Letters to the Editor [Archives:2000/28/Letters to the Editor]

Dear Editor,
This is in response to your article “Brain Drain’, which tries to solve a very important problem. Why Yemenis emigrate? The blame should be directed to the Yemeni administration, and NOT to the American Consulate. Yemeni’s don’t emigrate only for financial reasons, but for other factors as well, such as lack of acceptable health services, lack of good educational system for their children, lack of basic services such as water and electricity and many other factors. The question now should be addressed to how Yemen can benefit from its vast emigrants and how the Yemenis living abroad can help their homeland while working outside Yemen. Azzam Adhal
MD FACP
Dear Editor,
I am researching the legal status of boundaries in the Arabian Peninsula and the recent agreement between Yemen and Saudi Arabia throws up some interesting legal questions, as Brian Whitaker mentioned in a recent article in your paper. I have not been able to find a copy of Appendix 2 detailing the 17 coordinates through which the land boundary to the east of the Taif line must pass, and would be extremely grateful if you could guide me towards a source for these data or send me a copy if you have one. Dr. Edward Twiddy,
University of Nottingham, UK.
Dear Dr. Edward,
I believe there is an Arabic version available with the 26 September issue. You can visit their website to request information at www.26september.com  The Editor
Dear Editor,
I found your two issues that had the interview with Nadia Muhsin. I thought that it was an excellent attempt to bring the other side of the story. Of course, many readers will not agree that she spoke her mind freely because of the fact that she is still in Yemen.
The reality is that she has been living in Yemen all these years and she has made a life there under the conditions that surround her. She is living in a non-Western society and the Western world refuses to accept that as a justification of her situation. Apparently, she is free to leave, if she wishes, but there are conditions that are set by the Arab society. She would have to leave her children behind and that is something difficult for her, as a mother, to do after raising them all these years. She has created a life for herself, forced or not, that is very difficult to leave at this point. Family is an important factor and, at this point, she probably will not prioritize her ‘family’ in England over her immediate family. Javier P. Padre
Email: [email protected]
Dear Editor,
I would like to express my appreciation of your newspaper, which has become the most prominent English language newspaper in Yemen. Being fully aware of the importance of your newspaper, I am writing this letter. I have noticed that your newspaper does not contain any column to clarify some Islamic concepts misunderstood by foreigners or publish articles offering Islamic view of life to them.
You know well that every Muslim has the responsibility of spreading the word of Allah to those non-Muslims by any means he can. In this connection, you should remember that it is your responsibility to give your share of enlightening non-Muslim foreigners about Islam and as your newspaper is read by English readers who are mostly foreigners, you are in a sensitive position to convey your mission entrusted to you by your Creator (Allah). I think you are educated and open-minded enough to understand my message.
You may say that readers are allowed to write anything relevant to Islam but not all readers are supposed to have sound ideas about that.
My suggestion is that you can ask a reputable, well-informed Sheikh to write articles that make Islam clear to foreigners and your excellent translators will make them comprehensible to the readers. I am quite sure that this would earn a higher esteem to your magnificent paper not only from Yemenis, but also from the other readers. This step would be encouraged by a large number or English speaking Yemenis and Arabs who would definitely give you the best help.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks in advance for publishing my letter and considering it and I hope to see the response very soon. Abu Baker Muhamed Al-Haddad
English Languages Tutor
Faculty of Education, Seyiun
Dear Abu Baker,
I will be happy to discuss this issue with the rest of the editorial board members and perhaps we could start such a column in the near future if possible. Thank you for your fine recommendation. The Editor
True account of
modern day Jahilia
The death of sixteen promising students in Sanaa’s faculty of medicine was not a fatal coincidence, but a horrific consequence of a society enslaved by its own pre dated traditional values.
These values led to the tragic end of innocents and left these girls to the mercy of 52-year-old serial killer from Sudan Mohammed Adam who committed this cruel barbaric crime unafraid that he would be caught. It was possible simply because the families of the girls never reported their disappearance.
The crime sent shock waves through out Yemen and left me a bitter pessimistic soul. This may not be the first time a rape is committed, as there are many corrupt souls out there. But in this outrageous incident none of the families reported the matter to the police. There was only one Yemeni father, Ahmed Atia, who himself searched for his daughter and also reported her missing but the Iraqi mother umm Zainab never gave up until her case reached the authorities. Had it not been for this brave mother, this cold- blooded murderer would never have been brought to justice and would have continued his murky practice of raping and killing innocent girls.
None of the families had enough faith in their daughter’s innocence to report them missing. Nor were they willing to investigate the truth at the expense of their social reputation.
Shamefully women are still not freed from the shackles of Jahilia where fathers used to bury their daughters alive because they feared they would bring dishonor to the family. This is the same explanation behind these families secrecy. For days I tried to rationalize their behavior by accepting the cultural sensitivities of protecting family honor. I can’t help feeling that these traditions go against the very essence of Islamic justice. And the unbearable fact that hit me again what we are still trapped by the values of Jahilia which violates the rights and dignity of women.
When this sick sadist monster admitted his crimes, many claimed that their daughters went missing and wanted to identify their bodies. A friend of my relative who was studying in Sana’a faculty of medicine realized that her friend stopped attending in their second year. When she asked about her; the reply was that she got married. They lied to every one, presuming that they are preserving their honor, which is a priority according to them. Their honor had not only cost their daughter’s life and many others their lives, it crushed my esteem and trust for my society. As this makes many girls like me feel so belittled in such a ruthless society where meaningless values tolerated a satanic draconian crime.
Distressed at the news of what happened at the University campus, my relative in Sanaa told me that the rapist’s image now keeps flashing before her eyes. Much as she consoles herself that he is now in police custody, one thought keeps her awake all night: she could have been the seventeenth girl.
This incident left me with a deep resentment for the culture I have grown up in. As a Yemeni who has spent the last 10 years in Britain, I had almost forgotten the extent of adherence to these Pre Islamic values. Naively I hoped that my society had progressed and the days of women being subjected to humiliation might have been long gone. But progress has only come to selected parts of the Yemeni cultural life. When it comes to women, my country seems to be enslaved by its own values of Jahilia.
It stems from the UNISLAMIC cultural, traditional values and customs that had always doubted a woman’s virtue for the mere fact that she is a woman.
Suspicion and fear dominated the minds of these fathers; they are worried about their daughters, but at the same time they suspect them. A conflict between the two started. Eventually fear for their honor and suspicion won over their love for their daughters. To these values I point the finger of blame, which subordinated our society as it allowed the treatment of women as some inferior creatures.
Now all the families are mourning their deaths when for so long they had concealed every visible sign of grief and lived a dreadful lie. Now they hurt inside whereas beforehand they had hardened their hearts and fought their emotions for their pride. This is the dark gloomy side of our society that we still live in. It is like living in an anarchical society. For as long as they live, these families will endure suffering their cowardliness and their inhumane act towards their offspring. It is a painful way to learn but it is a lesson they will never forget. These are lives like yours and mine; these are girls who stumbled up from childhood. These are the same girls their parents once loved; these are the girls who died not in a foreign land, but in their own land, my land. They died in the most inhuman and vicious way and yet they died with out any body covering their bier.
What goes through the minds of a rapist and a serial killer is something we might never know, but what leads ordinary families to suspect their innocent women for no apparent reason is something I fail to comprehend. Ghufran Amin Al-Aswadi
[email protected]

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