For more than four monthsStudents still behind bars [Archives:2003/649/Local News]

TAIZ- Appeals from family members have intensified lately for the release of the four students Mofeed Sultan Ahmed, Mohammed Taha Ibraheem, Mohammed Qassem Abbas, Akram Abdulbasit Saeed Mahyoob, who have been kept at the Taiz Central Prison for more than four months.
The students were accused of firing gunshots during a fire exchange that erupted recently over claiming the right of a water spring called (Meyain) between the people of Nameh, a village affiliated to Mashra'a-Hadanan district, Taiz and people from al-Mihal, a village affiliated to the same district.
Sources said that around 250 people from al-Mihal amassed and stormed the village of Nameh, where the four youth belonged.
According to family relatives, the boys then fired back as an act of self-defense when they were attacked by the armed men, who belong to al-Mihal.
Preventing the attackers from further assaults was described as “a legal right” and as self-defense by the people of Nameh.
In a letter received by the Yemen Times, the people of Nameh have appealed to the Justice and Human Right Ministers for immediate interference in order to settle the dispute as soon as possible and to set the four above-mentioned prisoners free.
Both sides have claimed ownership of the water spring, while Judge Ameen Abdulhaq has passed a verdict in favor of the people of al-Mihal.
It is worth-while mentioning that the water spring (Meyayn) is located halfway between the two villages Nameh and al-Mihal affiliated to the Saber mountain, Mashra'a and Hadan district.
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