Human Rights Under the Bus in Yemen

The Christmas airliner plot that originated in Yemen brought renewed focus on Yemen's counter-terror efforts, but not on the crimes against Yemeni citizens systematically committed by the Yemeni government.

Let's see what Yemeni President Saleh is getting a pass on, in exchange for temporarily going through the motions of hunting al Qaeda. There's the collective punishment of civilians in the Sa'ada war, this includes indiscriminate bombing and intentional starvation. Then there's the mass arbitrary arrests of political opponents, Hashemites and often relatives of wanted persons. In the south we have the repetitive murder of protesters by security forces and more arbitrary arrests. And, as you'd probably expect, widespread torture in prisons. Last on our list, the violent repression of the media. It is these practices that are at the root of the instability in Yemen, which Ms. Clinton referred to yesterday as a global threat. The Yemeni oligachy also loots the public budget and officials facilitate a variety of regional criminal enterprises including drug and weapons smuggling.
Jawa Report