Brian Whitaker's blog, September 2010

Hisham Talaat Moustafa, the Egyptian billionaire and prominent member of the ruling party who paid a hitman $2 million to kill Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim, has finally escaped the gallows.

Last year Moustafa was sentenced to death for the crime, along with the hitman, a former Egyptian police officer.

Because of the publicity that surrounded the murder, it was difficult for the Egyptian authorities to avoid taking action against Moustafa, despite his status. Following his initial trial and the death sentences, manoeuvrings began to save him from execution (here and here) – including talk of paying $125 million in blood money to Tamim's family.

Eventually a re-trial was ordered and yesterday the judge unexpectedly pronounced sentence (without hearing the summing up from defence lawyers): 15 years for Moustafa and a life sentence for the hitman.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 29 September 2010. Comment

The battle against cyber-jihad

New research suggests closing down extremist Islamic websites is no substitute for directly challenging their religious ideology. (Read more at Comment Is Free.)

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 29 September 2010. Comment

Call to abolish Yemen's media court

The Committee to Protect Journalists has today released a
damning report on the Yemeni government's efforts to restrict press freedom. It looks in some detail at the legislative and administrative measures as well as extra-judicial violence against journalists.

In particular, it calls for the abolition of the Special Press and Publications Court (which in any case appears to be in breach of Yemen's constitution).

The CPJ also calls on donor countries to put pressure on Yemen over its harassment of the media. I doubt, though, that the international Friends of Yemen group will able to present a united front on this issue. The Friends of Yemen includes the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries which tend to share President Salih's views when it comes to dealing with troublesome journalists.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 29 September 2010. Comment

That photo again

From the Egyptian daily, al-Masry al-Youm:

Chairman of al-Ahram newspaper Abdel-Monem Saeed said he has not received any complaints from authorities concerning the publishing of a Photoshopped picture of leaders in negotiations held recently in Washington to put Mubarak ahead of the other leaders.

So that's all right then. The Egyptian authorities don't mind al-Ahram altering photographs to exaggerate the importance of President Mubarak on the world stage. But hasn't it occurred to Abdel-Monem Saeed to consider what his readers think?

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 September 2010. Comment

Militants leave besieged town

The six-day siege of al-Hawta (Hota, Huta) in southern Yemen ended yesterday with an official announcement that the army had cleared suspected al-Qaeda fighters from the town.

The huge operation, involving tanks, artillery, air strikes and 1,500 troops may have been intended to show donor countries (who were meeting in New York yesterday) that Yemen is seriously tackling al-Qaeda, but it doesn't appear to have been much of a success militarily.

The official line is that the militants fled, with the army pursuing them into the mountains. However, AP says:

"Tribal chiefs in the area said they had negotiated an end to the siege and persuaded the militants to leave peacefully. The chiefs, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal, said the army entered the town without fighting after the militants had already left."

Presumably it's only a matter of time before they return, or pop up somewhere else.

Meanwhile Reuters, AFP and AP all have reports on the Friends of Yemen meeting in New York. The reports talk mainly in terms of generalities, though there's a telling comment from Alan Duncan, Britain's minister of state for international development, who told reporters that about $3 billion promised at a donors' conference in 2006 has still not been spent in Yemen "because the country has not been able to show the capacity to use the funds".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 September 2010. Comment

Deeper into the mire

Abdel-Monem Said, chairman of al-Ahram, the leading pro-government newspaper in Egypt, has issued a statement headed: "The Ahram 'photo' and the Western media's reaction".

This is in response to criticism of the doctored photograph which purported to show President Mubarak striding through the White House ahead of Barack Obama and others at the recent peace talks.

The chairman's statement rambles on through 11 points, some of them amounting to a semi-justification (there were various clues such as "salient points" in bold type which apparently might have indicated to readers that this was not an original news photograph, etc, etc).

The resulting furore over the picture was not al-Ahram's fault, according to Dr Moneim, but was due to the (western) media's "thirst for sensation" and "a campaign of vilification against al-Ahram".

He ends by acknowledging that there is "a great deal that needs to be done" to put al-Ahram in order but that this will be "a long and arduous undertaking".

In fact, it was not the western media but a sharp-eyed Egyptian blogger who started the story rolling, and the paper continues to be ridiculed by ordinary Egyptians (here and here).

Someone should tell Dr Moneim that his statement is a classic example of what not to do in this kind of situation: don't mess about with feeble defences – just come clean and say you are sorry.

Instructing staff not to mislead leaders with doctored photographs in future is scarcely "a long and arduous undertaking".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 24 September 2010. Comment

Yemeni forces launch major assault

More than 1,500 Yemeni troops launched a major offensive yesterday against the southern town of Hota (Huta, Hawta) which they have been besieging since Sunday. Xinhua news agency quotes a local counter-terrorism official as saying:

"The massive offensive started with ... air raids and a partial drop of paratroopers from the counter-terrorism units behind al-Qaeda militants' lines to tighten the siege and capture key points on the suburb's roads leading into the town ...

"The offensive was designed to firstly bomb al-Qaeda hideouts by aircraft to flush out their snipers and fighters out of crowded houses ..."

Originally, 80-100 militants were said to be holed up in the town, though there are suggestions that their number may have since increased to as many as 300.

AP says the government forces have so far failed to break down the town's defences:

In one attempt, Yemeni troops tried to repel from helicopters into the village but met with fierce resistance, two Hawta residents said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they fear for their security. They said four soldiers were wounded and were rushed away in ambulances.

In another attempt, six soldiers were wounded by militant sniper fire as they tried to mount barricades put up by the militants on the town's outskirts, local officials said.

Medical officials confirmed that nine soldiers are being treated at the provincial hospital.

A military official said the militants are using sniper fire and land mines to keep the soldiers at bay, forcing the army to adjust its tactics.

The government says security forces have "captured 28 persons of terrorist elements and those suspected of their affiliation with al-Qaeda".

Thousands of civilians have fled the town, though several thousand remain, and the authorities say militants are using them as human shields by preventing them from leaving.

The news reports generally accept the government's claim that it is fighting al-Qaeda in Huta, though Amnesty International is not so sure. In a statement yesterday it said: "Several inhabitants of neighbouring areas have told Amnesty International that the suspected militants are actually armed tribesmen with grievances against the government."

Al-Qaeda is undoubtedly active in the area, but so too are the southern separatists.

In remarks quoted by AFP, Ali Salem al-Baid, one of the exiled southern leaders, described the campaign against the militants in Huta as a bid to secure funding from donors at the international
Friends of Yemen meeting that is due to be held in New York this Friday:

The campaign is aimed at securing "financial assistance under the pretext of fighting terrorism," Baid said.

The Yemeni government is using al-Qaeda as a pretext to subjugate the south and "silence the voice of the free south and its peaceful independence movement," he said.

"We invite the sponsors and participants from the Friends of Yemen conference to explore the facts for themselves and see the reality of the tragic situation in south Yemen," Baid added.

I don't often agree with al-Baid, but I think he may be right to suggest that the Huta military offensive, and its scale in particular, should be viewed in the context of the New York meeting.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 23 September 2010. Comment

Siege of Yemeni town continues

As many as 15,000 civilians have now fled al-Hota (Huta), the southern Yemeni town which has been besieged by the military since Sunday.

Between 80 and 100 al-Qaeda militants are said to be holed up in the town (estimated population 20,000-25,000) and the surrounding area. It appears that the army has been shelling from a distance of 1-2km but is waiting for reinforcements before entering.

AFP says a tribal attempt at mediation to end the hostilities has been unsuccessful.

News Yemen reports that a tribal leader, Sheikh Abdel-Wahid Mansour, who was injured during clashes in the area on Saturday, has died in hospital. AFP suggests he was killed by militants.

There has been some speculation that the objective of the siege is to capture Anwar al-Awlaki, the wanted Yemeni-American preacher, but this has been officially denied. A spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington says the military operation is in response to a recent attempted attack on a liquefied natural gas pipeline.

If this is the real reason, the military response seems extraordinarily disproportionate – unless the pipeline attack, which occurred on Monday last week, was a lot more serious than some reports at the time suggested.

Oil pipelines have often been attacked in Yemen but apparently this was the first attack directed at the LNG pipeline, on which the country is pinning a lot of economic hopes as oil production declines.

A Reuters report last week, quoting an unnamed official, described the attack as a failure: "The militants threw hand grenades which fell metres away from the pipeline and pumping was not affected." Dow Jones had a similar report, saying the damage was "minor".

However, Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, quoted a provincial police officer as saying a large number of bombs were used, causing a huge fire and cutting off the LNG supply.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 22 September 2010. Comment

Photoshopping in Washington

Don't you just love Egyptian humour? Following the al-Ahram debacle, when a sharp-eyed blogger spotted that the leading pro-government newspaper had doctored a photo to show President Mubarak apparently leading the way along a corridor in the White House, it seems that anyone can now get in on the act. [Acknowledgements to The Angry Arab.]

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 21 September 2010. Comment

Thousands flee Yemen attack

Between 8,000 and 12,000 people have fled their homes in al-Hota, southern Yemen, in what is said to be a battle between government forces and al-Qaeda militants, according to Red Crescent sources in the area.

The town, in Shabwa province, has reportedly been subjected to heavy shelling, with five houses and two mosques destroyed since fighting broke out on Sunday.

Judging from the reports so far, this is very similar to the battle in Lawdar (Abyan province) last month when thousands also fled their homes.

It's not clear what prompted the latest government onslaught but the timing of it does look a bit suspicious. The US is currently debating a Centcom proposal to give Yemen $1.2 billion in military aid over the next six years and Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan was in Yemen yesterday discussing cooperation between the two countries in the fight against al-Qaeda.

The international Friends of Yemen group – set up in January to assist the country with its multiple problems – is also due to hold its first official meeting in New York on Friday.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 21 September 2010. Comment

Bahrain citizenship revoked

In the continuing crackdown in Bahrain, Ayatollah Hussein al-Najati – a prominent Shia religious figure – has been stripped of his citizenship. The passports of his wife and three children have also been revoked.

Najati is the local representative of the Iraqi grand ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani.

According to Arab News, Najati's citizenship was revoked because he had not obtained Bahraini nationality "through the appropriate legal means". The paper says that Najati, who was born in Bahrain, had been granted citizenship under political reforms by the king in 2001.

Simultaneously, Kuwait – which is also fearful of its Shia community – has revoked the citizenship of activist Yasser al-Habeeb. Habeeb, who lives in London, has been accused of trying to trigger sectarian tensions. Remarks he made recently about Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet, led to a ban on public gatherings in Kuwait.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 21 September 2010. Comment

Assassination attempt in Yemen

In Yemen, the deputy governor of Abyan province, Ahmed al-Rahawi, survived an assassination attempt yesterday when his convoy was ambushed in al-Rai district of Jaar.

AFP says a roadside bomb exploded, injuring three soldiers and a fourth person who was in al-Rahawi's car. A civilian was reported wounded by gunfire.

NewYemen does not mention a bomb but says the attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the convoy.

Al-Rahawi survived an earlier assassination attempt last month.

Meanwhile, in northern Yemen, two people – a border security guard and a pro-government tribesman – were shot dead in the Barat district of al-Jawf province, according to the interior ministry.

It appears that the government and the Houthi rebels had set up rival checkpoints in the area.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 19 September 2010. Comment

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