By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

RIDA, Yemen – On December 12, Moshe Yaish-Nahari, was shot to death in Rida, Yemen.  Shortly following the incident, police apprehended the alleged attacker, Abed el-Aziz el-Abadi.  According to eyewitnesses, Abadi confronted Nahari in a market; called out “Jew, accept the message of Islam,” and then opened fire with an assault rifle.

According to the deputy head of security of the Amran province, Ahmed el-Sarihi, the suspect has confessed to killing Nahari and has shown no remorse.  During investigations, Abadi said that he warned the Jews in the area through a message telling them they must either embrace Islam, leave the country or be killed. 

According to Abadi, he warned the Jews in writing one month ago. In his alleged letter he said, “You either convert to Islam, or leave the country, or face the sword.”  However, Nahiri’s family reports that they never received a letter from the suspect or any one else before the murder incident.

Nahari is the brother of Rabbi Yehiya Yaish, one of the leaders of Yemen’s Jewish community.  According to Rabbi Yaish, “Over the past months we have been suffering from repeated assaults and threats, and although we have been reporting to the official concerned bodies and tribal chiefs but without success.” 

The Jewish minority called on the government to protect them or deport them from the country.  Rabbi Yaish stated, “As long as the State is unable to protect us and secure us in our homeland, then, you buy our houses and properties and pay us the money and deport us from the country.”  He accused “some local people headed by bodyguards of some influential officials” of committing such repeated “assaults, abuses, harassments” against the Jewish minority community.

Sarihi says that Abadi is “an extremist who suffers from mental problems.”  According to the police, Abadi, a former pilot in the Yemeni Air Force, was dismissed for bad manners and extremist thoughts.  In addition, he killed his wife two years ago, but avoided jail time by offering her family compensation.

On December 13, the Ministry of Interior said it had arrested eight more suspects on suspicion of involvement in Nahari’s murder.  Sarihi confirmed that investigations are complete and the case will be referred to the prosecution during the upcoming days.

For more information, please see:

Ha’aretz – 8 Arrested in Murder of Jewish Man in Yemen – 15 December 2008

Yemen Observer – Yemeni Jews Want to Leave Yemen if Not Protected – 13 December 2008

International Herald Tribune – Police: Muslim Extremist Kills Yemeni Jew – 12 December 2008

Reuters – Yemeni Jew Shot Dead by Gunman – 12 December 2008

Yedoith – Jew Shot to Death in Yemen by “Disturbed Extremist – 12 December 2008