I don’t know about my friend Ledeen. He keeps pushing this freedom and democracy thing. Maybe he should give it a rest. But he keeps guilting me into helping try to bring human rights into obscure and supposedly hopeless places like Lebanon… scratch that… I mean Yemen. [That’s better.-ed.]
His latest idealistic foray concerns this journalist Adbulkarim al-Khaiwani who is currently in jail there for the crime of “insulting the president.” What did this insult consist of? Al-Khaiwani wrote an op-ed questioning Yemen’s President Saleh for bombing his own country and killing an estimated four hundred people. According to blogger Jane of the website Armies of Liberation:
He was prohibited from seeing his lawyer and raising a defense at his trial. His appeal has been delayed 5 times. He’s been beaten in jail, once resulting in a broken jaw. I’m not saying he’s Gandhi but I know he’s been pushing for a democratic Yemen. The Yemeni government is abusing its own laws in the way it’s treating him. He’s in jail for his opinions.
Armies of Liberation has a petition to President Saleh on behalf of al-Khaiwani and other Yemeni journalists. Perhaps readers here and other bloggers and their readers can join me in signing it.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.