By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen — At least four demonstrators were killed last Thursday by Yemeni security forces in the southern port city of Aden.  Security forces opened fire on demonstrators who assembled t0 call for independence for Yemen’s southern region.  At least eighteen other protesters were wounded.

On the first anniversary of the uncontested election of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who succeeded the ousted theocratic leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, thousands of demonstrators gathered at a square in Aden.  Many demonstrators came to voice their support for Hadi, while many others came to show their support for the Southern Movement.

“They [the police] fired on activists trying to reach the place where the rally was being held,” said Fathi Ben Lazraq, a member of the independence seeking Southern Movement.  Officials reported that police forces were trying to stop a clash between the Southern Movement and the Al-Islah (Reform) party, who held their demonstration in support of national unity and of Hadi.  Officials also reported that at least four of those wounded during the protests were Yemeni army soldiers.  Security officials also reported that two policemen were wounded by sniper fire from buildings that surrounded the square.

Al-Islah supporters numbered in the thousands, as they gathered in the square, they were seen waving Yemeni flags and carrying portraits of Hadi.  They also held banners that exclaimed “unity is our strength,” and chanted “for dialogue, we will pursue our march.”

Southern Movement supporters also came to the square waiving flags of the former South Yemen, which unified with the north in 1990.  They were carrying portraits of Ali Salem al-Baid, the last president of the region prior to the unification of Yemen.  They chanted “Revolution in the south, occupiers go out,” as they made their way to the square.

Many from the southern Yemen region feel that they have been disenfranchised for decades, and want South Yemen to be a socialist state independent from the northern region.  Prior to its unification with the north, and following its independence from Britain, the region was formerly a secular socialist state.

Southern Movement leaders said they are open to dialogue, however a hardline separatist faction within the group led by the exiled al-Baid refuses to take part.  Abdullah al-Alimi, organizer of the Al-Islah rally, said of the Southern Movement that “the cause of the southerners is just, but it should be resolved through dialogue.”

Amnesty International urged authorities to end “the routine violent repression of protests.” “The Southern Movement and its followers have a right to protest peacefully, and the Yemeni authorities must allow them this right,” the human rights group said.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Three Killed in Yemen Ahead of Protest Rally — 22 February 2013

BBC News — Yemen Forces Fire on Aden Demonstrators — 21 February 2013

Global Post — Yemen: Protestors Killed in Pro-Secession Rallies — 21 February 2013

Naharnet — Yemen Police Kill Four at Aden Rally — 21 February 2013

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – “Tradition, tradition! Tradition!” are the main words repeated in the classic Fiddler on the Roof song. While it is true that many cling to tradition, there are plenty of modern women who envision something more for themselves than keeping a proper, kosher home and raising the family so that Papa can be free to read the holy books. Such modern women include Israeli-American Rabbi Susan Silverman, her daughter Hallel Abramovitz, chairwoman of the Women of the Wall, Anat Hoffman, and United States rabbis, Debra Cantor and Robin Fryer Bodzin. These women were arrested approximately a week ago for singing and reading from the Torah while wearing traditionally male prayer shawls at a Rosh Chodesh service at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Rosh Chodesh is a special service which celebrates the start of a new month of the Hebrew calendar. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, also known as the Kotel, is the holiest of Jewish sites, and is believed to be the last remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. The holy site, which is an extremely popular location for prayer, is governed by ultra-Orthodox law. There is a bifurcation of women and men, and women are not allowed to wear prayer shawls.

In 2003, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ban by the government which denied women the ability to wear teffilin or tallit prayer shawls, or read from the Torah at the Western Wall. Silverman, her daughter, and the others insisted that they were not actively protesting the ban, but merely trying “to perform the four Ts.”

The police stood and waited as the women danced in a circle. At the completion of the service, the women were then taken to the Old City of Jerusalem Police Department. They were released on the condition that they sign a document stipulating that they not visit the Wall for fifteen days.

Famed American comedian and sister and aunt to Rabbi Silverman and Abramowitz, Sarah Silverman took to Twitter and tweeted, “So proud of my amazing sister and niece for their ballsout civil disobedience. Ur the tits #womenofthewall.” Abramowitz tweeted back, “hey auntie, want a copy of my mugshot?”

Although the punishment for the arrest was just a two week ban; when Abramowitz realized that the ban coincided with the holiday of Purim and the Women of the Wall’s Megillah reading, she went back to the police station with her father and lawyer. Shortly after, the police acquiesced to Abramowitz’s requests, and she was cleared to attend the services at the Kotel. When you read from the Megillah during Purim, you are reading from the Book of Esther. Anat Hoffman reminds us that Esther was not a lady who was afraid to speak out.

The few that were arrested were not the only Women of the Wall who have been arrested recently. The number of arrests have risen so much so that Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Natan Sharansky to find some type of compromise. He will apprise Shmuel Rabinowitz of his decision in the spring.

For further information, please see:

Jewish Press – Police let Sarah Silverman’s Niece Visit Western Wall on Purim – 20 February 2013

Guardian – Sarah Silverman Tweet Puts Women’s Western Wall Protest in Global Spotlight – 16 February 2013

Daily Beast – Women of the Wall, Sarah Silverman-Style – 13 February 2013

Virtual Jerusalem – Women of the Wall, Silverman’s Sister Arrested at Kotel – 11 February 2013