Armies of Liberation

Yemen Post
Local sources told the Yemen Post that President Saleh has sought to force Al-Ezi bin Abadan to withdraw his candidacy as governor of Al-Jawf. The negotiations led Al-Jawf sheikhs and tribes supporting Abadan to lift their siege on the government complex in Al-Hazm, the capital city of Al-Jawf province.

Bin Abadan support amassed last week after a first-instance court rejected the results of elections and ordered conducting new elections, demanding the result to be approved and to announce their fellow as the winner.

(Read on …)

Yemeni security forces beat up Hassan al-Dhalimi during his arrest today. His elderly father was pummeled by security forces as well. Hassan is the sixth founding member of al-Tagheer for Rights and Freedoms to be imprisoned. Al-Tagheer is a vibrant and prominent civil rights organization in Yemen. Al-Tagheer’s website Yemenat was blocked two weeks ago by Yemeni authorities. Yemenat is blocked by the governmental IP in Yemen but remains available outside Yemen.

The six arrested aned imprisoned members of al-Tagheer include northerners and southerners. The organization is comprised of democracy advocates from a variety of parties and organizations. Al-Tagheer is the rights organization headed by MP Ahmed Saif Hashid who was named Yemen Times “Man of the Year 2007″ for his civil rights advocacy. Hashid gave me a ground breaking interview about conditions in Yemeni prisons and subsequently faced loss of his parliamentary immunity. Another noted member of al-Tagheer is Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, respected journalist on trial in penal court for attempting to overthrow the Yemeni government with an unpublished article. Al-Khaiwani is eligible for the death penalty.

Among the reasons behind internet blocking is that Yemnat and almostashar, another news website run by the same publisher, Ahmed Saif Hashed, issued an item attached with a video (click here) documenting 18 Yemeni youth migrants burnt by Saudi police in a southern Saudia Arabian town, Khamees Mushait, last month. The crime was hushed up by Yemeni and Saudi authorities, but exposed by the Yemenat video interview which was picked up by Human Rights Watch on 14.05.2008, with the title of “Saudi Arabia: Investigate Police for Burning Yemenis”.

Update: Monday, released.

-jane

May 5, 2008

Alsahwa.net- Sources of the ruling party, GPC, have affirmed that severe disagreements intensified in the wake of declaring the ruling party’s candidates for governor elections which to be held on May 17.

The sources said that Robaizi tribes close down GPC headquarters in Shabwa governorates in protest at excluding three of their elected local councils from electing governors.

189 nomination requests for governor elections, among them 6 woman
Thursday, 08-May-2008

Almotamar.net - While the deadline for receiving application to nominations for governor elections in Yemen is the evening of Thursday, the number of applicants has until Wednesday evening reached 189 applications. Meanwhile, teams affiliate of civil society organisations have begun the process of observation of procedures progress after the supervising committees at the Ministry of Local Administration has given more than 42 observers from the organisations special cards for facilitating their work and that is in enhancement of the pursuit of transparency in the first elections of competitive elections of governors of provinces.

Committees supervising elections all over he governorates in Yemen have until Wednesday evening received 189 nomination applications for the posts of the capital mayor and governors of provinces, among them 6 women.

Eight Withdraw in Favor of GPC Candidate, in Dhalie no less

Almotamar.net - Eight candidates applied to nomination for elections of governors in al-Dhalie governorate have Thursday withdrawn their nomination in favour of the candidate of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Ali Qassem Talib. Chairman of the supervising committee told almotamar.net that a meeting convened the applicants to nomination and there they announced their withdrawal from nomination by their own will and out of conviction in favour of the GPC candidate as being among the efficient leading personalities that has been serving the governorate.

They considered the choice of the GPC of the candidate Talib as cutting the road to the overbidding as he is a personality entertaining unanimity of the population of the governorate.

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 …)