Southern Yemeni 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. Baoum has been held incommunicato since his arrest on April 1, 2008, restrained by leg irons and handcuffs.
Yemen rounded up opposition political leaders on April 1 in response to several days of riots in southern Yemen that caused extensive damage to government buildings. The Yemeni military deployed dozens of tanks, armored vehicles and fighter jets into the southern Yemeni governorates.
The riots followed a year long series of protests in southern Yemen that have grown in size and intensity. Twenty-one protesters have been killed by Yemeni security forces since August 2007.
The demonstrations are prompted by institutionalized discrimination following Yemen’s 1994 civil war and led by former military officers who claim they were forcibly retired.
Dozens of arrests were made in Aden, Dhalei, Radfan, Abyan, and Mukalah at dawn April 1. Witnesses said the men were pulled from their bedrooms and beaten. Most are now incommunicado at various military camps.
Several leaders of the Retired Army Association including Abdu Al-Maatri and Hassan Baoum were arrested and may be charged with treason. 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 activists’ arrests prompted another wave of protests throughout the southern governorates where large demonstrations have become commonplace. Yemen’s opposition party coalition termed the governmental crack down on protests and journalists as an “undeclared state of emergency.”
For more on Yemen, see Jane Novak.
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A day later –Wednesday, November 19, 2008- the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) responded by releasing a strongly worded protest letter criticizing the Yemeni authorities.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounces this cruel campaign, which breaks all international laws and conventions, and even the Yemeni constitution. ANHRI consider this campaign a breach of democratic principles which the regime in Yemen claims to protect and adopt, and calls upon the Yemeni authorities to end the security persecution against Ali Ghanim and guarantee his integrity.” the organization said in its press release released on Wednesday, November 19, 2008.
Yemen: The authorities threaten the life of a blogger, block his blog, and cordon off his house!
Cairo 19th November 2008
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information strongly condemned today the harassment and threats against engineer Nashwan Abdu Ali Ghanim who runs a blog on Katib website http://helal08.katib.org which is now blocked in Yemen by the state security. The death threats and harassment are based on his articles about the consequences of the terrorist operation which targeted the US embassy in Yemen, and accused some political and military leaders of being involved in the attacks.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounces this cruel campaign, which breaks all international laws and conventions, and even the Yemeni constitution. ANHRI consider this campaign a breach of democratic principles which the regime in Yemen claims to protect and adopt, and calls upon the Yemeni authorities to end the security persecution against Ali Ghanim and guarantee his integrity.
It also demands the immediate withdrawal of troops surrounding the house, the investigation of his case and the immediate unblocking of his blog.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights reminds the Yemeni authorities of its obligations to the international conventions following its participation at the donor conference in 2006 as one of states adopting democracy. ANHRI also reminds the authorities in Yemen to respect article 19 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights as well as the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights for freedom of expression.
In the same context, ANHRI calls upon human rights organizations in local, regional, and international levels, and donor institutions in particular to support blogger Ghanim and exercise pressures over the Yemeni authorities to guarantee his physical integrity and end persecutions against expression and opinion activists.
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