Sign a letter to the Yemeni government protesting his upcoming sentencing.
Let Mr. al-Khaiwani and his family know you appreciate his efforts to bring democracy to Yemen.
Blog Name Origin
FDR: December 24, 1943
And today we salute our unseen allies in occupied countries, the underground resistance groups and the Armies of Liberation. They will provide potent forces against our enemies...... There have always been cheerful idiots in this country who believed that there would be no more war for us if everybody in America would only return into their homes and lock their front doors behind them.
HST: May 8, 1945
They have violated their churches, destroyed their homes, corrupted their children, and murdered their loved ones. Our Armies of Liberation have restored freedom to these suffering peoples, whose spirit and will the oppressors could never enslave.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
ARTICLE I: TERMS OF ACCEPTANCE
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We believe that democracy and freedom have an expensive price…
Thank you very much for this campaign, which comes in the context of the overall values that we believe, and they punish us when we believe those values and adopt them. I do not want to talk about myself, but rather the environment that we live in and suffering we endure from the inconsistency between what the authorities announce about democracy and freedoms, and what happens when we believe in those same things, democracy and freedoms.
They want us to practice our rights as they understand them, but we do it ideally. The regime said that democracy is the way of ruling, but when we try to practice our rights within this concept, criticizing the way that the regime governs and how they act, then they deal with us in a way that has no relation to democracy. They deal with us as outlaws. They use all of the state’s resources to attack anyone who has any opinions not corresponding with their opinions, and to attack those who even discuss their way of ruling.
What I am suffering and facing is part of the price I and many others pay for the democracy and freedom we hope to achieve in the future. At least we are preparing for a healthy environment that we want the next generation to live in. We believe that democracy and freedom have an expensive price, and this is a part of that price.
However that doesn’t mean we will keep silent and bend, as it is the price. We will refuse injustice peacefully. Solidarity is a way to enhance new civil values which support the democracy we will make with our sacrifice and with the support of others. We pay the price of the freedom for ourselves and for the generations after us. Again, thank you very much for your help and support.
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super short version: Sign here. Its a letter campaign to the Yemeni government, US and EU for Yemeni journalist al-Khaiwani who may be sentenced to death in two weeks for insulting the president. We can’t have that. No. So sign a letter here.
Update: Side bar widget available ( thanks Vicky) Write me for the code: jane.novak@gmail.com
Sana’a - Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Ottri arrived in Sana’a today heading his country delegation to Yemeni-Syrian Higher Committee works which is to kick off tomorrow.
The Syrian Premier was welcomed by prime minister Muhamed Mujawar, Fish wealth minister, Syrian ambassador to Sana’a and number of Shura and Parliamnt council’s members.
Yemen and Syria Cooperation
Almotamar.net - Yemen and Syria affirmed Saturday their support for the efforts exerted for the establishment of security and peace in the Middle East and the necessity of pursuing dialogue as a means of understanding and solving regional disputes and differences and for the establishment of the just and comprehensive peace based on the principle of land for peace and resolutions of the international legitimacy.
In meetings of the Yemeni-Syrian Higher Joint Committee held in Sana’a Saturday co-chaired by Yemen’s Prime Minister Dr Ali Mohammed Mujawar and his Syrian counterpart Mohammed Naji Atra, the two sides also put emphasis on Iraq’s unity and preservation of its Arab identity and the rejection of any act aimed to impinge its unity and integrity of its territories. –> Read more
President Saleh has handed the responsibility of solving the Saa’da crisis to Sheikh Hussein Al-Ahmar, Head of the National Solidarity Council. Saleh has asked Ahmar to finalize the differences between both sides and ensure that peace fills the region of Sa’ada. This comes after the previous two committees responsible for the peace negotiations between the government and Houthi loyalists have failed over the past year, as casualties continue to rise weekly.
Houthi field officer Abdul Malik Al-Houthi welcomed the move by President Saleh and hoped that the outcomes are fruitful now that Ahmar is head of the committee.
Most members of the new committee assigned by Saleh are members of the National Solidarity Council. This is considered the third mission President Saleh has asked Sheikh Ahmar to intervene and help solve over the last two months including the Ja’ashin and South issues that Ahmar has solved.
Turning back to Sa’ada, escalation from all angles took place as fifty people were killed and nearly one hundred and twenty injured as locals in Sa’ada witnessed the start of a sixth war in the war torn governorate.
A local source told the Yemen Post that violent clashes are ongoing in different areas of Sa’ada province where casualties for Sunday exceeds 15 deaths and over 45 injured.
The source added that Houthis have become stronger especially when their fellow rebels were released from government prisons. Meanwhile, Houthi followers are surrounding a government complex in Munabeh district.
Further, government forces are also surrounding a large group of Houthi loyalist in Saa’da according to sources.
On Saturday, three Yemeni security soldiers were killed and another two injured in an attack that targeted a control center located in the northwest part of the city. In separate clashes, eight Houthi loyalists were killed in continuous clashes in the city as the death toll increases everyday from both sides.
Also, 15 people were killed and over 60 others injured, mostly soldiers when a powerful explosion rocked Suliman mosque in Sa’ada.
The explosion resulted from explosives packed into a motorbike and it was detonated when worshippers started to leave the mosque following performing Friday prayer.
The war has also caused unrest in people lives as more than 50 thousand people are homeless according to local sources. Also epidemic and infectious diseases are spread and many schools are closed. The Human Rights Report for 2007 issued by
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.
Commander of Yemeni Coast Guard Forces Administration Ali Ahmed Ras’ee is a graduate of the Police Academy, and holds a degree in law, and a high diploma in economy.
In his interview with the Yemen Post, Ras’ee points out that the support of coalition forces to the coastguard harmed the country more than it benefited. (He doesn’t get the funding he needs.) Below are the details:
Yemen Post: What are the tasks of the coastguard forces?
Ali Ras’ee: The tasks of coastguard forces are stipulated in the establishment decree, and these tasks are varied. The coastguard forces have security and not military functions, including keeping order in Yemeni ports and launching patrols in Yemeni coasts and regional waters. Other tasks are limiting illegal immigration, protecting national waters against indiscriminate fishing, protecting environment against pollution, fighting piracy, rescue and search activities. –> Read more
Sana’a, Yemen - Four soldiers were wounded in a clash with armed tribesmen in the north-western Yemeni province of Amran on Thursday, local sources said.
The sources said the shootout broke out after security forces tried to capture gunmen besieging a local government building in the Harf Sufian district of Amran.
Harf Sufian, about 150 kilometres north-west of the capital Sana’a, is on the main road linking Sana’a with the restive Saada province where skirmishes between the army and Shiite rebels have been raging on and off since 2004.
It was not immediately clear whether the gunmen were members of the Shiite rebel group.
Armed clashes between tribesmen and government forces are not unusual in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country where tribes are heavily armed.
Houthis? In Amran?
SANAA (AFP) — Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others were wounded on Thursday when they were ambushed by suspected Shiite rebel gunmen in the northwestern region of Amran, a local official said.
The attack targeted the convoy of army colonel Hamid al-Qoud as it passed through Harf Sufian market in Amran, 55 kilometres (34 miles) northwest of the capital Sanaa, the official said, requesting anonymity.
He said that the gunmen, thought to be Huthi rebels, fled the scene in a car after the attack.
Amran is on the road linking Sanaa with the rebel stronghold in Saada. The official said that police have set up roadblocks on the route in the hunt for the attackers.
More than 50 people have been killed in renewed violence between security forces and rebels over the past week, including 18 who died in a blast outside a mosque after Friday prayers six days ago.
Meanwhile, a Yemeni state security court of appeals this week reduced a jail term for a national convicted of trying to go to Iraq for jihad. Bashir Muhammad Nu’man was sentenced last week to five years in prison for using a forged passport to travel to Syria with the intention of joining Al-Qaeda. The appeals court reduced the sentence to two years in prison for Nu’man, who was said to have been arrested in Syria and extradited to Yemen in February 2007, reportedly without offering any explanation….
Some neighboring states have taken the initiative to secure their borders with Iraq. Indeed, it does not appear that Arab foreign fighters have had any success in crossing the Kuwaiti, Saudi, or Jordanian borders into Iraq.
Syria has long been considered the main access point for foreign fighters, and despite some claims that the Syrian authorities are taking steps to control that flow, it is clearly not doing enough. Likewise, Iran has been reported to be another entry point for foreign fighters, particularly for Arabs entering Iraq from Afghanistan. Until Iraq can improve security along its porous borders with Iran and Syria, the problem will remain a major impediment to Iraqi security for years to come.
A POOR, mountainous country that clings to the south-west tip of the Arabian peninsula, Yemen seems in danger of falling into Somalia’s lap. Not physically, by toppling across the Gulf of Aden that separates the countries, though some may imagine that the influx of 100,000-plus destitute Somali refugees may shift its centre of gravity. The worry is that Yemen may tilt towards becoming a failed state.
In the past few years, it has dropped to 153rd among the 177 countries listed in the UN’s human-development index, a mix of such things as life expectancy, education and average income. More than a fifth of its 22m people are malnourished. Yemen imports 75% of its food, but even so it is using up scarce water supplies so fast that the aquifers most people rely on may dry up within a decade. Increasingly, with an estimated 17m guns flooding the country, tribes are clashing over access to wells.
Yet other security problems are worse. Since 2004, a miniature war has sputtered in the far north, pitting tribesmen from the Zaidi Shia minority against the central government in Sana’a, which has used tanks and aircraft, as well as, say critics, Sunni jihadist volunteers, to subdue the rebels. Though outsiders are generally barred from the region, casualties have been estimated in the thousands, with tens of thousands of civilians forced to flee their homes. More than 50 people have been killed in the past week alone, at least 18 of them when a bomb went off by a mosque in the provincial capital, Saada.
Unrest is rising in the far south, too, where resentment simmers over alleged discrimination since formerly separate South Yemen (once the British colony of Aden plus an outlying British protectorate of emirates) united with the more populous north in 1990. Big riots hit the city of Aden last month. And there have been a spate of small-scale attacks elsewhere, including mortar fire on the American embassy in Sana’a in March and on Italy’s in April. Who was responsible is unclear. Islamist extremists related to al-Qaeda, which suffered setbacks when the government cracked down on it between 2001 and 2003, have regrouped and been reinforced by Yemeni jihadists returning from Iraq.
Yemeni opponents of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled since 1978, suspect something murkier. Though co-operating at some levels with the West against jihadist terrorism, his regime, perhaps because of its many security headaches, has lately treated Sunni Islamist radicals more softly. Terrorist suspects have recently received light sentences or been allowed to “escape” from prison. Last month Mr Saleh met Robert Mueller, head of America’s FBI, and is said to have rebuffed an appeal to hand over al-Qaeda members accused of involvement in an attack in 2000 on an American warship, the USS Cole, that killed 17 American sailors.
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.
Faysal Galab, a member of the so-called Lackwanna Six sleeper cell, was released from prison Tuesday after serving five years of a seven-year sentence.
He was one of six young men from the Yemeni-American community of Lackawanna, on the shores of Lake Erie just outside of Buffalo, N.Y., who traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to attend an al-Qaida training camp called al-Farooq.
They shot weapons, learned to make bombs and met with Osama bin Laden. After weeks at the camp, nearly all of them returned home to resume ordinary, middle-class lives, driving taxis, working at delis and pumping gas.
The Lackawanna Six are seen by American intelligence officials as the first known homegrown terrorist sleeper cell in America. Galab is the first of the men to be released from prison. He was transferred from the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana to a Detroit halfway house on April 29. –> Read more
Hadhramout compels Arab CC to get rid of its oil residues
[06 May 2008]
MUKALLA, May 06 (Saba)- Arab Contractor Co. (CC) working in oil block No. (49) in al-Dhalieah distract in Hadhramout was compelled to get of the oil residues that resulted from its work there.
This commitment came after the governor asked the company to put a mechanism to get rid of the oil residues under the supervision of oil environment experts.
During a meeting gathered deputy of Hadhrmaout Omair Mubarak and representatives of Arab CC and general director of Oil Office Salem bin Qadim, they affirmed the importance of the continuation of the company’s work in the distract.
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.
In compliance with the policy of violating the laws and in defiance to the court rulings, the ministry of information has ordered to prohibit the printing of Alwasat newspaper. This unlawful and illegal action confirms the intentions of the Minister of Information to disrupt the implementation of the existing laws and create impediments against the freedoms of speech and freedom the press.
Alwasat is shocked by the disobedience of the minister of information to execute the court’s orders, which demonstrates his acrimony against liberties, and thus shows the incredibility of the government related to its constitutional and international commitments to respect the laws and defend the liberties and freedom of press. It is contemptuous that the government has given the false impression to the donors and international community, of abiding to the laws and respecting the rulings of the judiciary, while one of its ministers is violating all the laws and showing irreverence to the judiciary.
We call on all national and international bodies, defending the freedom of press, to condemn the despicable actions of the government and one of its members, calling the regime to have the audacity to announce that the country is besieged under an undeclared state of emergency , where the constitution and freedoms are put aside and only the personal desires and wishes of are ruling the country.
The minister of information, through his disdainful actions is showing the real face of the authoritarian rule of the country.
Al-Wasat independent weekly reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Information has prevented all printers in the capital Sana’a from printing the paper challenging the rule of the court against the ministry.
“The Ministry of Information aggressive steps against al-Wasat are ongoing. It is a clear challenge against the verdict of the West Sana’a Court”.
Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) has denounced the new step of Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi and considered it “obstinacy” against judiciary.
First deputy chairman of YJS Saeed Thabet has called al-Lawzi to respect justice as he represents the executive authority. “We want the ministry to be a good example of respecting the judiciary,” said Thabet.
Editor of al-Wasat Jamal Amer said “the minister is challenging justice”. “Information Minister’s measure has destroyed positive step taken by judge as if the ministry is consistent to defame the country”, said Amer.
Some leaders in the Ministry of Information told NY they are not satisfied with the minister’s measure against al-Wasat.
The West Sana’a Court issued last Saturday a verdict against the Minister of Information’s decision for revoking the al-Wasat license. The court also fined the Ministry of Information YR 50,000 in favor of al-Wasat as legal fees.
The Minister al-Lawzi accused the paper of “undermining the country’s highest interests through harming national unity and warm relations with brotherly countries”.
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.
SANAA (Reuters) - Two Japanese tourists were kidnapped in the town of Marib in Yemen on Wednesday, a provincial government official said.
The official said the kidnappers were believed to be tribesmen and the two women were part of a group of five tourists sightseeing near the old dam of Marib, a major tourist attraction.
“They took them in their vehicle and kicked away their Yemeni driver,” he said.
Scores of holidaymakers and foreigners working in Yemen have been kidnapped over the past decade by tribesmen demanding better schools, roads and services, or the release of prisoners. Most have been released unharmed.
A Yemeni tribe abducted two foreign engineers and their Yemeni driver last year after a dispute between a local contractor and the hostages’ employer.
On October 12, 2000, two suicide bombers on an explosives laden dingy attacked a US destroyer in the Gulf of Aden, killing 17 US service members and injuring 49 others. The perpetrators of this terror plot are all free in Yemen despite being found guilty in court and sentenced to jail.
If Saudi Arabia pardoned 9/11 highjacker Mohammed Atta while imprisoning a completely innocent journalist on terrorism charges, the US would be in an uproar. But that’s exactly what is going on in Yemen. The USS Cole bombers are free. My good friend, the journalist al-Khaiwani, is on trial in terrorism court. Sentencing is May 21.
Regular readers are familiar with the Yemeni regime’s habitual accommodation of al-Qaeda terrorists, but this is a great article from the WaPo on the bombers. Besides what I’ve written, its the first comprehensive treatment of what happened to the bombers after the trial. Much of details we published on the last anniversary, but the WaPo incorporates the recent updates on the release of mastermind Jamal al-Badawi and apparently now, also Fahd al-Quso. The article also has some interesting quotes.
One thing that’s new to me is al-Nashiri was in Taiz after the bombing, but the Yemeni government insisted he was out of the country. This type of obstruction is actually quite in character with the regime’s approach to the USS Cole investigation and, generally speaking, to the murderers of US soldiers whether on the Cole or in Iraq:
Amid the friction, U.S. and Yemeni investigators soon identified the ringleader of the attack as Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national of Yemeni descent who served as al-Qaeda’s operations chief in the Arabian Peninsula.
At the time, Yemeni authorities insisted that Nashiri had fled the country before the Cole bombing. But a senior Yemeni official said that was not the case and that Yemeni investigators had located Nashiri in Taizz, a city about 90 miles northwest of Aden, soon after the attack. The official said Nashiri spent several months in Taizz, where he received high-level protection from the government. “We knew where he was, but we could not arrest him,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation.
Nashiri eventually left Yemen to prepare other attacks on U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials said. He was captured in the United Arab Emirates in November 2002 and handed over to the CIA. He was detained in the CIA’s secret network of overseas prisons until he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006.
Sooner or later attention will turn to the fact that regime affiliated persons are using tools of the state in a variety of ways to produce and facilitate suicide bombers of all nationalities that kill our troops in Iraq. In 2005-2006, over 1800 Yemeni jihaddists went to Iraq with the assistance of Yemeni military commanders and others within the Yemeni administration. That’s another part of the paradigm that needs coverage.
It’s nice to see some US governmental outrage about the release of the USS Cole bombers. The families need to know that, so do our soldiers and the rest of the country.
Q:“After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaeda operatives were responsible, we’re back to square one,” said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. “Do they have laws over there or not? It’s really frustrating what’s happening.”
A: Yes, Yemen does have laws and they are quite consistently applied. This is no anomaly. One way to discern what the laws actually are is to compare the lenient treatment of al-Qaeda with harsh treatment of a) criminals and tribal kidnappers, b) the Houthis and the 700,000 people in Sa’ada or c) the southerners and their leaders. It is often said that Saleh is bending to public pressure on the al-Qaeda issue; however he refuses to bend to public pressure on any other issue, be it the south, Sa’ada, reform or even the fuel riots. It is an alliance, whether financially or ideologically driven. To stipulate that Saleh is unable to move against al-Qaeda in any way presupposes that the movement was always or has become as powerful as the military and tribal legs of the regime. The alternate view is that Saleh chooses not to antagonize al-Qaeda because it benefits him in some way or another. The current rash of missing mortars and nightime bombings of government buildings is a result of Saleh’s policy of appeasement, one way or another.
From the article:
Yemen’s interior minister, Rashad al-Alimi, said the deal-cutting was necessary because al-Qaeda has rebuilt its networks in Yemen and is targeting the government.
“Our battle with al-Qaeda is a long one,” he said. “It isn’t our battle only. Our tragedy — and what makes things worse — is that al-Qaeda is united. And our coalition is divided, even though we have a common enemy.”
Some Yemenis have questioned whether their government has other motives. One senior Yemeni official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Badawi and other al-Qaeda members have a long relationship with Yemen’s intelligence agencies and were recruited in the past to target political opponents.
Al-Qaeda functioning as a paramilitary of the Yemeni regime at the behest of the intel agencies and their commanders raises the question of the terms of the quid pro quo.
Well then I guess Iran is not funding the Houthis, back to the Baharainis? Ah, the Kuwaitis…
Iran-Yemen-FMs
Foreign Minister Mottaki in a meeting with his Yemeni counterpart here Saturday said Iran is ready to open a new chapter in ties with Yemen.
According to Foreign Ministry Media Department, Mottaki by referring to the strategic position of Iran and Yemen said, “Iran and Yemen’s location on the two sides of the Persian Gulf create an appropriate opportunity to expand mutual cooperation and deepen sincere ties and create a new situation upon friendship and brotherhood.”
Referring to the intention of both countries’ officials in expansion of bilateral ties, Mottaki said, “By scheduling the date for holding joint economic commission, an appropriate opportunity has emerged for increasing cooperation, especially in urban planning and Iranian civil engineers participation in Yemen development and construction projects.”
Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran strategy in bilateral relations is upon cooperation in all fields and for long time.
Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Kurbi, who is in Tehran for a 2-day visit, by welcoming the expansion of cooperation between the two countries said Sana has a special intention for developing bilateral relations with Iran.
He added, “Iran and Yemen have cooperated in the fields of investment and trade and also have an important role in regional security, stability and solving problems.”
Al-Kurbi said, “Certain circles are trying to hurt our relations, so for opening a new chapter in our ties we need to increase our efforts.”
The two foreign ministers discussed ways of promoting bilateral ties and international, regional cooperation.
They also considered the latest development in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.
SANA’A: Three Yemeni policemen were killed as their checkpoint came under fire in the northwestern region of Saada, shortly after a blast killed 18 people, tribal sources said on Saturday.
The attack on the checkpoint manned by special security forces in Munbah also left two policemen wounded. Two of the assailants were killed while four others escaped, the sources told foreign news agency.
Fighting between security forces and the Shiite Huthi rebels erupted again overnight in the district of Muran, northwest of Saada, where insurgents attacked army posts with rockets, tribesmen in the region said.
Eighteen people, mostly soldiers, were killed in Yemen on Friday when a blast blamed by authorities on the insurgents exploded at the entrance to a mosque in the rebels’ stronghold.
The renewed violence deals another blow to ongoing Qatari mediation to implement a peace deal between the government and the Zaidi rebels brokered in Doha in June 2007.
More troops:
(CNN) — The government of Yemen dispatched troops and artillery to the city of Saada on Saturday after violence involving Shiite militants left 18 people dead and 48 others injured over a 24-hour period, authorities said….The attack came 24 hours after the military blamed insurgents for killing seven soldiers, AP, added, sparking extra troop deployments in the region even before Friday’s explosion.
