Archive: yemen

13th January 2015
By: Brian Whitaker
In what appears to be yet another blow against religious tolerance, an Iranian member of the Bah'ai faith is to go on trial in Yemen – charged with spying for Israel. The Yemeni government news agency, Saba, reports that 51-year-old Hamid Mirza Kamali Srostani, was arrested last year in the… Read more
17th October 2014
By: Brian Whitaker
One of the less-discussed effects of political turmoil in Yemen over the last few years has been the proliferation of media. Despite widespread illiteracy, Yemen now has around 90 newspapers published weekly or more often and the state's monopoly on broadcasting has been broken; there are several… Read more
26th September 2014
By: Brian Whitaker
LAST WEEKEND Houthi fighters took over key parts of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and celebrated with a massive fireworks display. Government security forces are now said to be cooperating with them in guarding the city. This extraordinary turn of events has received scant attention from the media –… Read more
1st July 2014
By: Mareike Transfeld
The British withdrawal from Aden in 1967 left Yemen divided into two states – north and south – both of them aspiring to national unity. After a lengthy period of on/off negotiation and occasional conflicts they eventually unified in 1990. Unification soon turned sour,… Read more
18th June 2014
By: Haykal Bafana
Earlier this year, Yemen embarked on plans to create a federal state comprising six regions. For some, a "United States of Yemen" offers the best hope of preserving national unity in the face of separatist activism. Others fear it will exacerbate separatist tendencies, possibly leading to… Read more
5th April 2014
By: Brian Whitaker
Yemen is one of the least known Arab countries and one of the most misunderstood. For outsiders, it can be a baffling place – a wayward republic among the Arabian monarchies, a society that is still largely tribal (and heavily armed to boot), a place where millions while away their afternoons… Read more
13th February 2014
By: Brian Whitaker
  Click here to enlarge map   The year 1990 marked what many Yemenis hoped would be the start of a new era when the northern and southern states – relics of British and Turkish imperialism – merged into one. The British had taken Aden as a colony in 1839 and then extended their authority in the… Read more
13th November 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
An article in the Washington Post by David Ignatius reveals previously unreported French involvement in Yemen's Houthi conflict last year. It says that the Saudis asked the US for imagery from surveillance satellites to assist their bombing of rebel positions in Yemen, but this was blocked by the… Read more
22nd July 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
Hashim al-Asimi, a 20-year-old Yemeni, was heading home last Monday night when two men on a motorbike approached and shot him dead. Drive-by killings involving unlicensed motorbikes are a regular occurrence in Yemen and usually they are blamed on militants linked to al-Qaeda. Mostly, these attacks… Read more
9th June 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
On May 29, Alaa Jarban did something that no one in Yemen had ever dared to do before. Using his real name, he announced in a blog post: "I'm Queer". Alaa, a 23-year-old graduate of Sanaa University, was a prominent youth activist in the revolution that toppled President Saleh and his coming out… Read more