Letters to the Editor [Archives:1999/43/Letters to the Editor]
Dear Editor,
I would like to thank the new editor and the staff of Yemen Times for making me happy! Why? Because Yemen Times helped me improve and enhance my English language.
But we have a problem in our province (Al-Mahweet.) We cannot read the newspaper on Monday because it takes more time to arrive here. Sometimes it does even arrive at all.
We love Yemen Times so much, please try to do anything for us to solve this problem. Yahya Al-Shahdi Al-Mahweet, Al-Argoub
Dear Yahya,
I thank you for your kind letter. We indeed have face much difficulty in delivering the newspaper to Al=Mahweet due to transportation reasons. However, we have a plan of sending copies to the library of Mahweet University in order to have them available to all students on a weekly basis. We are studying a proposal for that and we hope to be able to achieve our goal of spreading the newspaper more and delivering it on time to all our readers in Al-Mahweet. The Editor To the Soul of Great Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf Naturally, when we hear about a person through any means, either from people or from mass-media, especially when this person is a prominent figure in the society, this leads us to build so many ideas about that person. As one of the Yemeni citizens, I have heard a lot about Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf from here and there. When hearing about him, I used to get opinions about his personality and sometimes I had got a doubt his greatness because I didn’t know him personally. I wished that I could once meet him and be close to him.
My wish came to life and I indeed was lucky when I met Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf during my short stay in Sanaa with a friend of mine who was close to him and of course, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. I talked to Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf with great joy and happiness. Meeting him made me feel something in my inner soul. When I talked to him I realized how different his character is. He is unique, with a personality that can rarely be found in any person in the world. His humble attitude towards others lower than him, his simple way of communication, his sense of humor, his courage, his honesty, and above all, his love to his nation made me feel that he was indeed, the greatest man I could think of.
The propaganda against Prof. Abdulaziz truly was nonsense. I found out that he had many qualities, which led him to be a great and important man. He will always be a great man in our hearts because he was never afraid of saying the truth. He never fear anyone even when confronting the rulers. He was brave, noble, well founded and influential in all aspects. Moreover he was a patriotic in his political attitudes. This attitude which put him in struggle with the authorities. He was not the person who can be ordered to oppose the authorities as some thought about him. On the contrary, he was a powerful individual whom can never be ordered or put under pressure because of his influence in the highest levels locally and internationally. He effectively contributed to many moves, which were quite unique and required courage and strength. For instance, he contributed to the Yemeni Institute for developing democracy, he established election monitoring communities, he defended human rights, etc. To my knowledge, we was also a member of Amnesty International and had represented the Yemeni government in international conferences which dealt with human rights and liberties. He had a good relationship with European Union and he encouraged many companies to come and invest in Yemen. Of course this in turn helps support the national income and develops the economic situation.
As for me, the great thing that will immortalize him for the rest of my life, is that he founded the Yemen Times, which is now the best newspaper in the whole country. So, we should all appreciate the great role of Dr. Saqqaf in founding the Yemen Times that is spreading English language in our society, which we consider as our representative and ambassador to the world.
May I offer my condolences to the employees of the Yemen Times and wish them success in continuing the mission the founder wanted to achieve.
You must know that whatever I write about this great personality, I can never describe him. Neither words nor songs can ever express my feeling towards his loss. There are simply no phrases and no sentences that can be said to reward even a little bit of his deeds and contributions.
At the end of my letter, I can only say, “God have mercy upon him.” Saeed Azazi
A Letter from a Journalist Prisoner I sent you this letter hoping that you may publish my letter to be read by your readers and to the people who care about journalism and human rights in our country.
My story is sad but true. I am currently staying in the Central Jail of Ibb without any crime that I have committed. I was a well known journalist in Al-Haq newspaper and was put in jail 2.5 years ago without knowing why. I have tried many times to ask for justice and plead to the community to help me in my case. But all wen to no avail. Hence I decided as the last hope to send you a long letter (summarized) explaining my case.
I plead to all who care for journalism and human rights to hurry for my rescue. I have been put to jail after an attempt of assassinating me by an armed gang who have relations with people in authority. I plead to the president to listen to my call for justice. All I am asking for is an investigation into my case to discover that I am an innocent journalist who has been put to jail without any reason. I have been writing in Al-Haq newspaper with courage and honestly against the inhumane acts against my fellow citizens in Al-Odein area, and now I am in prison.
I hope any of the readers would respond to my call for help by contacting me at the Central Prison of Ibb. Mohammed Sadiq Al-Odeini Ibb Central Jail (15/10/99)
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