Armies of Liberation

Another fork in the road up ahead, whether or not to continue the democratic experiment. When the Parliamentary elections were “postponed” in 2009, it was clear that there may never be another election again. One root cause of the tensions in Yemen is the declaration of the last presidential election as free and fair by both western observers and the JMP. The opposition traded the right to contest the process and outcome in hope of future reforms. The fragmented JMP was concerned about political violence arising from protests, and they used the moment to extract concessions on electoral reform from the Saleh regime. Many voters felt betrayed by the JMP and the system. And the JMP was prompted and predictably betrayed by Saleh. The targeting of the democracy activists after the election made it clear that no democratic spring was impending. If there is no way to impact the system with ballots, bullets become more attractive. The JMP is ineffective and disconnected from the voter base, and no one on the street may notice if the parties were disbanded. The JMP is being targeted for their statements in support of the principle of political inclusion, for calling for dialog with the Southern Movement (also highly fractured) and the Houthi rebels. The question is, if the existence of the forms of democracy, absent their functioning and the impartial application of the law, is better then a self declared dictatorship. The efforts the regime puts into democratic pretense gives cover to both the goonish shadow government as well as the allies who support them. From Saba News

SANA’A, Nov. 06 (Saba) – The Supreme Security Committee (SSC) has accused Yemeni opposition of involvement with al-Houthi rebellion and separatists in some southern governorates.

A source in the SSC said that the Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) are engaged publicly in support with the rebels and separatists and justify all their sabotage acts that target the nation’s security and stability.

Amazing how the Yemeni government is unable to distinguish between criticism of tactics and policies and opposition to the political system itself. Just as a note, both Hussain and Yahya al Houthi were members of the GPC, so according to the SSC’s rudimentary logic, the GPC should be the first to be disbanded, which I suggested two years ago.

To follow, an Arabic article from al Masdar Online on the rather colorful SSC statement that the JMP is a “coalition of the devil.” Its Orwellian the way the Yemeni government deploys democratic terminology to do the most undemocratic things possible- as if shuttering al Ayyan, jailing journalists and targeting the opposition parties somehow strengthens the republic instead of just the elite.

اللجنة الأمنية العليا تتهم المشترك بالتورط في تأييد الحوثيين في صعدة والعناصر “الانفصالية” بالجنوب High Security Commission has accused of involvement in the joint support Houthis in Sa’ada and the elements “separatist” in the south
المصدر أونلاين- خاص Source Online – Special

في تطور خطير، وجهت اللجنة الأمنية العليا اتهامات مباشرة وغير مسبوقة لأحزاب اللقاء المشترك بالتورط والضلوع بشكل علني ومكشوف في تأييد ودعم المتمرديـن الحوثيين في صعدة، والعناصر “الانفصالية” في المحافظات الجنوبية. In serious development, the Committee made the supreme security charges direct and unprecedented JMP involvement and involvement in public and openly in favor of and support for the insurgents in Saada, and the elements “separatist” in the southern provinces. (Read on …)

An interesting analysis at Carnegie focuses on security services reform in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. A good conclusion requires an apt intial assessment, such as:

Use of military recruitment to co-opt tribesmen and of appointments to
reward personal loyalty among offi cers—especially in the army and police
force—has led to the development of a security sector that is seriously bloated,
lacking in basic equipment and specialist skills, and fraught with corruption.
The sector is widely regarded as little more than disparate “stovepipes” centered
on Saleh. Yemeni government and security institutions are completely
segmented, with minimal communication and coordination between, and
within, the ministries of interior, justice, and defense. Consequently there is
extensive overlap and duplication of functions between the police, army, and
Central Security Forces in urban areas, and rivalry that result in ineffective
policing in rural areas and along land borders… (Read on …)

I wonder if the US actually expects Saleh to reform. Maybe he promised that he really, really will this time… Expect a round of government announcements of new reforms, maybe new anti-corruption billboards, and a few repeatedly publicized al Qaeda arrests, all being more smoke than substance. One thing that has to be done, now, is the electoral reforms. The timing of the announcement stinks, following days after the Yemeni government’s massacre of women and children by airstrikes in Sa’ada and Amran. The military is bombing cities and villages with impunity. But I guess waiting for the Yemeni government to stop committing atrocities is not realistic…

The Embassy is pleased to announce the signing of a bilateral assistance agreement between the United States and Yemen to fund essential development projects in the fields of health, education, democracy and governance, agriculture and economic development. The agreement, which provides over $30 million this year and an anticipated total of $121 million over its three-year program, is a reaffirmation of the friendship between the people of the United States and Yemen, and of the United States’ commitment to helping Yemen overcome its development challenges.

In conjunction with the reform efforts to which the Government of Yemen has committed, this development assistance will help to improve the lives of thousands of Yemeni citizens.

A spot on report: Corruption, the government cannot survive without it. The Houthi rebellion, Southern uprising and al Qaeda’s increasing infiltration are all rooted in corruption. The Yemeni regime is structurally reliant on corruption. Its a mafia more than a government.

SANAA, Sept 2 (Reuters) – A Yemeni tank unit fighting rebels is said to have run out of ammunition after its commander stole his men’s wages, telling them to make money selling spent shell casings instead — so they blasted away at anything that moved.

True or not, Yemenis readily believe the tale.

Corruption is rampant in Yemen, whether defined as the abuse of public office for private gain, or in the form of patronage, the diversion of state resources to seek political quiescence.

Its tentacles stretch from top to bottom of the government, with powerful tribes and the military-security establishment among the main beneficiaries, according to a 94-page assessment by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Efforts to fight the scourge, notably the creation of a Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) in 2007, have made little headway, Yemeni and foreign experts say. (Read on …)

The financial disclosure law was passed in 2007, and its a great concept, but it lacks enforcement mechanisms. Two of 301 MP’s submitted the required form to date. This is not a Parliament that’s going to take the tough position of standing against “the powers that be” for reform, transparency or equal rights. There’s a lot of mafia types. Parliament is an institutionalizaton of tribal authority structures. The Parliament is a tool of Saleh with little autonomy, but a lot of latitude. Crimes are rarely punished and flourish. The Parliament is somewhat more outspoken lately but is not even remotely a counter-balance to the executive. Yemen’s decision makers are a shadow government (Saleh and his family and cronies), and the public has no mechanism of acountability.

Update: Yemen Times “There are around 36,000 officials who are included in the public sector and are obliged by the financial disclosure law to admit their financial disclosures every two years,” she (Vice-Chairman of the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption Dr. Bilkis Abu Osba’) continued. “Since we created the financial disclosure sector, around 10,000 financial disclosures have been received.”

al Tagheer: Mohammed Al-Matari, head of the financial disclosure the Anti-corruption “Parliament” still ranks high on the list of backward and Late to provide financial disclosure statements. . . لافتا في تصريح لـ”الوحدوي ” إلى أن من بين 301 عضو هم عدد أعضاء البرلمان , تقدم فقط عضوان اثنان بإقرارات الذمة المالية . He noted in a statement to “unitary” to that of the 301 members are members of Parliament, the only two members of financial disclosure.

مبديا أسفه واستغرابه من عدم وجود تفاعل وتعاون من قبل البرلمان في هذا الشأن لما يمثله من سلطة دستورية وقانونية عليا في البلد . He expressed his regret and surprise at the lack of interaction and cooperation by the Parliament in this regard because it represents the authority of the constitutional and legal positions in the country. في حين لم تتلق الهيئة سوى 12 إقرارا بالذمة المالية من مجلس الشورى لعدد But it has not received the recognition of only 12 financial disclosure of the Shura Council of the number

أثنا عشر عضوا من أصل 111 عضوا هم عدد أعضاء مجلس الشورى .. Twelve members of the 111 members who are the number of members of the Shura Council ..

The Yemen Observer is usually more nuanced than the other stooge papers in spreading the regime’s propaganda, but this is the last line of the following article: All know that there is no political prisoner in Yemen and that those behind bars are those who committed acts and practices violating the law.

Anyway the YO article says the JMP formally announced the suspension of dialog with the GPC. (The JMP spokesperson Naif al-Qanis was later threatened with death in a car “accident” if he didn’t resign his post.)

Yemen may have seen its last election under the Saleh regime.

YEMEN – The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) decided to officially suspend their dialogue with the General People’s Congress (GPC) until their demands are met, the war in Sa’adah is stopped, and all confrontations and conflicts in southern and eastern governorates are settled, said the JMP spokesperson. (Read on …)

The JMP has quite reasonable preconditions to dialog- release the prisoners, un-ban the newspapers and withdraw the new military checkpoints. The checkpoints give southerners the feeling of being occupied; the new outposts were an affront. There’s no dialog without a free press, and the Southern and Sa’ada prisoners are illegally detained. Its all very reasonable and logical, unfortunately the Yemeni dictatorship is not.

Yemen Times translates Al Sahwa:

• JMP accuses ruling party of disrupting agreement

Spokesman of Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) Mohammad Al-Qanis accused the ruling General People Congress of seeking to renege on an a agreement with the opposition parties, the website reported.

He further charged GPC with stalling, disrupting dialogue and dragging the country into unknown fate.

“JMP purposed three points to settle the crisis; remove new military checkpoints in the southern provinces, release all detainees of the Southern Movement and Saada War, and lift ban on all suspended newspapers allowing their printing and publication,” he went on to say.
(Read on …)

What do we think “suspension” means in this case? Arrested, detained?

Sahwa Net – The Dialogue-preparation Committee recently formed by Yemen’s opposition parties has expressed its deep concern at the suspension of Abdul-Wahab al-Anisi, the Secretary-General of the Islah party, while he was heading to attend a meeting of the Dialogue-Preparation Committee which aims at diagnosing Yemen’s current stalemates and solving them.

Security elements of the Central Security Organization had suspended on Tuesday Abdul-Wahab al-Anisi, the Secretary-General of Yemen’s main opposition party, the Islah.

An official source of the general secretariat of the Islah party strongly denounced the accident, demanding to investigate the security elements and identify the authorities involved in the incident.

The source also considered the event of seizure a form of wrong polices followed up in the governance, stressing that the Islah retains its rights to hold the involved accountable.

This is from Munier’s article below (google translated) and this is an actual oversight committee, Faris al Sanabani and all… I checked to make sure he wasn’t being sarcastic and no, the president’s son and nephews are actually the officials entrusted with foreign investment oversight.

The advice given by the son of former President is still in my list, and are justified because the President’s son, headed a commission unconstitutional oversees all investments of the country, is the most prominent members of this Committee the following brothers:

Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh
Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh
Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh
Yahya Abdullah Saleh Doid
Khalid Al-Akwaa
Fares Alsenbani
Salah Al-Attar
Hafez Maiad
Jalal Yacoub

A case of the fox guarding the hen house.

The SNACC is going to bring it to the President’s attention. There is no information if there are irregularities in the forms submitted. Also Parliament is asking for prosecution of officials who stole YR72 billion in 2007 through corruption

Yemen Observer: The Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) is taking legal procedures to refer 3 ministers, 8 governors, and 40 ambassadors to the judiciary, pursuant to article 24 of the second chapter of Anti-Corruption Law, according to SNACC member Ahmed Qurhesh. (Read on …)

Further damage control on the son of the Yemeni president being a thief according to US federal courts: here here and here

al Motamar

US State Department reports are political targeting: Human Rights Minister
Tuesday, 14-April-2009
Almotamar.net – Yemen Human Rights Minister Dr Huda al-Ban has on Tuesday revealed a government tendency for engaging civil society organisations working in human rights field in the reply to international reports issued by the US State Department, Amnesty International, Freedom House and others, so that the reply would be a national one instead of official. She has accused report by the US State Department of inaccuracy, reshuffling cards and fabrication of non-existing realities. She added that 95% of the issues and incidents the report has tackled had been literally mentioned in previous years. (Read on …)

Update: Now thats funny right there. The Telecommunication Ministry says that what the article actually means is that the fine (which is payable to the US government) is what was paid to the ministry’s officials in exchange for the favorable rates. Nothing to see, just move along…

Yemen Post: Informed sources from the Ministry of Telecommunications told news web site that such report by media outlets is groundless. “Latinode agreed to pay a $2 million fine during a three-year period to officials in Yemen in exchange for favorable interconnection rates,” the source said, calling on all media outlets to be accurate and objective when reporting news.

Al-Tagheer says a government official said in a phone interview that the information was “incorrect” and “false” and designed to harm the reputation of Yemen, and some symbols in the forefront of the son of the president.

Mareb Press: مصدر مسئول في الاتصالات ينفي تورط شخصيات رفيعة في عملية رشوة لشركة أمريكية An official source in communication denies involvement in the process of eminent persons to bribe a U.S. company
الخميس 09 إبريل-نيسان 2009 الساعة 02 صباحاً / مأرب برس – خاص Thursday, April 09 – April 2009 at 02 am / Marib Press – private

نفي مصدر مسئول في وزارة الاتصالات اليمنية ما ذكره موقع التغيير نت Denied official source at the Yemeni Ministry of Communications with the site change Net من تورط مسئول كبير في الوزارة ونجل الرئيس علي عبد الله صالح في عملية رشوة قيل انها قدمت من قبل شركة ” لاتين نود ” الأميركية والمتخصصة The involvement of a senior official in the Ministry and the son of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the process it was a bribe offered by the company, “We wish to Latin American” and specialized في خدمات الاتصالات. Communications services.

وقال المصدر المسئول لـ” مأرب برس ” ان ما ورد عبارة عن تلفيقات من قبل جهات لها دوافعها الخاص ولا اساس له من الصحة، مؤكد ان الوزارة ستكلف عدد من القانونيين للرد على تلك الاتهامات الزائفة ومقاضاة من ويقف وراء تلك الإخبار الكيدية. The official source of the “Marib Press that” as a fabrication by the private actors motivated and unfounded, confirmed that the ministry will be a number of lawyers to respond to the accusations false and the prosecution of the stands behind the news that malicious.

Miami Internet phone firm pleads guilty to paying bribes
BY PATRICK DANNER
pdanner@MiamiHerald.com
A Miami-based Internet phone company has agreed to pay a $2 million fine after pleading guilty to paying bribes to officials in Honduras and Yemen in exchange for favorable interconnection rates.

Latin Node paid more than $2.2 million in bribes that company e-mails indicate were intended for, among others, the son of the Yemeni president and officials of the Yemeni Ministry of Telecommunications, court documents show. (Read on …)

Amran is where the two YSP leaders (and the baby) were assassinated.

Thousands sentenced for Yemen vote fraud
DPA/Sanaa
Courts in Yemen’s western province of Amran have sentenced 14,522 people to suspended three-month jail terms each for registering to vote multiple times, the state Saba news agency reported yesterday. (Read on …)

Lets recall that al Khaiwani was arrested as a personal vendetta by Saleh, beat up, his kid slapped, interrogated for a week, released and then kidnapped and really beat up badly, convicted and imprisoned for months, pardoned and re-convicted and now pardoned again. (This is not even counting what happened to him in 2004/5.) Its like battered wife syndrome translated to the national level, yes its nice the abuse stopped momentarily but its important not to lose sight of the over-riding fact that it never should have occurred in the first place.

And the announcement about freeing the broadcast media is getting old also; its about the fifth time I heard that in the last five years, nothing happens. More talk, headlines and propaganda and when the dust settles, journalists are still getting beat up, no new licenses or as we saw recently, the new TV channel goes to al Zindani… So it would be nice if true but Saleh’s words are meaningless, so lets see what happens before celebrating this announcement.

Alarab

Yemen pardons opposition journalist facing jail

Yemen’s president said on Saturday he had pardoned an opposition journalist facing a six-year jail sentence for links to armed rebels. A Yemeni court last year convicted Abdelkarim al-Khaywani, editor of opposition newspaper al-Shura, to six years in jail after he was found carrying images and statements of the rebels.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced the pardon in a speech to a journalist union’s conference, in which he also called for new legislation to allow private television and radio stations and easing rules for the launch of new publications.

Battles with the Shi’ite Muslim rebels, which had raged on and off since 2004 in the north of the poor Arab country, subsided last year. Hundreds of people have been killed in the conflict and thousands have fled their homes.

Sunni Muslims form a majority of Yemen’s 19 million population, while most of the rest are Shi’ite Zaydis.

Military spending and corruption are the biggest leaks of public funds. This period of low prices would be an excellent time to reduce the deisel subsidies though. IMF

Directors welcomed the authorities’ commitment to reduce expenditure in the event that oil prices remain below the benchmark price in the 2009 budget. They stressed the need to strengthen public financial management and further prioritize public spending. This should involve the gradual elimination of fuel subsidies in the current environment of low international fuel prices, accompanied by a public education campaign and strengthening of the social safety net. Directors also called for continued civil service reform and wage restraint to reduce the large public sector wage bill.

Yes well I guess after a decade you can presume they are just not going to get completed. Even free land grants wasn’t enough motivation.

Yemen Observer

The government’s investment authority announced Tuesday that it has cancelled 189 projects financed by Yemeni and Gulf investors, including projects that have not yet been implemented after ten years of planning.

The Manager of the Hadramout Investment Authority Khalid al-Sa’di explained that the 189 projects were cancelled as a result of investor negligence, following the grace period of four months given to them by the Hadramout governor. The governor’s actions came from directions issued by the President, which stipulated the cancellation of the licenses for projects after a designated expiry date. He highlighted that these measures were especially necessary for projects where no work has been done in the ten years since the issuance of the licenses.

Last year, the President ordered the cancellation of the land licenses of investors who had failed to begin their investment projects in Hadramout, despite the free land offered to them ten years ago. (Read on …)

al Motamar

Almotamar.net – The World Bank WB said Monday that it intends to assist Yemen for facing ramifications of the drop in oil prices for enhancement of efforts and orientations of the Yemeni government aimed to diversify sources of national income and lessening dependence on oil revenues.

Vice President of the WB for the Middle East and North Africa Daniela Gressani, currently on a visit to Yemen, said there is a steady progress Yemen has achieved in implementation of reforms. Gressani added that the WB has raised the ceiling of the annual support to Yemen to $ 120 million and adopted since the last year to offer all forms of assistance to Yemen in the form of gifts instead of loans in order to support the Yemeni government efforts for encountering the world rise in food prices and facing consequences of the floods disaster that hit governorates of Hadramout and Mahara.

Gressani also praised the level of improvement in the government performance in Yemen especially in regards to carrying out the foreign sources-funded projects. She has also stressed the significance of donors meeting of their commitments to Yemen pertaining to completion of allocations they had pledged at London Donors Conference in November 2006. She revealed that the WB would work for urging donors to speed up completing allocations of their pledges.

On the reasons behind postponement of the 3rd consultative meeting between the Yemeni government and donors, scheduled to be held last Sunday in Sana’a, Ms Gressani said the postponement was imposed by coincidence of its convening with the date of holding an international conference of donors for the reconstruction of Gaza Strip. She added, in a statement to Saba news agency on Monday, the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC states proposed postponing the meeting to a later date in order to secure large attendance. And that has been agreed between the Yemeni government and the donors.

Global Integrity finds a “huge” gap between the law and its implementation.

Yemen earned very weak scores across the board, from civil society and government accountability to business regulation and the rule of law. The country’s executive, judicial, and legislative accountability mechanisms are among the worst assessed in 2008.

Although there are strong anti-corruption laws on the book, the anti-corruption agency is ineffective. Furthermore, political financing is generally unregulated, while civil society organizations are ineffective in fighting corruption. The media, which is subject to political interference, also receives poor ratings. Several journalists have been arrested, harassed, or imprisoned for their corruption-related investigative stories. Government control over private radio is among the most draconian in the world.

Update: Oh Yay, they are referencing my articles as well as this website in the media section. What happens a lot is the original links to Yemeni papers go down and the only copy is here, which is one function of the site, to provide a historical data base for researchers and others by category. The Yemen Observer trashed their entire archives with the last website upgrade, so the only detailed searchable history in English is at the Yemen Times and here.

Update 2: A very detailed and accurate report with excellent footnotes in all categories.

Links at the main page include scorecard:

Yemen: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Overall Score: 46 (+/- 2.81) – Very Weak

Category I Civil Society, Public Information and Media 36 Very Weak
I-1 Civil Society Organizations 47 Very Weak
I-2 Media 35 Very Weak
I-3 Public Access to Information 27 Very Weak

Category II Elections 46 Very Weak
II-1 Voting & Citizen Participation 62 Weak
II-2 Election Integrity 65 Weak
II-3 Political Financing 11 Very Weak

Category III Government Accountability 30 Very Weak
III-1 Executive Accountability 45 Very Weak
III-2 Legislative Accountability 22 Very Weak
III-3 Judicial Accountability 17 Very Weak
III-4 Budget Processes 35 Very Weak

Category IV Administration and Civil Service 44 Very Weak
IV-1 Civil Service Regulations 28 Very Weak
IV-2 Whistle-blowing Measures 21 Very Weak
IV-3 Procurement 57 Very Weak
IV-4 Privatization 70 Weak

Category V Oversight and Regulation 52 Very Weak
V-1 National Ombudsman 53 Very Weak
V-2 Supreme Audit Institution 47 Very Weak
V-3 Taxes and Customs 50 Very Weak
V-4 State-Owned Enterprises 48 Very Weak
V-5 Business Licensing and Regulation 63 Weak

Category VI Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law 66 Weak
VI-1 Anti-Corruption Law 100 Very Strong
VI-2 Anti-Corruption Agency 56 Very Weak
VI-3 Rule of Law 54 Very Weak
VI-4 Law Enforcement 54 Very Weak

Gee wouldn’t a normal press law, following up on the new legislation about the minimum marriage age, go a long way to appease the donors???? There’s seems to be good support in the parliament for the first draft. The second draft criminalizes a wide variety of topics important to an informed electorate and includes a six year jail term as the penalty for writing about anything important.

YT

None of this is reflected in the draft, which stipulates that the release of information should not damage national security, social peace, national unity, Yemen’s interests and its foreign relations, the national economy, public and private economic interests, or trade and financial interests. Any person seeking or publishing information prohibited by this draft shall be sentenced to six years in jail according to article 71. Such open-ended and loose terms make it difficult to decide what is prohibited and what is allowed, for anything at any time can be simply decided as being against the national interest of the country. Again, the time limit for accessing requested information has been put at ten days, but the draft stipulates that the limit can be extended to 60 days. That is a lot of time.

The National

SANA’A // A draft law on access to information that the Yemeni parliament is scheduled to debate this week has already drawn criticism from journalists and democracy activists who describe it as restricting press freedom.

“This draft law proposed by the government is authoritarian and aims to exercise more restrictions, as it prohibits the search for and publishing of information under several pretexts such as the protection of national security, national unity and the like,” said Marwan Damaj, the secretary general of Yemen Journalists Syndicate, a non-governmental organisation. (Read on …)

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 …)