Sahwa Net- Yemeni security sources in Hodiada province has arrested a missionary cell including 7 people on charges of promoting to Christianity and distributing the Bible.Sources told Sahwa Net that the Political Security of Hodaida arrested a so-called Hadni Dohni accused of converting to Christianity and other 6 aides.
The sources said that the suspects were transferred to Sana’a in order to investigate them to know who support them.
and as we discussed frequently, arrested Zaidi preachers are often replaced by Salafi preachers and this occurs in Sann’a as well as Sa’ada.
SANA’A, NewsYemen
The Yemeni Organization for Defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms denounced the arrest of a Zaidi preacher on Tuesday in the wake of war in Sa’ada between the government and rebels.
The organization warned that the arrest of Yaser al-Wazeer, the preacher of Al-Shareefa Mosque in Sana’a, “is extremely dangerous and legally baseless measure”.
This campaign of random arrests that mainly targets the Zaidi sect affiliates, clerics, students and rights activists will deepen the danger against social peace, said the organization.
The organization demanded that the security authorities reveal the detention of al-Wazeer and immediately release him. It also urged local and international rights organizations to standby al-Wazeer and to intervene to stop violations, arrests and involuntary disappearances that followed war in Sa’ada.
Yahya al-Houthi, Member of Parliament (in exile in Germany) and brother of rebel leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, responds to an article at Strategy Page (here) discussing the Houthi rebellion and Sa’ada War. He refutes the assertion that the rebels bombed the mosque:
Dear Sir,
I am grateful to Jane Novak and Gudrun for their comments, and would like to add mine. Let me note that the knowledge presented in this article is not entirely correct. First of all, the Zaydis make up about 45% of the Yemeni population. (According to the US foreign ministry, they make up 33%.) Regarding the claim that we seek to return imamate rule, I submit that the issue is neither imamate nor republican rule. What concerns us is that over the past thirty years, there has been a dictatorship in Yemen. During that period, there have been six US presidents who cannot rule for more than eight years. In Yemen, one president has been ruling for thirty years: Do you call this republican rule?
With respect to the bombing of the bin Salman mosque in Sa`dah, the writer’s conclusions are not backed up by evidence. Firstly, the city of Sa`dah is under government control. There are no fighters associated with the Huthi family stationed in the city. Anyone who is suspected of being affiliated with us is immediately arrested. The city resembles an army barrack. The motorcycle was the property of the Ministry of Agriculture. The bomb exploded at the gate to the courtyard of the mosque. The motorcycle was parked at the gate. It could not have been parked there if its owner was unknown because army commanders and soldiers predominantly use the mosque. As far as we are concerned, we are completely opposed to attacks on civilians. I would have appreciated it if the writer also talked about the army’s attacks on Zaydi mosques in the area.
The writer does not provide any evidence that “al Houthi supporters keep breaking” the truces between them and the government. It should be the mediator, in the case the government of Qatar, making claims as to whether we have broken the truce, but they have failed to do so. The writer’s accusations rest entirely on government propaganda.
Regarding the writer’s claim that we consider Saleh a traitor for dealing with the Sunni majority, this is incorrect. Traditionally the Sunnis in Yemen have been Shafi’is, and Zaydis and Shafi’is have always respected each other’s schools of thought. Our problem is that the president has become a Wahhabi and has been trying to implant by force the Wahhabi school of thought in Zaydi areas, aided by finances provided by Wahhabi-based institutions.
It is a distortion of Yemeni history to argue that the battles with Shia tribesmen have been going on since 1962. The leaders of the 1962 revolution were almost all Zaydi-Shi`is, and Zaydis fought on both sides during the ensuing civil war. While it is true that many government officials are Sunnis, the reigns of power are all in the hands of those hailing from Zaydi areas, whether or not they embrace Zaydi beliefs.
We are not anti-American per se. Rest assured that we do not have any issues with the American people, but we disapprove of some of their government’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Like many people in the Middle East of all faiths, we were opposed to the US led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent killing of civilians. Generally, we hate the use of force in order to solve problems because of the loss of life and the destruction it causes. If the writer has ever been listening to mosque speeches in Yemen, he would be aware that both Zaydi and Sunni imams curse America. The Saleh government itself opposed the invasion of Iraq.
It would have been helpful if the writer had based his research on government sources as well as on information provided by our own spokesmen.
Now if I was in Yemen, I’d be subject to the death penalty for publishing this letter.
I recorded 22 killed since August but the JMP is saying 25.
May 8, 2008
Alsahwa.net – Leadership of the Joint Meeting Parties has expressed discontent over the Yemeni authorities’ continuation in detaining JMP’s members and activists.
In a rally which was held on Wednesday and Thursday, JMP leaders said that the authorities suppressed their activities in various provinces, leaving 25 killed, 47 wounded and 487 arrested, victims of peaceful struggle, in 2007 alone.
At least 487 people were arrested, majority of them are from Lahj and al-Dhala’a governorates, according to the protestors.
Protests have spread across the country organized by JMP and former southern officers, but also triggered by the soaring cost of foodstuff.
Baoum is very sick, his family said in a release.
May 3, 2008
Alsahwa.net -Yemeni NGOs denounced Saturday political activists arrests in Aden, Dhala’a, Abayan, lahj, Hadhramout , Taiz and the secretariat capital .
In a sit-in , they expressed their refusal to attempts of militarizing civil life, imposing state of undeclared emergency and passing laws which aims to marginalize democracy.
In a statement, they declared their solidarity with political prisoners who were detained in a way which is inconsistent with all international conventions, demanding to immediately free top leaders of the Yemeni Social Parties Ali Monasar, Hassan Ba Oam , Yahya Ghalib as well as the comedian Fahd al-Qarni.
UN official reveals Yemen’s urgent need of 5 thousand midwives
Tuesday, 06-May-2008
Almotamar.net - Public Health and Population Undersecretary Jamila al-Raee stressed Tuesday the necessity of paying attention to midwives working in the rural villages due to their important role in reducing fatality of mothers and children. She affirmed readiness of the ministry to approve the employment description of the midwives in addition to beginning soon a national project for training and qualification of midwives.Al-Raee remarks came in her address to the ceremony given Tuesday by the National Society for Midwives in Yemen.
On his part the representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Yemen Hans Obdein mentioned in his address that Yemen urgently needs 5 thousand midwives of the total needed number of 20 thousand midwives to face expected averages of mothers fatalities. He said that the latest statistics point out that there is one midwife for every 12 thousand women in the governorates of Yemen. He said in the capital there is one midwife for every 900 women, pointing out that is reflected on raising the average of mother fatalities to 365 women out of every one-hundred thousand live birth.
Chairwoman of the National Society of the Yemeni Midwives Huda Jahlan said the midwives are the first key for offering reproductive health services and the health of the mother and the newly born as well as the health of the family. She said that since its establishment in 2004 the society managed to increase the number of midwives joining the society from 117 to 241 in December in 2007.
The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a new report on situation in Sa’ada during the period from September 2007 to March 2008 that many parts of Sa’ada governorate in Northern Yemen have not yet recovered from four years of conflict between the Yemeni armed forces and the “Believing Youth” fighters.
“More than 60′000 persons are still affected and enduring the consequences of the conflict,” it said. “They are in critical need of humanitarian assistance.”
The ICRC said it maintains its presence in the governorate and it continues to operate in affected areas in cooperation with the Yemen Red Crescent Society (YRCS).
ICRC activities are currently operated by the Sub Delegation in Sa’ada governorate where 11 international and 30 national staff are based. They are working in close cooperation with the Yemen Red Crescent Society (YRCS),” it said.
The ICRC is progressively expanding its activities and boosting its response capacity in different fields in Sa’ada governorate to help meet the acute humanitarian needs of the affected population; the displaced, returnees and vulnerable residents who are giving shelter to the displaced, it said.
It said that from September 2007 to March 2008, the ICRC, in cooperation with YRCS branch in Sa’ada, assisted over 80′000 persons with emergency aids like clean drinking water and health care for people in affected population.
Fighting in Saada displaced 50 thousand people, report
Topic: Local News
A local report reveals that more than 50 thousand people are homeless, epidemic and infectious disease are spread and many schools are closed as a result of the last war between Houthi rebels and the army in Saada province.
The Human Rights Report for 2007 issued by the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights says more than 114 buildings including 4 mosques and health centers were transferred to military barracks.
“79 houses were completely destroyed and 74 houses partially destroyed. Also, 5 mosques and 8 schools were partially damaged,” the report added.
According to the report, many members of Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and al-Houthi supporters were arrested or disappeared.
The report says some 286 people have been lost since the conflict began in 2004 and about 2000 people were arrested in the last war.
The report adds that the detentions were taken place in Sa’ada, Sana’a, Amran, Hajja, Dhammar and Hudeidah. Some 370 people are put in prison for illegal justifications, the report adds.
Some detainees were exposed to psychological and physical torture and humiliating and inhuman treatment. A lot of detainees were put in small and poorly-ventilated prison cells, the report says.
The report points out that Hesham Hajr is one of the victims of violations because the detention bodies refused to transfer him to hospital.
A program of forced conversion:
Two children imprisoned due to personal disagreement
May 7, 2008
Alsahwa.net – Tow children, Monif ,13-year-old, and Saddam , 15-year-old, were held in Sana’a .They were enforced to confess to the theft under torture due to personal disagreement between their father and a police station director .The children’s father accused the director of dispatching soldiers to kidnap Monif, hold him for three days and torture him to confess to malicious charges.
He appealed the Information Minister and the Attorney-General to investigate the case and hold the police station officer accountable.
Yikes, the Yemen Times describes his beating and torture. The kid is 13.
He continued, “The police came, took me to their vehicle where they tied my mouth tightly and then took me to Al-Dhafan Police Station. As soon as we arrived, the station head and his escorts beat my back and the bottom of my feet with wires, seeking to force my confession that I was a thief. They accused me of stealing car batteries and electric meters from homes.”
He says that due to the unbearably severe torture, he told them he would confess so that they might let him down from the table where he was being tortured and not torture him any more, but when he told them that he was innocent, the torture resumed.
“It wasn’t enough for them to beat me with wires,” Muneef complained, “One of them slapped my face several times and another bit my arm.”
Muneef’s father told the Yemen Times that the station head had called to tell him that Muneef is wanted on an accusation of stealing the car battery of a resident in his neighborhood.
“The moment the station head called me, I took my son to South Sana’a Prosecution, which transferred him to Juvenile Prosecution, where he was released after being proven innocent,” his father said, maintaining that he wasn’t informed that police had taken Muneef the second time.
Southern activist Hassan Baoum is seriously ill and has been transferred to a police hospital his family reports. Baoum is on a hunger strike in protest of his “illegal arrest” on April 1, 2008. He has had a diabetic reaction and his blood pressure is very high. He is chained to the bed and has not been allowed visitors since his arrest.
Yemen rounded up opposition political leaders on April 1 in response to several days of riots that caused extensive damage to government buildings and vehicles. The Yemeni military deployed dozens of tanks, armored vehicles and fighter jets into the southern Yemeni governorates
Security and military squads raided homes and opposition political parties’ premises in Aden, Dhalei, Radfan, Abyan, and Mukalah. Dozens of opposition political figures were arrested at their homes at dawn. Witnesses said the men were pulled from their bedrooms and beaten. Most are now incommunicado at various military camps.
Leaders of the Retired Army Association including Abdu Al-Maatri, and Hassan Baoum were arrested. Baoum who was previously arrested in September 2007, held incommunicado and released in December. Ali Munasar, the head of the Yemeni Socialist Party in Aden was also arrested. The government announced it would strike the demonstrators with an iron fist. The arrest of the men prompted another wave of protests throughout the southern governorates where large demonstrations have become commonplace. The demonstrations are prompted by institutionalized discrimination following Yemen’s 1994 civil war.
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Yemen Times
According to a 2006 estimate by UNICEF, 60 million marriages occurred worldwide before the age of 18, while in the Middle East, which includes Yemen, there were 3.3 million marriages before age 18, said Naseem Al-Rahman, chief of communications and advocacy for UNICEF-Yemen.
He further noted that in Yemen, 365 out of 100,000 women annually die in childbirth, often because their bodies are too young and immature to endure labor.
“Parents believe that the earlier and sooner they marry off their daughters, the better off they’ll be and hence, they are rid of the responsibility, so this is forcing young girls to marry while they’re still immature and not ready to become mothers,” Al-Rahman added.
Regarding early marriage in Yemen, general health expert Dr. Abdullah Al-Kamil says some studies assure and focus that nearly 25 percent of girls under age 15 marry in Yemen, while the other 25 percent marry between ages 11 and 15, 70 percent of whom live in rural areas.
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