Around 120 people from a village in Ibb Province have fled to the capital, Saana, in fear of their lives after their local sheikh (tribal leader and alleged landowner) expelled them from their homes.
[Read this report in Arabic]
The displaced persons, including children, from al-Ansiyaen village have been camping in the yard of local non-government organisation (NGO) Yemeni Female Media Forum, in Sanaa, for over a week. They said their sheikh, Mohammed Mansour, was not allowing them to stay in their houses because they had not paid him `zakat’ (annual alms payment).
The villagers said they went to Ibb town to pay `zakat’ to the government, but the sheikh threatened them, beat them and put them in two private prisons he runs. They escaped and fled to Sanaa, and have said they will not leave their current abode until the government steps in.
Villager Abdullah Ghaleb, aged 27, told IRIN that everyone in the village had to pay 30,000-40,000 riyals (US$150-200) a year to the sheikh as `zakat’. "He claims the land we live and work on belongs to him, which is not true," he said, adding that the sheikh could imprison and attack anyone who disobeyed his orders. "He can even loot our property (animals, farms, belongings) if we do not obey his orders," the villager said.
Village cordoned off
According to Ghaleb, the sheikh has cordoned off the village to stop other villagers going to Sanaa. "The sheikh's soldiers have surrounded the area and do not allow anyone to leave or enter the village," he said.
Abdul-Rahman Barman, a lawyer at the National Organisation for Defending Freedoms and Rights (a local NGO known as HOOD), told IRIN: "They [the villagers] requested the assistance of the local authorities there to no avail. The sheikh ordered 100 of his soldiers to loot the villagers' property and kill their animals after they staged sit-ins in Sanaa."
Barman said women and children were beaten by the soldiers. "The area is not subject to the rule of law and the sheikh is acting with impunity…" He has private prisons, he tramples on their rights and attacks their properties illegally," the rights activist said.
Najib Saleh, one of the displaced villagers, said the sheikh controlled everything in the area. "He can send people to his prison, and scrutinise their activities. He is lawmaker and ruler at the same time. We were brought up under his tyranny," he said, adding that the sheikh had all kinds of weapons, including medium-sized missiles.
On 3 March, after a protest organised by the villagers and rights groups in front of the ministry, Minister of Local Administration Abdul-Qader Hilal promised to form a fact-finding committee to visit the area and investigate the allegations, but he did not say when the committee would be set up.
Al-Ansiyaen is one of five villages controlled by Sheikh Mansour. In March 2007 two villages previously under his dominion became free after locals staged sit-ins in Sanaa.
maj/ar/cb
[Read this report in Arabic]
The displaced persons, including children, from al-Ansiyaen village have been camping in the yard of local non-government organisation (NGO) Yemeni Female Media Forum, in Sanaa, for over a week. They said their sheikh, Mohammed Mansour, was not allowing them to stay in their houses because they had not paid him `zakat’ (annual alms payment).
The villagers said they went to Ibb town to pay `zakat’ to the government, but the sheikh threatened them, beat them and put them in two private prisons he runs. They escaped and fled to Sanaa, and have said they will not leave their current abode until the government steps in.
Villager Abdullah Ghaleb, aged 27, told IRIN that everyone in the village had to pay 30,000-40,000 riyals (US$150-200) a year to the sheikh as `zakat’. "He claims the land we live and work on belongs to him, which is not true," he said, adding that the sheikh could imprison and attack anyone who disobeyed his orders. "He can even loot our property (animals, farms, belongings) if we do not obey his orders," the villager said.
Village cordoned off
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Interactive map of Yemen highlighting Ibb town |
According to Ghaleb, the sheikh has cordoned off the village to stop other villagers going to Sanaa. "The sheikh's soldiers have surrounded the area and do not allow anyone to leave or enter the village," he said.
Abdul-Rahman Barman, a lawyer at the National Organisation for Defending Freedoms and Rights (a local NGO known as HOOD), told IRIN: "They [the villagers] requested the assistance of the local authorities there to no avail. The sheikh ordered 100 of his soldiers to loot the villagers' property and kill their animals after they staged sit-ins in Sanaa."
Barman said women and children were beaten by the soldiers. "The area is not subject to the rule of law and the sheikh is acting with impunity…" He has private prisons, he tramples on their rights and attacks their properties illegally," the rights activist said.
Najib Saleh, one of the displaced villagers, said the sheikh controlled everything in the area. "He can send people to his prison, and scrutinise their activities. He is lawmaker and ruler at the same time. We were brought up under his tyranny," he said, adding that the sheikh had all kinds of weapons, including medium-sized missiles.
On 3 March, after a protest organised by the villagers and rights groups in front of the ministry, Minister of Local Administration Abdul-Qader Hilal promised to form a fact-finding committee to visit the area and investigate the allegations, but he did not say when the committee would be set up.
Al-Ansiyaen is one of five villages controlled by Sheikh Mansour. In March 2007 two villages previously under his dominion became free after locals staged sit-ins in Sanaa.
maj/ar/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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