After many claims stating that the 10 suspected militants were tortured, a doctor will finally examine them. Eight of them are Britons of Arab and Pakistani origin and two are Algerians currently being tried for attempted terrorism, illegal possession of weapons, belonging to a militant group, and conspiring to bomb British and US owned properties in Aden.

The court decided to permit a team of doctors to be allowed to examine the suspects, who have alleged they were tortured in prison. The court, which is currently trying the extremists, said that the team of doctors should report back in two weeks. It said the foreign doctors, who should be chosen by lawyers, should be from the United States, the Netherlands, Germany or France. The three doctors should also be approved by the Yemeni Health Ministry. The defendants have been accused of forming a militant group to carry out terrorist acts in Yemen. Nine have denied the charges. The tenth, Mohammed Mustafa Kamal, son of a London-based extremist activist, has admitted to forming an armed group, but denied the other charges. Some of the defendants in the terrorist trial had alleged they were subjected to torture, and rejected a report by a government doctor who had examined them and said he did not find any evidence to support their claims. Appointing neutral doctors to examine the 10 had been a long-standing demand by defense lawyers, who on Wednesday appeared in court after threats that a court-appointed team would take over if they failed to attend. 

The defense lawyers had withdrawn last month from the case as they had fundamental differences with the prosecution and the court, "We would not return until a fair trial was guaranteed," said the defense team last month. On Wednesday the defense team repeated a request that confessions obtained by investigators should not be read in court or taken as implicating evidence as they had been taken under torture. The request has been strongly disputed by the prosecution.

 

Angry repercussions for the brutal incident that took place late March, in Sa'eed village, Rada are still raging. (See last issue of the Yemen Times) This week, the Parliament sent a formal letter to the Minister of Interior requesting that he answer the questions related to this tragic incident. The questions were sent by Mr. Mohammed Najy Alaw, a lawyer and a member of the Parliament.

In this letter, Mr. Alaw listed the crimes perpetrated by elements in the para-military Central Forces. The latest violation in the list is the rejection by the Central Forces of the Attorney General's orders to release the detainees from Saeed village. The poor villagers are being held as hostages until the alleged shooter turns himself in to the Central Forces. So far, there is no evidence that the soldier was killed by any of the villagers. On the contrary, the villagers confirm that he was shot down by a more sophisticated weapon that is commonly used by the army and Central Security forces. In any case, as Mr. Alawa points out, the central forces have no right whatsoever to punish the whole village of Saeed as the accountability for any criminal act is exclusively personal. The collective punishment has resulted in the following intolerable crimes:
- Firing at innocent villagers.
- Burning down houses.
- Looting private possessions.
- Killing the villagers cattle.
- Creating panic among the public and exposing the social peace to danger. All these are in addition to similar atrocious acts such as the death of a child because he was denied medical treatment by the attacking Police Forces.

Mr. Alaw is requesting the Minister of the Interior to take prompt action to put an end to the disgraceful brutality, reminding the Minister that such acts are not only in violation of the country's existing Criminal Procedures Act but also an affront to the Constitution, a thing which could damage the country's reputation in the issue of Human Rights and public liberties.

We of the Yemen Times hope that Mr. Alaw's request will raise the Minister's sense of responsibility to attend personally to the tragic situation in Saeed village.

By: Mohammed Abbas
Yemen Times

 

Organized by Taiz University, a workshop on evaluating and developing curriculums will be held during the period May 18-20. Dr. Ali Al-Mikhlafi told the Yemen Times that Taiz University will invite all Yemeni universities in addition to some other experts from Arab countries to this gathering which will try to address this important academic issue. At another level, the university was visited recently by a team from the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Holland. It discussed with the university administration the possibility of facilitating academic cooperation between the two sides.

As a prelude to the seminar, the Faculty of Education of Taiz University kicked off a 3-day seminar on Tuesday, Aril 13 to discuss their situation. They also discussed means of education and types of curriculums, and how to keep abreast of the modern age of technology and science. Many university professors from Aden and Ibb universities participated. The recommendations of the participants will be a spotlight in the process of promoting and developing the university curriculums.

 

The Hayel Saeed Awards for science and Arts were announced last week on Sunday, April 11th. The Award giving day is Thursday, April 22. But before that, Taiz will witness some cultural activities for three days starting from today, Monday April 19. The event will include poetry recitation by some famous Yemeni poets like Ismail Al-Wareeth, Sultan al-Suraimi, Shawqi Shafiq, Abdul Karim Al-Razihi, Mohammed Hasan Haitham, Ali Al-Maqari, Ahmad Al-Awadi, Ibrahim Al-Hadrani in addition to some young poets like Ahmad Al-Shalafi and Salwa Al-Qadasi, Ahmad Al-Flahi and others.

A seminar on the papers and experiments that won the Awards will be held on Wednesday, April 21. Dr. Yasin Abdul Aleem Al-Qubati, winner of 1997 Award, and Dr. Abdul Rahman Thabet, winner of the 1998 Award will participate in this seminar. All these cultural activities will be held at Al-Thulaya Hall, Faculty of Arts, Taiz University.

By: MohammedAl-Qadhi
Taiz Office Editor