Yemeni Journalist Puts His Life On The Line For Freedom
Our friend Vicki over at NotReadyForMyBurqua has alerted us to a story that isn’t getting enough publicity. Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani is a journalist who is being tried and possibly executed for daring to part from the government line – he has insulted his president and “demoralized” the military by writing an article. If someone can “demoralize” the Yemeni military with an article, then I suggest that we send a couple Marines with a typewriter over to Yemen and pry it from the dark ages. This is a great example of the conundrum of freedom – we claim to be offering such a thing to countries in the Middle East, but Allah only knows what freedom means to people who stone adulterers, hang gays and whip men who don’t have beards. It’s a Pandora’s box I’d rather not open.
There is a letter to sign exhorting the Yemeni government not to execute or imprison for life the journalist – of course we want all of our readers to sign it. If you want to know why Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani would put himself in danger, he explains in a letter to a friend:
Say a prayer for Abdulkarim. Sign the petition at Vicki’s blog. Then guard the freedoms other’s are dying for.
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Stumble It!
5 Responses to “Yemeni Journalist Puts His Life On The Line For Freedom”
May 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
[...] Political Vindication [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 5:36 am
(Good Morning, letter to you from Karim al-Khaiwani, Jane)
“Thank you very much for this campaign, which comes in the context of the overall values that we believe, and they punish us when we believe those values and adopt them. I do not want to talk about myself, but rather the environment that we live in and suffering we endure from the inconsistency between what the authorities announce about democracy and freedoms, and what happens when we believe in those same things, democracy and freedoms.
They want us to practice our rights as they understand them, but we do it ideally. The regime said that democracy is the way of ruling, but when we try to practice our rights within this concept, criticizing the way that the regime governs and how they act, then they deal with us in a way that has no relation to democracy. They deal with us as outlaws. They use all of the state’s resources to attack anyone who has any opinions not corresponding with their opinions, and to attack those who even discuss their way of ruling.
What I am suffering and facing is part of the price I and many others pay for the democracy and freedom we hope to achieve in the future. At least we are preparing for a healthy environment that we want the next generation to live in. We believe that democracy and freedom have an expensive price, and this is a part of that price.
However that doesn’t mean we will keep silent and bend, as it is the price. We will refuse injustice peacefully. Solidarity is a way to enhance new civil values which support the democracy we will make with our sacrifice and with the support of others. We pay the price of the freedom for ourselves and for the generations after us. Again, thank you very much for your help and support.”
Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani
10/5/08
Sana’a, Yemen
(From Jane: Again the link to the one-click letter campaign is: http://campaigns.aicongress.org/yemen/ )
background article: http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/2492-fearless-yemen )
May 19th, 2008 at 4:53 am
[...] Political Vindication [...]
June 6th, 2008 at 3:24 am
[...] Political Vindication [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 4:14 am
[...] Political Vindication [...]
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