Stop the Inquisition of the Baha’is
As the war rages on in Yemen, the noose around the Baha’is tightens. In the most severe repression of their religious freedoms, a Houthi controlled court in Sana’a tried to unjustly uphold the death sentence against the Yemeni Baha’i national Hamed bin Haidara. The court had sentenced him to death and ordered the confiscation of his money and the closure and confiscation of funds belonging to Baha’i forums. During the appeal, the prosecution in Sana’a submitted a note in response to Hamed’s petition and asked the Appeals Division on the 17th of September to uphold the ruling of the Court to deport anyone belonging to the Baha’i religion in Yemen and the banning of entry of any of them into the country.
At the hearing held on the 1st of October, and before the defense could respond to the prosecutor’s memorandum, the court decided to withhold Hamed’s and the Baha’i forum’s funds. A dangerous and concerning indication came when the court assigned a judicial guard to the funds, which indicated to the existence of a precedent intention to uphold the initial sentence.
These unfair judicial procedures confirm the oppression of freedoms under the control of the Houthi group in Yemen, which seeks to suppress all religious offenders and confiscate their funds. This in turn will eliminate any opportunity for diversity in the country.
The exploitation of the judiciary system in order to achieve special interests is extremely dangerous. It does not only waste the rights of others, but also establishes future deviations that threaten social security and shared peace. Attempting to confiscate Baha’i money may also be the work of a group of corruption lobbies that have found a fertile environment for growth under the rule of the Houthi militant group, which seeks to acquire the funds and properties of the Baha’is, at the expense of innocent Yemeni citizens.
This trial draws to mind the inquisitions of the Middle Ages as well as what the Iranian regime is doing, especially when it comes to suppressing Baha’is, where they are being tried, executed, expelled, abused and had their funds confiscated.
We at INSAF Center call upon the Houthi group to review its policy and to not use the judiciary system as a tool to suppress members of society outside their group. We also call upon them to respect the choices of others when it comes to their faith, to release Baha’i detainees, and to realize that they are Yemeni citizens, and according to the Constitution and the law, no person can be exiled from their land under any pretext. As for the international community, we call upon them to exert pressure on the Houthi group for the immediate release of all innocent Baha’i detainees that have been unfairly imprisoned, as it has previously freed fighters from its adversaries.
A Statement of Solidarity with the Street Cleaners of Taiz
Society gave the profession of street cleaning to the Muhamasheen (marginalized) not as a favor, but because society itself thinks that this profession is beneath it, and that – from their point of view – the Muhamasheen are the only ones capable of doing this work. Despite this inferiority view and very low wages, the Muhamasheen have worked hard with conviction and have made our streets clean and beautiful. Yet, they are deprived of these meager wages from time to time, and when they try to demand their dues are met with violence, insults and beatings.
The last of these brutal attacks occurred on October 18th in Taiz, where the authorities of the legitimate government brutally assaulted street cleaners on strike. As a result of this unjustified violence, a Muhamasheen women had a miscarriage, and was taken to the hospital after the incident.
These workers’ rights were not only confiscated by the authorities, but they sought to force them to go back to work, as if they were dealing with slaves rather than government employees, who did their duty in exchange for what were supposed to be fundamental rights. These attempts were followed by violent beatings using hands and batons and military forces to carry out this brutal violation.
We at INSAF strongly condemn this behavior by the authorities, which exacerbates the tragedy of the Muhamasheen, and presents society with bad examples of how to interact with them. We demand that everyone join forces to fight this injustice, because it affects all of us. Our silence on the matter means our silence on everything that is going on and will happen to us and everyone in society.
https://insaf-ye.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Taiz-1.mp4
Video showing the assault on the Muhamasheen (marginalized) to dismantle their Sit-In
The Detention of an Elderly Baha’i Man
While Yemenis live in tragic conditions due to the war, siege and the tragedy that this catastrophe has created in all aspects of life, detainees and prisoners face dire conditions. While the country is in a state of destruction and siege, these detainees and prisoners face the pain of living in their cells within this larger incarceration, especially since the various parties in this conflict do not abide by any ethics, laws or customs that govern their behavior towards their opponent’s detainees.
In light of this tragic situation, INSAF has learned that the detainee Badia’ Allah Sanayi (aged 78), who is a prisoner of the Houthi authorities in Sana’a, is in dire health and is in need of urgent health care, as his critical condition and age require direct intervention in order to save his life. Sanayi (who belongs to the Baha’i sect) was arrested by the Houthis in April 2017, after his son was arrested half a month prior to that. However, the Houthis released the son in December 2017 as a result of international pressure, due to the fact that he was an employee of the Red Cross, but refused to release his ailing father.
Badia’ Allah Sanayi is well known for his 40 plus years of serving the country in the field of urban planning. He was a consultant to the Minister of Works, and is considered to be one of the first civil engineers to help in the planning of urban areas, and has helped plan the area of Al-Sabeen in Sana’a. As a result, he was granted a Yemeni citizenship.
We at INSAF, call upon the de facto authorities in Sana’a to release Sanayi as soon as possible due to his critical health situation, which calls for urgent intervention to save his life. We also call for the need to stop the systematic targeting imposed on him and his fellow Baha’is. This call is also directed at all human right activists as well as local and international organizations to apply press on the Houthi authorities in order to release the detainee and save his life.
The Murder of a Minority Woman in the Governorate of Ibb
In a tragedy that reflects not only the frightening reality of the lives of minorities in Yemen, but also the enormity of what minorities have been subjected to for centuries. Huda Abdullah Al-Bahrani, a thirty years old woman passed away on 19/8/2019, after being stabbed over 22 times using a military dagger in various parts of her body, guilty only of belonging to an oppressed minority.
According to sources affiliated with INSAF, Noureddine Ghalib Ali Fare’a Al-Selmi killed Huda – his stepmother – who was a recent mother to a 40-day old baby girl. Our source informed us that Ghaleb Ali Farea al-Salmi – the Accused’s father – a resident of al-Jabjab, in al-Hazm distric Ibb Governorate, had asked for Huda’s hand in marriage. However, Huda’s father refused to accept because he knew that it was difficult for a girl from minority backgrounds to associate with a man from a different class, seeing that intermarriage between the two classes is considered to be a violation of the laws and customs of the society. A society in which racism, superiority and contempt for this minority has always been sanctified.
However, with the man’s persistence, Huda’s father eventually accepted, thinking that this initiative might actually help break the chains of these old beliefs and stereotypes. Nevertheless, Ghaleb’s family did not feel the same way and did not approve of this marriage and considered it a violation of their family’s honor. They treated her with hostility, contempt, and intimidation, which in the end lead to her death by the hands of her husband’s son.
We at INSAF condemn this heinous crime against this innocent woman in the strongest terms possible. We would also like to reiterate the importance of promoting social awareness of equality among all members of society regardless of the color of their skin, tribe, race or lineage. We demand that the murderer be punished to the full extent of the law, for not only being guilty of taking the life of an innocent human being, but of also promoting hatred, racism and contempt for the rest of humanity.
Events of Aden – August 2019
With the armed conflict in Yemen escalating and taking on new dimensions, these events were reflected upon innocent and vulnerable citizens of minority and disadvantaged groups in society with more abuses paid by them. INSAF Center for Freedoms & Minorities has followed the bloody events in Aden in southern Yemen during the past few days and the ensuing results since the beginning of August 2019, where many violations against innocent people have been recorded. Moreover, what the President of the Southern Transitional Council, Mr. Aidrous al-Zubaidi, said in his speech at the Aden Satellite Channel on 11 August 2019 is establishing a general approach that is systematically targeting minorities, where he clearly stated that: “To our surprise, and the surprise of international and regional organizations in Aden was the emergence of sleeper cells from marginalized and African immigrants who were recruited by the Presidential Protection Brigades through assigning numbering to them, salaries and arming them to participate in battles based on their orders, which indicates the advanced preplanning of this failed action, which rebounded back on them.”
This speech gives the green light to target the marginalized people of African descent in the city of Aden, and makes them a legitimate target to those who listen to this statement who he describes as terrorists, mercenaries and fighters with the Presidential Protection Brigades. It is unacceptable to generalize a sentence to a certain group of people, let alone without a trial or legal proceedings, even if some members of these units were found to be of marginalized or African descent as he claims. There are hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens of the same descent, and speeches of this nature give direct induction to target them and give sufficient justification to harm them.
We at INSAF Center for Freedoms & Minorities appeal to the Presidency of the Transitional Council to be at the level of assuming its legal responsibilities and to protect the minority civilians from any aggressions that may be inflicted upon them by this or any other speech. We also appeal to the rest of the local, international and governmental organizations to take on their responsibilities as well to face any aggressions that may endanger the life, freedom or human dignity of these minorities.
The Detention of an Elderly Baha’i Man
While Yemenis live in tragic conditions due to the war, siege and the tragedy that this catastrophe has created in all aspects of life, detainees and prisoners face dire conditions. While the country is in a state of destruction and siege, these detainees and prisoners face the pain of living in their cells within this larger incarceration, especially since the various parties in this conflict do not abide by any ethics, laws or customs that govern their behavior towards their opponent’s detainees.
In light of this tragic situation, INSAF has learned that the detainee Badia’ Allah Sanayi (aged 78), who is a prisoner of the Houthi authorities in Sana’a, is in dire health and is in need of urgent health care, as his critical condition and age require direct intervention in order to save his life. Sanayi (who belongs to the Baha’i sect) was arrested by the Houthis in April 2017, after his son was arrested half a month prior to that. However, the Houthis released the son in December 2017 as a result of international pressure, due to the fact that he was an employee of the Red Cross, but refused to release his ailing father.
Badia’ Allah Sanayi is well known for his 40 plus years of serving the country in the field of urban planning. He was a consultant to the Minister of Works, and is considered to be one of the first civil engineers to help in the planning of urban areas, and has helped plan the area of Al-Sabeen in Sana’a. As a result, he was granted a Yemeni citizenship.
We at INSAF, call upon the de facto authorities in Sana’a to release Sanayi as soon as possible due to his critical health situation, which calls for urgent intervention to save his life. We also call for the need to stop the systematic targeting imposed on him and his fellow Baha’is. This call is also directed at all human right activists as well as local and international organizations to apply press on the Houthi authorities in order to release the detainee and save his life.
The Murder of a Minority Woman in the Governorate of Ibb
In a tragedy that reflects not only the frightening reality of the lives of minorities in Yemen, but also the enormity of what minorities have been subjected to for centuries. Huda Abdullah Al-Bahrani, a thirty years old woman passed away on 19/8/2019, after being stabbed over 22 times using a military dagger in various parts of her body, guilty only of belonging to an oppressed minority.
According to sources affiliated with INSAF, Noureddine Ghalib Ali Fare’a Al-Selmi killed Huda – his stepmother – who was a recent mother to a 40-day old baby girl. Our source informed us that Ghaleb Ali Farea al-Salmi – the Accused’s father – a resident of al-Jabjab, in al-Hazm distric Ibb Governorate, had asked for Huda’s hand in marriage. However, Huda’s father refused to accept because he knew that it was difficult for a girl from minority backgrounds to associate with a man from a different class, seeing that intermarriage between the two classes is considered to be a violation of the laws and customs of the society. A society in which racism, superiority and contempt for this minority has always been sanctified.
However, with the man’s persistence, Huda’s father eventually accepted, thinking that this initiative might actually help break the chains of these old beliefs and stereotypes. Nevertheless, Ghaleb’s family did not feel the same way and did not approve of this marriage and considered it a violation of their family’s honor. They treated her with hostility, contempt, and intimidation, which in the end lead to her death by the hands of her husband’s son.
We at INSAF condemn this heinous crime against this innocent woman in the strongest terms possible. We would also like to reiterate the importance of promoting social awareness of equality among all members of society regardless of the color of their skin, tribe, race or lineage. We demand that the murderer be punished to the full extent of the law, for not only being guilty of taking the life of an innocent human being, but of also promoting hatred, racism and contempt for the rest of humanity.
Events of Aden – August 2019
With the armed conflict in Yemen escalating and taking on new dimensions, these events were reflected upon innocent and vulnerable citizens of minority and disadvantaged groups in society with more abuses paid by them. INSAF Center for Freedoms & Minorities has followed the bloody events in Aden in southern Yemen during the past few days and the ensuing results since the beginning of August 2019, where many violations against innocent people have been recorded. Moreover, what the President of the Southern Transitional Council, Mr. Aidrous al-Zubaidi, said in his speech at the Aden Satellite Channel on 11 August 2019 is establishing a general approach that is systematically targeting minorities, where he clearly stated that: “To our surprise, and the surprise of international and regional organizations in Aden was the emergence of sleeper cells from marginalized and African immigrants who were recruited by the Presidential Protection Brigades through assigning numbering to them, salaries and arming them to participate in battles based on their orders, which indicates the advanced preplanning of this failed action, which rebounded back on them.”
This speech gives the green light to target the marginalized people of African descent in the city of Aden, and makes them a legitimate target to those who listen to this statement who he describes as terrorists, mercenaries and fighters with the Presidential Protection Brigades. It is unacceptable to generalize a sentence to a certain group of people, let alone without a trial or legal proceedings, even if some members of these units were found to be of marginalized or African descent as he claims. There are hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens of the same descent, and speeches of this nature give direct induction to target them and give sufficient justification to harm them.
We at INSAF Center for Freedoms & Minorities appeal to the Presidency of the Transitional Council to be at the level of assuming its legal responsibilities and to protect the minority civilians from any aggressions that may be inflicted upon them by this or any other speech. We also appeal to the rest of the local, international and governmental organizations to take on their responsibilities as well to face any aggressions that may endanger the life, freedom or human dignity of these minorities.