial statements to the authority. This way SNACC can track any suspicious fund transfers and look out for financial abuses perpetrated by government employees.

“SNACC activated a law about financial declarations and started with the Prime Minster and the members of the cabinet,” said Bilqis Abu Osba’a, the Head Deputy of SNACC. “Now it receives financial declarations from governorates as well.”

Ahmed Al-Anesi, the Chief of SNAAC, said at conference this week with Transparency International (TI) that his office is looking for ways to promote international cooperation in the field of anti-corruption. Al-Anesi added that the Anti-Corruption Authority is devoted to partnering with TI and promised to make use of the support it offered in the consultancy and technical fields.

Transparency International is a network of civil society organizations that help monitor global corruption and work to help install good financial practices in place of corruption in the hardest-hit countries worldwide.

The organization releases a corruption index every year, which rates more than 150 countries on a scale of 10 (least corrupt) to Zero (highly corrupt) based on perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments, opinion surveys and the Transparency International Index Advisory board.

In 2007, Yemen scored a 2.5 (compared to the lowest score of 1.4 for both Somalia and Myanmar). However, the organization points out that this score is not a judgment on Yemeni citizens at all. “Corruption by a limited number of powerful individuals, and failure of leaders and institutions to control or prevent corruption, does not imply that a country or its people are most corrupt,” said Transparency International’s 2007 index report.

On Tuesday’s conference, Al-Anesi spoke about the steps that SNACC has taken to build up institutions inside Yemen, such as bettering communication between the different authorities concerned with financial oversight and fighting corruption at the local, national and international levels.

Anticorruption expert and former German Technical Cooperation director, Dr. Hans Elhorst, affirmed the importance of a coalition between the Anticorruption Authority and the governmental bodies that it monitors. He also said that the civil society, media and private sector are crucial to eradicating Yemen’s corruption problem. “I stress the importance of conducting awareness campaigns, because the state is not the only one responsible for anticorruption,” said Elhorst.

“We tried to learn about other countries’ experiences in fighting corruption and what the public opinions are in societies that fight corruption,” said Abu Osba’a. During TI’s visit, SNACC reviewed similar anticorruption programs in other Middle Eastern and North African countries such as Palestine, Morocco and Lebanon.

“TI does a lot regarding anticorruption; first, it consolidates national transparency. It supports the countries that have system of transparency and offers expertise and consultations for countries,” explained Abu Osba’a.

Besides scoring countries on their corruption, TI also ranks the countries according to corruption levels. Yemen is currently ranked at 131 for the year 2007, but Abu Osba’a said that with the effort exerted by the Anticorruption Authority, both Yemen’s score and ranking will improve in 2008.

SNACC officials said that they work on two main objectives. The first one is the systematic and institutional construction of the authority. The second is activating the anticorruption law through three provisions included in it: First, investigation, scrutiny and judiciary follow-up. The second provision is poverty prevention. The third provision is about spreading awareness and educating citizens on the importance of fighting corruption.

Abu Osba’a mentioned that two lawsuits resulting from officials’ financial statements have already been transferred to judiciary. One of the lawsuits concerns Al-Qahira castle in the Taiz governorate, but Abu Osba’a refused to elaborate on the other. She added that SNACC has the right to interfere in any case and has the right to ask for any information from any other Yemeni authority.

The Anticorruption Authority has a department for notifications and complaints, which average citizens can use to report incidents of corruption or fraud that they have witnessed. The authority will then conduct an investigation into the claim and search for evidence carefully before it transfers any lawsuit to the Office of Public Prosecution, said Abu Osba’a. She added that SNACC will also follow up on media reports about corruption.

SNACC is also in the process of amending some laws that contradicts new anti-corruption measure, said Abu Osba’a, adding that the SNACC is also conducting a study with the World Bank to determine the level of corruption in Yemen.

Theres corruption and then theres grand corruption, elite capture of the vast majority of national resources and wealth on an organized and methodical basis. The best report ever I think was the Journalists Against Corruption report Available here. This YO report is a tad confusing on what the numbers mean:

Tender corruption is currently costing millions of dollars worth of public wealth. This came in a statement for the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) manager, Ahmed al-Anisi, at a debate organized by the al-Saeed establishment last Thursday.

Al-Anisi said that they cooperated with other authorities to issue cabinet resolutions to cancel all private authorizations. Al-Anisi helped in controlling some important corruption cases, pointing out that both public and opposition press were their source for discovering some of the corruption cases, mentioning the atomic energy case as an example. He reviewed their achievements as realized in the discussion of the scholarship case and the deductions on the students’ bursaries at the higher Education Ministry.

He ensured the recovery of YR 2 billion and YR 600,000, with several cases being referred to prosecution following long tedious procedures….

(Read on …)

Beautiful women who work outside the house will drive society to chaos. What does that mean? Men and woman have no self-restraint and are consumed only with thinking about sex? Are we talking about animals or humans here? How insulting to everybody.

Mareb Press:

The Yemeni Women Union condemned today the religious decree issued by the religious scholars about quota system.

The YWU accused the religious scholars who issued that decree of defaming the women and offending their honor, dignity and decency.

The YWU mentioned some Quranic verses in support of their viewpoint. Allah says “Those who persecute or draw into temptation, the believers men and women, and do not turn in repentance, will have the penalty of hell”.

The YWU said the statement of the religious scholars is reducing the value and importance of the great role of women in building the society.

The statement added that everything in this booklet is contradicting with Islam which gives women absolute equality with men, said the statement denying any superiority for men over women citing from Quran “Mankind, we created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other, verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you and Allah has full knowledge and is well-acquainted.”

“The women quota contradicts with our religion,” said the fatwa in the booklet. “Women racing to get out of the houses and be mixed with men in the places of work showing their beauty for all men, will lead to non-marriage relations, relations of lovers, and continuation of these relations will make the society drop to sexual chaos, loss of the decency, spread of adultery and illegal kids,” the booklet said. “We are with the equality of religious responsibilities of men and women, but we are not with the equality of employment of the roles of men and women,” said the scholars.

Thats absolutely pathetic.

In the recent governors’ “elections”, the local councils voted for Saleh’s choice, except in al-Jawf, where an independent was elected. So al-Jawf’s election was overturned, and Saleh did overtly what he did covertly in all the other governorates, appointed a governor.

al-Motamar

Presidential decree on appointing a province governor
Wednesday, 18-June-2008
Almotamar.net - A presidential decree was issued Wednesday on appointing a governor for the province of Aljawf after it has been unfeasible to elect one.
The decree mentioned that in response to presentation of the Minister of Local Administration regarding the reasons that led to unfeasibility of electing a governor to Aljawf province and after approval of the cabinet it has been decided to appoint Mr Naji Saleh naji Thawaba as governor to Aljawf province.

Initial Report on attacks of Yemen regime against Altagheer members

Introduction:

Al-tagheer Organization for Rights and Defense is a Yemeni comprised of a number of rights activists; politicians, media men, parliament members and other important social groups. The Org. has been active for more than a year, held founding conference on 19th Feb. 2008.

The purpose of the organization is to enhance respect towards human rights, defense law, constitution and freedom of speech, stabilize basics of equal citizenship, establish concepts of wise ruling, oppose violence and revive culture of tolerance and contribution in democratic change.

The Org. is currently facing strong opposition by the regime, which is embodied in a series of attacks targeting the leadership and the founding members, as follows:

Dr Nasser Al-khubbagi:

Dr Nasser Al-khubbagi , a member of the House of Representatives and a founding member of Al-tagheer , is threatened with an arrest and has been prevented from going to the House since 13th Oct2007, for having protested against firing on Radfan locals by Security Forces , while the locals were preparing for the festival of Yemen Revolution. The firing led to fifteen wounded and four killed while the criminals are still not captured. Many attempts were made to capture Al-khubbagi, the first of which was on 13th May 2008, but he survived . His car was confiscated and his driver, Nasser Mohammad Saleh, and bodyguard both were illegally arrested and still at the Sana’a Political Security Prison , without allowing being visited .

Al-khubbagi has been prevented from going to the House for more than eight months due to such a threat.

Salah Qaid Saleh:

Salah Qaid Saleh , a member of parliament, of the House Committee of General Freedom and Rights and a founding member of Al –tagheer was threatened to be arrested on the basis of Southern peaceful protests and has been prevented from going to the House since more than eight months, while an attempt of arrest was made on April 2008.

Mohammad Mohammad Muftah:

Mohammad Mohammad Muftah, a member of the Org., managerial staff . His car, in which he was with two of his children, was fired, and he has been coercively taken to unknown place since 21 May. 2008 up till now, has already been tried and sentenced to eight years imprisonment, of which two were executed, rearrested for a week by the authority, and he was released after efforts of local and international rights and media orgs, were made .

Abdulkareem Alkhaiwani:

Abdulkareem Alkhaiwani, a leading Yemeni journalist , a political activist, a founding member, has suffered a lot due to writing on bequeathing of power and his opposing attitudes towards policy of Saleh regime . He has already been sentenced to one year imprisonment, a half of which was spent, arrested more than once, beaten in front of his children. On 9th June he was sentenced to six years imprisonment, by specialized Penal Court, for having USB Flash Disk, CDs and Documents containing journalistic items related to Sada’a war.

Yahya Ghalib Ahmad:

Yahya Ghalib Ahmad, a lawyer, a rights activist, and a founding member, was arrested on 31 of March, at night, taken to unknown place. 20th days later, he was confirmed to have been referred, in chains, to Sana’a, and still there up till now . He is suffering from hepatitis and the authority refused to take him to hospital, which resulted in health decline. The political Security Apparatuses prevented leadership of Altagheer, among of them, MPs Ahmed Saif Hashid, Mohammad Alassaly, Abdulbari Aldughaish, Dr. Mohammad Saleh, from paying a visit to Yahya, however, they had a prior permission by General prosecutor. He is being tried at the Specialized Penal Court on backgrounds of Southern peaceful protests, threatened to heavy punishment, possibly execution.

Yasser Alwazeer:

Yasser Alwazeer was arrested on 5th June 2008, and abducted by unknown figures, without be known about him up till now. He was constantly threatened with an arrest or disappearance by figures from the political Security of Old Sana’a.

Mohammad Mohammad Almaqaleh:

Mohammad Mohammad Almaqaleh , a political activist and founding member, was arrested at 22 April. 2008, due to a laughing claimed to be an insult to justice, from the inside of the court while attending the trial session of Alkhaiwani, illegally prevented from being visited at the precautionary Jail, subjected to unjustified threats due to opposing attitudes towards the authority’s choices embodied in solving its problems by resorting to fighting opponents (Sada’a War) or to fighting his fellow journalists, who suffer constant attacks. It is confirmed that a sentence would be issued against him during this month (June 2008) since the case is being seized by the court.

Mueen Ibraheem Almutawakil:

Mueen Ibraheem Almutawakil, a founding member, was driving his car in front of Sana’a University of Science with his sister and daughter, on 27 April, when two cars (Hilux), on of them has a number of 2- 47690, faced them, with figures coming out raising guns. He was taken coercively into the cars to an unknown place, and up till now he is still hidden.

Ali Hussein Aldailami:

Ali Hussein Aldailami, a rights activist, Secretary General of Altagheer. His house was surrounded and attacked on 26 of May 2008, family and children were frightened by Security forces. Ali had already been abducted at Sana’a Airport when he was travelling to a press conference in Denmark with the result that he did not participated, and spent more than a month in prison, coercive hiding.

Mohammad Ahmed Albuthaigi:

Mohammad Ahmed Albuthaigi, rights activist and a founding member, was arrested for three hours on 26 of May 2008 by Police Personnel while covering events of Aden University Students’ sit-in . His camera and mobile were both taken, receiving verbal abuses, threatened to be hidden in dark jails, due to journalistic activities.

Hassan Ali Aldhailami:

Hassan Ali Aldhailami, a founding member, and rights activist was subjected to an attack and arrest for a day on 26 of May 2008 when the Security forces attacked his brother’s house.

Ali Mohammad Muqbil Alaod:

Ali Mohammad Muqbil Alaod, a founding member and a local council member in Aldhalea governorate, was arrested in 22 May. 2008 by the Central Security Forces upon objecting repressing detainees . He was freed six hours later after he had been tortured.

Yahya Mohammad Alshawbagi:

Yahya Mohammad Alshawbagi, a founding member, a former local council member in Aldhalea, was arrested at 10 P.M on 5 March2008, imprisoned for two days on backgrounds of Southern peaceful protests.

Anees Thabet Mohammad:

Anees Thabet Mohammad, Founding member of Altagheer, is a delegated professor at Radfan Faculty of Education, was and still subjected to security inconveniences at his place of work and residence .

At last, we hope all local, regional and global human rights organizations be jointly liable with Al-Tagheer members attack-victims, and to exert pressure on the regime for releasing the detainees and stating the fate of the coercively-hidden members .

We further hold the authority accountable for all these attacks, we also would like to remind that rights can never be ignored even if it is too late.

Issued by:

Altagheer Organization for Rights and Freedom Defense

Sana’a - 16 June. 2008

Well good for al-Eryany! Public takfirism (especially in the official media) does indeed feed terror and legitimates fanatical thinking.

Ergo, fatwas are not necessary to justify the Saada war if it is a justified action, as the state does have the right to a monopoly on the use of force. (It would be nice if the state stopped bombing civilians though and got some food in there.) And there is no need to call the Southerners unbelievers or godless. The state’s authority is derived from the people and their consent, in theory.

When the state fatwas the opposition, it adds a cultural legitimacy to the fanatical notion that one Muslim can declare another un-Muslim and deserving of death. Like al-Qaeda does. Its an important topic to be addressed. Pluralism and tolerance are characteristics of Yemeni society, however the state is undermining these characteristics whenever it brings religion into political discourse.

Politician’s taking advantage of religion feeds terror

Almotamar.net - The symposium on religious and political indulgence has on Monday recommended the work for disconnection between what is political and religions or the politician taking advantage of religion, holding the forces that employ the religious dimension the major part of responsibility for antagonism and arousing and feeding hostile tendencies in addition to pushing the intellectual phenomenon of extremism towards the practical phenomenon of terror.

The closing statement of the symposium organized by the Bridges of Cultures Forum, Chaired by Dr Abdulkarim al-Eryany and held over two days, also recommended the reconsideration of some concepts and policies and criteria, that proved their contribution to expansion of the sphere of extremism and driving its parties to terror.

While the participants affirmed that extremism and terror have no religion and no homeland and not to blame a certain homeland and religion for the act of some who are affiliate of them and are in fact faced with rejection by their societies, those participants also called fro revival of dialogue between religions provided that it should take a different title of dialogue among religious references.

Participants in the symposium called on all religious, political, cultural media institutions as well as political parties and civil society organisations, directly and indirectly concerned with the creation of public opinion and owner of the national, regional and international decision, for the necessity of making the values of tolerance and coexistence as the reference for first care in whatever it is planned for and they implement in service of the goals of social peace and human coexistence.

Yemen Observer

The Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) announced last week that it is finishing investigations on six corruption cases, dysfunctions and financial violations of about YR 20 billion, said Dr. Bilqis Abu Usba’a in a recent report issued by SNACC. This report comes every three months and is submitted to the president and the Parliament as a disclosure of these cases. These cases are among 141 claims that SNACC received since the authority’s establishment last year.

The authority received 78 of these claims in the period from January to the end of March 2008. The authority’s report enlisted the major tasks that they undertook at the first quarter of this year, disclosing that most of the claims are allegations that are not competitive to the corruption concepts, and they are of a procedural judicial type. It said that 16 of these are of an administrative nature which the authority has no legal authorization to undertake.

Regarding the cases that are computable with corruption, the report confirmed that six of them are about to finish, while the others are still under investigation and follow up.

The cases, according to the report that are about to be completed, include Taiz-al-Turba road rehabilitation project, where the authority discovered financial violations amounting to YR 117 million out of the total agreed amount of YR 971 million

The scholarship trustee money of the higher education is also on of the authority’s discoveries, where the their investigations disclosed that there are accumulated trustee money in more than 27 countries, amounting to YR16,081,146,000 during the period 2001-2007.

The investigations on this case showed that there 2053 unauthorized applications, exerting pressure on the ministry and preventing application of equal opportunities, despite the president’s directions not to accept any illegal applications.

The report added that SNACC met with the minister and the relevant officials at the higher education, and agreed to summon the cultural attaches in order to settle the trustee money and to submit them to the prosecution, pursuant to the law.

The two sides agreed that an open meeting will be held for the relevant officials to come to a long term strategy that reconsiders scholarships situations.

The third case concerned the investigations over the Cairo fortress restoration, which disclosed YR3,559,698,000 violations in 2002, amounting to ten times of the project’s original cost reaching an amount of YR118 million.

The violations come under article 30 of the corruption law, notwithstanding the tender laws and the financial systems, on the procedures of the project’s implementation stages.

According to the periodic report the project was contracted in 2002 according to the then prevailing prices, which exceed those of 2007 prices, yet there were no technical designs, specifications, certain amounts in addition to entire absence of engineering observance to the project. This is in addition to granting the contractor reimbursement prices and technical specifications price differences in addition to undeserving transport and risk allowance costs.

The report stated that the authority stopped paying any extra sums to the contractor, and appointed an investigation team to assess the so far accomplished works to settle the real contractor’s accounts. The authority also asked COCA to conduct an audit.

The fourth case concerned the Thamar university staff ‘s claim over fraud in the faculty of engineering’s tender, however the authority addressed the prosecution to proceed on the case which is filed before them. It wrote to the Higher Education Ministry in order to return to work the staff members, who were transferred and replaced by others for filing the case, to their posts and to pay them back all their dues.

The fifth case was over the discovery of the authority that the Expatriate Ministry did not settle their trustee money for support of the East African community schools’ accounts for 1999-2007.

The authority according to the report asked the expatriate ministry to provide the payment documents of 1999-2007, however the ministry did not respond despite the repeated addressing.

In the authority’s report to the president and the Parliament, the authority said that they received 1060 financial disclosure reports at the first quarter of this year raising the total to 1219 during the period of September 2007 up to last March.

Law 30 from 2006 of the Financial Disclosure Act is applicable to all higher officials, higher administrative posts and higher financial posts. It also included the first quarter’s issues, cases being discussed, the resolutions, meetings and activities.

Law 39 from 2006 for anti-corruption stipulates that SNACC should submit unified quarterly reports to the president and the Parliament.

More good news

Yemen Observer:

A large number state employees numbering 9,600 were fired by the Ministry of Civil Service for failing to give their automated fingerprints on time, said Minister of Civil Service Hamoud al-Soufi last Tuesday.

In a statement to Yemen satellite TV channel, al-Soufi said the decision was taken after the different ministries and state institutions affirmed those employees have over passed the legal period of absence and for not come to give their electronic fingerprints on time. The fired employees are believed to be either ghost employees or ones that had dual jobs and did not want to be discovered they had more than a job.

Also, in its session held last Tuesday, the cabinet ministers approved the decision of the Ministry of Civil Service to adopt the new DERMALOG MultiFinger Biometrics system for payments of all the state employees across the country starting from July 2008. The system will also be used for the employees daily signing in.

(Read on …)

yay!!!

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The West Sana’a Court terminated on Saturday the decision of Ministry of Information to cancel the license of al-Wasat independent weekly and fined Minister of Information YR 50,000 ($250).

The Ministry of Information decided a month ago to cancel the license of al-Wasat claiming the paper published materials against the national unity and Yemeni’s ties with some countries. The Ministry has claimed the Law of Press and Publication allows it to take such a decision, but the editor of al-Wasat Jamal and Amer along with Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) and press freedom advocates have struggled against the decision which they said “has not legal base”.

Information Minister lacks jurisdiction: court

Sana’a, Yemen - A Yemeni court on Saturday annulled a decree by Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi to close one of the country’s top opposition newspapers. The minister had issued a decree cancelling the licence of the al- Wasat weekly on April 5, citing violations against “national unity.”

The decree had said the withdrawal of the paper’s licence was “due to its publication of materials prohibited by the law and against the national unity.”

But now Chief judge of the West Sana’a Court Muhammad al-Qadhi said the minister “lacked jurisdiction to cancel the newspaper’s licence.”

(Read on …)

Something like pro-government demonstrations in North Korea and Cuba:

Aden governor attacks opposition over boycotting governors’ election
Sunday 27 April 2008 / Mareb Press

Some Yemeni governorates have witnessed today mass demonstrations and festivals in the occasion of the Democracy Day, the 27th of April.

Aden province was one of the provinces which witnessed mass demonstrations and festivals, the governor of Aden, Ahmed al-Kahlani, said in his speech that “The local elections are considered a step to shut the mouths of those who oppose the development in Yemen and to stop the hostile policies of some opposition parties.”

He said, “The decision of opposition parties regarding boycotting the elections of governors reflects the contradiction between these parties and their political and electoral programmes.”

Thousands of university and school students and governmental employees gathered today in Aden. Some of them told Mareb Press that they were forced to participate in this festival in return of receiving their salary for April.

Meanwhile, Ibb and Abyan provinces witnessed festivals to observe the Democracy Day. The festivals were organized by political parties, social organizations, and civil society organizations in the provinces.

Also, some thousands of people in al-Dhale province attended the festival which was organized by ruling General People’s Congress in the province in the Unity field to observe the Democracy Day.

A GONGO its called, not an NGO but a Goverment Operated Non-Governmental Organization. He’s talking about the proposed quota for women. It would be good if he got Uncle Ali to appoint any women to governmental positions or in the GPC. Currently there’s two ministers. The GPC in the last election nominated women for 1% of candidates and physically harassed the independent women candidates.

al-Motamar

Chairman of the Progress & Advancement Forum (PAF) in Yemen Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh said Sunday the initiative of President Ali Abdullah Saleh regarding empowering the women to practice their political rights through allocation of a quota amounting to 15% at the parliament is an important step. He added in case of its success and achievement it will open more spacious horizons for the society in general and the Yemeni women in particular. It will enable them exercise their tights effectively away from slogans that made this question mere decors in their political and electoral programmes.

In a symposium the PAF held Sunday in participation with other organisations with the aim of supporting the women in the upcoming elections, he affirmed the importance of drawing a dividing line between empty words and truthfulness and to associate words with action with regard to empowering the women to practice their political and social rights.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer

The GPC Political Secretary, Abdullah Ahmed Ghanim, announced that their meeting which was held last Thursday changed the governors’ election timetable. Formerly scheduled for April 27, the election will now take place at a later date in May. The ruling GPC’s general committee member said the committee decided to delay the April 27 date since the president decided to call for the election of local council bodies for the governors to take place in May.

Ghanim said that the governors’ elections postponement will allow time for finishing the election procedures, giving ample time for submitting nomination forms. It will also provide the necessary time for examining forms and their competence with the nomination law terms. The postponement also provides time for the obtainment of consent because the nominee should have the consent of at least ten percent of the electoral body, on condition that the number of nominees does not exceed ten persons in each governorate. The final time for elections will then be determined, followed by the vote’s count and result declaration. “We are going to have the right time and procedures,” the source said.

Ghanim pointed out that the GPC will be running the governors’ elections in all governorates, even in the al-Dale governorate in which the GPC has no local council majority.

It does, however, have a large representation of governorates and directorates at local council level. Ghanim expected that the parliament will determine the formation of the supreme election committee in May.

As a first reaction to the opposition, the JMP spokesperson, Dr. Mohammed Saleh al-Qubati, said that the approval of the governors’ election draft law by the ruling party majority is no more that humorous comedy. Marking serious drawbacks of the GPC’s leading authorities and their commitments, the JMP declared that they will accept either local governments or a fully authorized local governance.

Al-Qubati said that the authority and its ruling party’s trend in tackling the law amendment will contribute to escalating present crises.

As spokesperson for the JMP, al-Qubati announced their refusal to accept the local authority’s draft to amend the law concerning governors’ elections, declaring that there is no point in joining such mock elections which are tailored to the ruling party.

Yemen Post

Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Saleh Basurah called on dignitaries and social personalities not to exercise more pressure on state to establish new universities, hinting that any expansion in this respect does not serve the development.

Basurah hinted the existing universities have not yet set completely their infra-structure and buildings, adding that his ministry is working at the present time on the preparing higher education law draft which will be referred to the cabinet next month.

Likewise, the ministry is working on academic accreditation system and quality assurance which will be applied on both government and private universities, calling for the establishment of more community colleges instead of universities.

Meanwhile, Basurah threaten to disclose the practices of high-ranking officials and some members of parliament who exercise pressure on his ministry to distribute scholarships for those who do not deserve them and in a way that does not serve the country.

In a meeting involving the anti-corruption authority and Minister of Finance Noman Al-Suhaibi by the end of the last week, Basurah threatened to resign from his post in case he is sued for errors committed by others.

Sources pointed out that Basurah asked the anti-corruption authority to help him rid of the interferences of high-ranking officials in running his ministry’s affairs, or otherwise he would expose the secrets on any satellite channel.

For their part, the anti-corruption authority demanded Basurah to hand in the file of financial and cultural attaches abroad including the attaches of Jordan and Malaysia who failed to submit a financial disclosures.

By the end of the meeting, officials ordered withholding the allocations of all attaches who have not presented their financial disclosures. They also asked for take serious measures against those who delay the payment of students’ money together with starting payment right from the next year through the Ministry of Higher Education only.

26 September Net

Yemeni parliament approved on Wednesday with majority amendments of some articles of the local authority draft law concerning election of provinces governors.

The MPs backed down from amending the phrase that the government asked on Tuesday to be debated again on Wednesday. The phrase stipulates the candidate to the post of governor should be registered in the elector record of the province and the parliament voted with majority on the text as presented by the government, stipulating that the candidate must be resident in the governorate or his work place is there or it is the place of residency of his family.

(Read on …)

Kudos to the SNACA for addressing the issue. Where did the money go? That’s a lot of money.

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - The Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority (SNACA) gave Yemeni cultural attaches in Yemeni embassies in 46 countries a 2-month time to settle funds in their charge before it takes measures against them and holds them accountable according to its authorities under the law.

The member of the SNACA, the head of information sector Yassin Abdeh Saeed the funds under care of the cultural attaches in 46 countries that since 2001 have not been settled amount to YR 16 billion, 81 million and 142 thousand, affirming the Authority’s follow-up of this issue with the ministry of higher education.

In this regard the SNACA official praised the cooperation shown by the Yemeni minister of higher education Dr Saleh Basura in this issue and issues of failures of which Mr Saeed the minister opposes them.

YT:

Since 2004, Yemen has revised a large number of legislation to support the anti-corruption movement, with the help of international donors, Yemen was able to bring a revised procurement law into effect, forming a committee to combating corruption, undertaking several awareness and publicity campaigns against corruption, and restricting and empowering the Central Organization for Control and Audit. However, spectators still believe that there is along way to go for Yemen is corruption will be illuminated, starting with the political will to promote an independent judiciary system that will be able to prosecute high ranking officials involved in corruption, as well as recovering some of the government assets which were lost to corruption.

Steps to Combat Corruption

The step to combat corruption – in principle - aim at improving the performance of the administrative governance system and speeding up financial and administrative reforms in order to strengthen the integrity of the governance system and close the loopholes that will allow for corruption. Following that, several presidential directives synergized with a package of instructions regarding reducing government bureaucracy, improving efficiency, and remove obstacles that hinder some of the primary reforms needed in Yemen, such as civil service reforms, tenders and public procurement reforms, as well as other supplementary actions such as financial disclosure, and empowering the parliament to investigate into corruption cases and reject any government decrees that may involve corruption.

Opposition Stance

However, the Yemeni opposition state time and again that these reforms are only symbolic and are not being implemented in good faith, stating that the regime is doing these anti-corruption reforms simply for political gain and to increase the faith of the international community in the regime – hoping to be rewarded with more assistance, grants, and funds in turn for these reforms. The opposition maintains that top officials including the president should’ve taken the leads in reforms

YemenTimes

SANA’A, April 23 — Republican decree 86 for the year 2008, regarding the bylaw of electing governors and Sana’a’s mayor, was issued on Monday. The government approved the decree on Sunday.

The decree’s 45 items state that the Ministry of Local Administration is to prepare and supervise governor elections. The bylaw also says committees are to be formed to supervise the elections at the governorate level, with each committee to consist of three to five members and chaired by someone who is not below a deputy minister position.

According to the bylaw, voting for the governors will be confidential. For candidates to win the election, they or their representatives must be present during voting and ballot counting. In their absence, the supervising committee is to select another candidate to fill the winner’s place.

Any candidate can impugn the election results by submitting a petition to the judiciary committee within 48 hours after the results are announced, the bylaw says.

Additionally, the bylaw says any candidate running for governor should meet certain conditions, being at least 40 years of age and holding a university degree or any equivalent certificate.

Candidates should also have at least 10 years of practical experience in the government or private sector.

A candidate must also have the recommendation of 10 percent of the local council members. A member of the local council should not recommend more than one candidate, and if he/she recommended more than one candidate, then his/her recommendations are regarded invalid.

Elections delayed

The Ministry of Defence’s website, www.sep.net, said that the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) changed the time of the elections of governors from April 27 to an unspecified day in May. The website quoted Abdullah Ahmed Ghanem, head of the ruling party’s political office, as saying that the GPC’s General Committee decided to make April 27 a day for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s announcement for governor elections.

Ghanem didn’t specify when exactly the elections would be held, but he said delaying the election day would give time to complete necessary measures for the elections.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Local Administration said on Tuesday that gathering recommendations by the current governors from local council members with the aim to use them [recommendations] for the election of governors is illegal.

The ministry added that the committees tasked with supervising the elections would not consider such recommendations. It further noted that it is preparing a sample recommendation in accordance with certain conditions.

The GPC dominated local councils will nominate and elect the govs. There’s no residency requirement. Current governors can be nominated, but the GPC is not using its power to get the appointed current governors formally installed by the vote, Shamy sez. The governor of Aden really needs to go.

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - Head of the Information Office at the General People’s Congress (GPC) Treq al-Shamy on Monday said the door to nomination for the post of a governor is open but as a transitional stage the electing body would be from members of governorate and district local councils and are amounting to more than 7200 members.

On the right of governors who are at present heads of local councils and if they are also meant for nomination al-Shamy said , ” They have the right and it is not a condition that the candidate to be from the sons of the governorate especially if that governor was successful in his job and offered much to the governorate, ” but al-Shamy affirmed that on condition of the recommendation he is entitled to get and estimated at 10% of the total members of local councils in the governorate for nomination to the post.

Al-Shamy in a statement to altaghyeer.net website has ruled out that the GPC ruling party would use its majority in the councils for reproduction of the present reality through the re-election of the present governors and their continuation vial balloting boxes.

Mareb Press

The political leaders of the opposition Join Meeting Parties (JMPs) described the electing of governors as ‘play’. They said the governor elections contradict the principle of free and direct elections.

They demanded to issue a law allowing all people to elect the governors and district directors.

The chairman of the political circle of Yemen Congregation for Reform party (Islah) said in a press conference for the JMPs, “we are with the decision of governors and district directors elections, if the elections are open and public, but the government has confined the candidacy for governor post on the members of governorate and district local councils.”

Earlier, the National Defense Council (NDC) chaired by President Ali Abdullah Saleh decided on Wednesday to amend some articles of the Local Authority Law concerning elections of governors.

The NDC decided to transfer all financial allowances for development projects in governorates to the local councils and to give local councils the authority of electing governors from members of the local councils in the governorates.

al-Motamar

American official advises Islah media to use suitable words
Sunday, 06-April-2008
Almotamar.net - An American official has recently advised those in charge of the media of Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen (Yemeni Congregation for Reform) Islah Party to be keen on using suitable expressions, affirming that the ceremony of signing the assistance to Yemen by the foundation of the millennium challenge has been postponed and not suspended, as it was mentioned in a question put forward by Al-Sahwa newspaper, organ of the Islah party.

In an interview to Al-Sahwa newspaper published in its issue of last Thursday, Director of the American Agency for Development in Yemen Mike Sarhan lauded the Yemeni government commitment to reform in all areas, repeating his confirmation that Yemen has walked a long distance since the convention of London conference in 2006 as it has taken serious reform steps, among them for instance the approval of the law of purchases and legislations of anti-corruption as well as the establishment of the higher committee for tenders and bids.
Responding to a question on delivering the support funds to the Yemeni government for implementing projects and whether there is no confidence in honesty and seriousness of the Yemen government in implementing the projects, head of the American Agency for Development said the question is not a matter of non-confidence in integrity of the government and pointed out that in all the countries where it is present the Agency takes implementing partners close to the communities and areas that the Agency desires for carrying out its programmes and for helping them. Therefore, the Agency engages the beneficiary communities, civil society organisations, the local governments and those entertaining necessary efficiency for implementing services programmes.

The American official said that is not applied to Yemen alone but rather it is the policy of the American agency wherever it is =resent, pointing out that the agency has last year signed an agreement with the Yemeni ministry of planning and international cooperation on carrying out anti-corruption programmes.
On his assessment of performance of the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority Mr Sarhan made it clear that any new organisation may need a year or two before it can work and implement the tasks they are assigned to it completely. He said nevertheless that his personal assessment of the authority is very good and added that the American Agency for Development would offer help to the authority for moving to its new premises and provide necessary equipment for it such as computers as well as sending many of its members to several countries like Malaysia and Indonesia for training courses.

Yemen Post

Saadaldeen Bin Talib, Supreme National Anti Corruption Committee Member (SNACC):
“For corruption to be fought in Yemen, it will not only require the committee to do their duty, but it will require all citizens to feel the responsibility of fighting corruption in Yemen, and the importance it will have in our life. In the end, the poor will benefit the most when corruption is gone.”

Interviewed By: Hakim ALmasmari ( YEMEN POST STAFF )
Article Date: April 07, 2008

YP: Are there any obstacles faced by The Supreme National Anti Corruption Committee (SNACC)?

ST: Naturally there are some difficulties in the work of our committee. The first is that it was newly established only nine months ago. Secondly, we still don’t have a permanent office that can hold our staff. We don’t have the power to employee enough staff to carry out this task.

YP: What is the percentage of corruption cases that the committee has been able to solve?

ST: Our concern is about the importance of those cases that come and results we give, not the quantity. We have some high-profile cases which have been published in the press including those of the Ministry of Electricity and Ministry of Water. Still, some other cases are in the prosecution.

(Read on …)

Government approves contractor, supplier blacklist draft

[25 March 2008]
SANA’A, March 25 (Saba) - Government approved in its regular meeting held on Tuesday a blacklist draft of violators from Yemeni and non-Yemeni contractors, suppliers and consultants in all fields.

A committee is to be formed headed by minister of public works and roads to be in charge of the blacklist that aims at eradicating manipulation and procrastination of carrying out the projects and reducing the problems raising while implementing them.

The committee will follow up the contracts’ implementation level, encourage contractors, suppliers and consultants to improve their professional and economic performance and eliminate delay causes as well as depriving the violators of them from receiving any projects during the fixed time in the blacklist.

Yemen Times

Reviewing the legislative system of Yemen for the first time, one gets the impression that the laws are well-drafted and ensure the rights of both men and women. Upon analyzing and dissecting those laws and regulations, one will inevitably realize that certain elements of this system, which regulates private and public relationships, involve a considerable degree of discrimination against women. This conclusion is supported by the legal teams formed by the National Women’s Committee (NWC), which have been working since 2000 to examine Yemeni laws for gender bias.

The NWC wanted to ensure this system complies with the Islamic tenets and principles as the main source of legislation, with the Constitution and with the international conventions ratified by the Republic of Yemen, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The legal review teams came up with proof that there is flagrant discrimination embedded in some provisions, most severely in the Personal Status law, the Nationality law and the Penalty law.

The Personal Status law does not specify an appropriate age of marriage, which as a result, inadvertently permits early marriage among young females – an especially common problem in rural areas. Early marriage in turn affects girls’ ability to continue their education. With early marriage comes early pregnancies, which can cause problems like fistula (a condition that causes incontinence) or even to death during childbirth.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer:

The Public Money Prosecution managed to recover YR1 billion in embezzled public funds in 2007.

Dr. Abdul al-Malik al-A’wash, a lawyer with the Public Money Prosecution, declared that YR1,000,248,747 was recovered in addition to $284,000 and 2300 Euros, due to sequestration and attestation rulings in embezzlement cases in the same year.

Al-A’wash said that they received 1,758 cases in all governorates last year, and 589 of them were considered serious.

Al-A’wash added that verdicts were passed on 202 of these cases, 832 are still undergoing investigation, while 20 were dropped due to lack of jurisdiction. Decisions of absence of right were passed on 204 of the cases. He added that they received 68 cases from the Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA), asserting that the Capital Secretariats in Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, Hadramout, Lahj and Ibb were the worst offending regions in the public money cases.

al-Motamar Yemen’s parliament on Saturday passed an article amendment of the commercial law allowing non-Yemeni persons to work in trade in the Yemeni Republic without the need to have a Yemeni partner or partners and in accordance to the operative laws.

The parliament approved by the end of last February the amendment of article 28 of the commercial law after finishing its discussion of a report by the trade and industry parliamentary committee on results of its study of the draft law in this regard presented by the government.

The parliament has today also passed several laws on approving agreements of oil production sharing concluded between the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Minerals and world oil companies.

International court cases……

al-Sahwa: February 28, 2008- Yemen’s government has wasted financial resources in form of compensations offered for foreign firms due to absurd deals signed with firms.

Several companies filed suits in international courts against Yemen, and won those cases.

Yemeni government compensated a French company $40m . The company received the amount in January with opposition some offcials. Yemen further paid 6,2 compensation to a Canadian Kwala firm

Additionally, Yemen lost $154m during 2005 — 2007 due to gradual reduction for customs and tax tariff within the agreement of the biggest Arab Free Trade Zone, reported Saba. The estimated increasing these losses up to $ 300m during this year and around $524m in 2009 to be $838m by 2010, expecting the losses in 2005-2010 reach $1816m.

More over a French court sentenced Yemen to pay $27m compensation for an Omani company.

The government terminated the contract bin