Reasons still unknown:Part of Mosque in Bab al-Yaman demolished [Archives:2003/654/Local News]

Hassan Al-Zaidi
The Sanaa City Municipality demolished last Wednesday the wall and the bathrooms of the Majel al-Dema mosque in Bab al-Yaman founded by Ali Ahmed Mothana 20 years ago.
Residents of the area told Yemen Times that the reasons behind destroying parts of the mosque were not brought forward. Officials of the municipality were not available to justify why the mosque was damaged intentionally.
Others in the area said that there were no legal orders or judicial verdicts allowing the destruction of the mosque's walls. “On the contrary, there are orders from the Ministry of Endowment to build the bathrooms and wall of the mosque.” said one of the residents.
They added that the section destroyed was built to enable citizens to wash the bodies of the dead before being buried at the cemetery that is just in front of the mosque's gate according to Islamic sharia.
The damage is estimated at around YR 2 million.
The residents appealed to the President of the Republic and the Minister of Endowments to quickly interfere and hold the municipality accountable for destroying the mosque's said section.
Mr. Abduasalam Mothana, the son of the founder of the mosque said, “We call upon all Muslims to reject the actions of the municipality and those who took part in demolishing the mosque's bathrooms and wall. Muslims protested and stood strong against Hindus when they tried to demolish one of the mosques in India, while nothing is being done in Yemen!”
Mr. Mothana said he would appeal to “all Islamic organizations and request them to come and witness what the municipality has done in one of Allah's houses.”
Citizens of the neighborhood said they believe the Capital Secretariat Minster Ahmed Al-Kuhlani would investigate this issue and bring any municipality officials who violated the law to justice.
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