Tuesday Papers: or al-Quds joins a growing club (Updated)
Al-Quds al-Arabi is the latest paper to feel the wrath of the Ministry of Information, as editions last week were confiscated by the government. This story by al-Tagheer (which has had its own run-ins with the ministry) points the finger of suspicion at an article written by al-Quds al-Arabi’s editor ‘Abd al-Bari Atwan. This may be true, but for my money the news reporting in al-Quds al-Arabi has been more hard hitting. (Atwan’s article was republished by News Yemen, here)
For examples of what I mean, check out the excellent reporting of Khalid al-Hammadi, particularly his two pieces from May 23 here and here, suggesting the many are blaming government repression and mistakes for the problems in the south, as well as in the north and west for that matter. Al-Hammadi also has an excellent piece on how a former jihadi, Ali Muhammad al-Karadi (I’m unsure of the vowelling here), who fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s is organizing a group to defend Yemen’s unity. The individual in question is the one pictured in the article (on the right) next to Khalid ‘Abd al-Nabi (the sometime leader of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army).
Meanwhile al-Qirbi claims that now is not the time to reveal what foreign governments are behind calls for secession – any guesses as to who he is alluding to? (I have three)
Finally, there is this piece by Muhammad al-Ahmadi – truly one of the best Yemeni reporters working on al-Qaeda – on the organization’s latest video, which I posted on here. Al-Ahmadi also makes reference to the Qasaylah assassination back in 2007. (For those interested in some background, I wrote about the assassination when it happened here.) This has often been overlooked by many, as at the time it was widely believed that the al-Qaeda threat in Yemen was largely under control. That putt may have been called a bit early.
Update: Thanks to Khaled for correcting my vowelling – it should be Ali Muhammad al-Kurdi and for pointing me to this excellent article by Robert Worth from January 2008, which also features a photo of al-Kurdi and discusses his admission of training fighters to go to Iraq.
Update II: My Freudian slip is now corrected.
