Nasser Arrabyee; 8/7/09; (2 Items)
Three supporters of Yemeni rebel leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi were sentenced to death on Tuesday and six others were sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for forming an armed gang to fight the authorities in 2008. On Monday, July 6, seven Al Houthi supporters were also sentenced to death and seven others sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison by the same court, the State Security Court, on the same charges. The 23 convicts were among a bigger group of about 190 now being tried before the same court for supporting Al Houthi by launching a war against the government in Bani Hushaish, at the northern outskirt of the capital Sana’a in 2008.
See: http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/10329288.html
Yemen
Yemen – officially the Republic of Yemen – is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east. Yemen’s size is just under 530,000 km2, and its territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 kilometres (259 miles) to the south of Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula. Its capital is Sana’a. In Yemen about 15 % of the population live on less than US$ 1.25 per day.
History of Yemen
Between 2200 BC and the 6th century AD, Yemen was part of the Sabaean, Awsanian, Minaean, Qatabanian, Hadhramawtian, Himyarite, and several other kingdoms, which controlled the lucrative spice trade. It was known to the ancient Romans as Arabia Felix (“Happy Arabia”) because of the riches its trade generated. Augustus attempted to annex it, but the expedition failed. In the 3rd century and again in the early seventh century, many Sabaean and Himyarite people migrated out of the land of Yemen to North Africa and the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula following the destruction of the Ma’rib Dam (sadd Ma’rib).
In the 7th century, Islamic caliphs began to exert control over the area. After the caliphate broke up, the former North Yemen came under the control of imams of various dynasties, usually of the Zaidi sect, who established a theocratic political structure that survived until modern times. Egyptian Sunni caliphs occupied much of North Yemen throughout the eleventh century. By the sixteenth century and again in the nineteenth century, north Yemen was part of the Ottoman Empire, and during several periods its imams exerted control over south Yemen.
In 1839, the British occupied the port of Aden and established it as a colony in September of that year. They also set up a zone of loose alliances (known as protectorates) around Aden to act as a protective buffer. North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and became a republic in 1962. In 1967, the British withdrew from Aden.
After the British withdrawal, this area became known as South Yemen. The two countries were formally united as the Republic of Yemen on May 22, 1990. Despite the 1994 civil war in Yemen and subsequent events recently in Sada and Hadhramawt, Yemen is still considered a republic country.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen
Tags: Capital Punishment, Country, Yemen