International appeals to save Fatima Badi [Archives:2008/1127/Front Page]
By:Amel Al-Ariqi
SANA'A, Feb. 6 – Hundreds of support letters and cards are being sent to Fatima Hussein Badi, a Yemeni woman who is incarcerated and faces imminent execution.
“Daily, I receive hundreds of letters and cards from people of all ages in the U.K. and the U.S. expressing their sympathy for my client, Fatima Badi, who is being subjected to unfair trails,” said her attorney, Shadha Mohammed Nasser, who showed some of the letters to the Yemen Times.
The letters are the result of a campaign launched by human rights group Amnesty International, which is calling for Badi's release. The 43-year-old housewife and mother of four grown children was sentenced to death on Feb. 17, 2001.
Badi and her brother Abdullah were arrested July 13, 2000 for the murder of Badi's husband, Hamoud Ali Al-Jalal.
According to Amnesty, Al-Jalal went missing in July 2000. His family searched for him, but without success. A week later, police informed them that they had found his body.
Badi and her brother Abdullah later were detained, apparently on the basis that there had been marital problems, but Badi insists their problems were ordinary and “the likes of which you see in every family.”
Since her arrest, she has maintained her innocence in her husband's murder. Amnesty reports that police tortured her while she was in detention, but she refused to “confess.” “Further, we've been informed that her brother denied that he and his sister were involved in the murder, but later 'confessed' to police after he was assured that his 'confession' would lead to Badi's release,” Amnesty says, claiming that she had unfair trials.
“They reportedly had no legal representation during the trial and were silenced whenever they attempted to speak in court. [Badi] and her brother took their case to the Appeals Court, which upheld the sentence against them on Aug. 12, 2002. They then appealed to the Supreme Court.” Amnesty said in its report of Fatima's case .
While Abdullah's death sentence was upheld, Badi's sentence was reduced to four years' imprisonment on Sept. 10, 2003. President Ali Abdullah Saleh ratified Abdullah's death sentence, but Badi's case was returned to the Supreme Court, which reinstated her death sentence shortly before her four-year sentence would have ended.
Abdullah submitted a plea for clemency to President Saleh, which was refused, and he was executed May 2, 2005.
“The most recent death sentence ruled by the Supreme Court is illegal because neither I, nor my client were aware that the president's ratification would send it back to the Supreme Court. Additionally, why has the president's ratification been canceled?” Nasser questioned.
With longstanding concerns about the use of the death penalty in Yemen, Amnesty International has appealed – since the first death sentence against Al-Badi – to the Yemeni government and President Saleh to reconsider her case. The organization also has launched a web site to receive letters, cards and appeals to support her case.
This isn't the first time international agencies have become involved and appealed to release a female Yemeni prisoner. Amina Ali Abdulatif, who faced a death sentence after being accused of killing her husband, was released in 2007 following a presidential pardon.
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