Parliament responds to hunger strike
0 Comments | Yemen Times; Sanaa, Jul 29, 2010 | by Khaled Al-Hilaly
SANA’A, 27 July — After two days of sit ins and hunger strikes in front of parliament by human rights activists, members of parliament, lawyers and displaced families of Al-Ja’ashin, the parliament promised on Monday to take action.
Lawyer and human rights activist Mohammed Naji Alaw, Shawqi Al- Qadhi MP from the Islah Party, and Aidroos Al-Naqib head of the socialist block in parliament had been on a hunger strike for two days in solidarity with the people of Al-Ja’ashin in front of the parliament.
They joined Ahmad Saif Hashed, an independent MP, and Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of Women Journalists without Chains (WJWC) who had declared an open hunger strike on Saturday in solidarity with displaced Ja’shanis.
Dozens of Al-Ja’ashin displaced families started a hunger strike in front of the parliament on Monday protesting against what they called continued aggression and violations by Sheikh Mansour and demand government protection.
The families of Al-Anseen in Al-Ja’ashin district in Ibb fled their villages to seek protection from the government in Sana’a. They have been living for the last seven months in Sana’a. While the men live in tents, women and children live in two apartments in a nearby neighborhood. Each four bedroom apartment shelters the women and children from six families.
Earlier this week parliament security guards forced Hashed out by instruction from the head of parliament Yaha Al-Ra’i, according to a press release from the Al-Tagheer organization whose director is Hashed.
“Seven officers came to me inside the parliament hall and informed me that they have orders from the head of parliament to kick me out,” Hashed told the Yemen Times.
“The second day I asked Al-Ra’i whether it was true that he order the guards to force me out of the parliament hall and his answer was ‘yes, I told them to remove you’.”
This is the third hunger strike by Hashed. The previous one was in middle of July and lasted for four days when he succeeded in bringing two ministers for parliamentary questioning over security. Hashed is a member of the rights and freedoms parliamentary committee and head of the Al-Tagheer Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms.
The Yemen Times called Sheikh Mansour to comment on the news and in a quick conversation he criticized calling the Ja’shanis in Sana’a as displaced people and described them as “liars.”
“It is untrue,” he said, “and the president has instructed to return them to Ibb. They are lying in order to receive money,” he said ending the call.
In April this year a parliamentary committee was sent to Taiz and Ibb to investigate the matter, but they were not allowed to Al- Ja’ashin. They released a report after their meeting with the sheikh, his son, the local council, and local government authorities. The report’s recommendations have not yet been fulfilled by the government.
Another committee of parliamentarians had visited Al-Ja’ashin in 2007 in response to pleas of the locals
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