SANA’A, June 30 — About 20 Yemeni Jews protested Monday outside the Supreme Court building in Sana’a, demanding that it uphold the final sentence of the death penalty against a Yemeni man for killing a Jewish teacher in Amran in 2008.
Moshe Al-Nahari, a teacher and well-known figure in Yemen’s Jewish community in Amran, was killed in the market by Abdulaziz Al–Abdi, a former military pilot, in December 2008.
Minister of Justice Ghazi Al-Aghbari met the representatives of the Jewish community in his office. Upon his request, the Jews submitted a written demand to the President of the Yemen Supreme Court, Judge Essam Al-Samawi, to accelerate the case, according to Ammar Al-Shami, Al-Nahari’s lawyer.
The trial will take time, due to the large number of issues considered by the Supreme Court, Al-Nahari’s relatives were told at the Supreme Court. Al-Shami believes that this case shouldn’t wait longer.
"It is a public opinion case," said Al-Shami. "The public is awaiting the sentence, because the murder was a crime against society and the Jewish community."
"He killed my husband, so he deserves to die," said Lawza Soliman, Al-Nahari's widow, adding that her family is living in fear after the murder of her husband. They have received threats from the murderer’s relatives demanding that she either accept blood money for her husband’s death or face death for her and her family.
In March 2009, the Criminal Specialized Court sentenced Al-Abdi to pay about 27,500 US dollars in blood money to the family of the murder victim. Medical reports proved that Al-Abdi was mentally unstable. The initial verdict was rejected by the relatives of Al-Nahari and the Jewish minority in Yemen. In June of the same year, the Court of Appeals sentenced Al-Abdi to the death penalty.
Al–Abdi has admitted to the murder and said before the judge that he killed Al-Nahari after he had warned all Yemeni Jews to convert to Islam or leave the country.
Up to 270 Yemeni Jews are estimated to live in Amran and Sana’a. More than 200 left Yemen to immigrate to the US and Israel after Al-Nihari’s murder.