Al-Sahwa [Archives:2008/1160/Press Review]

May 29, 2008
Top Stories

– Student unions accuse government of privatizing government universities

– Red Cross Society warns against fomenting violence in Yemen and other 51 vulnerable countries amid soaring food prices

– Taiz-based JMP calls for ceasing bloodshed in Sana'a

– Court prosecutes opposition leaders for allegedly damaging national unity

Yemeni court began Wednesday prosecuting three prominent leaders of the Yemeni Social Party (YSP) Hassan Baoum, who is also a member of the YSP's political bureau, central committee member Yehya Ghaleb Al-Shuaibi and activist Ali Haitham Al-Ghareeb, on charges of damaging Yemen's national unity, calling to secession and inciting deadly unrest in the south, the weekly reported in its lead story.

It went on to say that the Secretary-General of the Nasserite Unionist party Sultan Al-Atwani said that the trial was politically-motivated, and in the meantime recommending that the authorities should focus on addressing the state's crises and not to try the opposition leaders.

On his part, former secretary-general of YSP Ali Saleh Obad told Al-Sahwa.net that there are no certain charges against the defendants. Mohammad Al-Mikhlafi, Yemeni lawyer, said that Yemen's terrible conditions and government's poor policy must be seriously reviewed while human rights violators should be prosecuted and not those who have appropriate demands.

According to the weekly, the three political activists, arrested in early April, are being tried in Sana'a over a wave of protests in southern provinces which authorities blamed on the YSP, which was the former ruling party in South Yemen.
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