[From the diaries by susanhbu.] A possibly innocent woman has lost her husband and one child, been imprisoned from the age of 14-21 where she was reportedly raped by a guard, and come within moments of a firing squad twice.
Will Yemen orphan her two remaining children ending the chain of impossible tragedy that is this woman’s life? If investigations currently under way by the government of Yemen come to the right conclusions over the next few days, the answer appears to be no!
I just spoke with her attorney, Shada Nasser, and I’ve got some updates. The story, the laws, and the updates below the flip.
(Cross-posted at Kos. Please recommend.)
First, a little background
The case of Amina Ali Abduladif, a young woman apparently tortured into confessing the murder of her husband, found guilty, and scheduled for execution contrary to Yemeni law due to her tender years at the time of the crime (14 years), has been diaried by georgia10, SusanHu, and Welshman.
The story here, here, and here is one of heartbreak and unbelievable errors that have made the woman’s life a horror.
She was reportedly married at 11, gave birth to two girls, was tried for the murder of her husband at 14, found guilty on the confession tortured out of her, raped in prison, given a last minute execution reprieve (pregnant or nursing mothers are not executed in Yemen) for two years to raise the resulting son, and rescheduled for execution on Monday May 2.
In the meantime, the victim’s cousin, Muhammad Ali Said Qaba’il, was convicted of the same crime on the testimony of witnesses.
The key laws involved
Fortunately, Shada Nasser came onto the scene a few months ago as Amina’s attorney, and got another reprieve. “Under Article 31 of Yemen’s punishment law, Amina is not responsible for this crime because she was under 18,” Nasser said.
You see, Yemen has ratified The Convention on the Rights of the Child, a UN standard ratified by 192 countries, excluding United States and Somalia. (nice).
Article 37 of said Convention reads:
(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;
(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;
(c) Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances;
(d) Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority and to a prompt decision on any such action.
Further details on Yemeni law (at www.arabhumanrights.org/countries/ yemen/crc/crc-c-sr262-96e.pdf – I’m having trouble linking, take the top link from this google search)
Article 31 of the Penal Code provided that children under seven years of age were not responsible for any offences they committed. In the case of children from seven to 14 years of age, judges applied the provisions of the Minors’ Code. Every effort was also made to reintegrate the child into society. If the offender was between 15 and 18 years of age, he was liable to a penalty equivalent to half the penalty applicable to an adult. For crimes which carried the death penalty if committed by an adult, a minor was sentenced to a prison term of 3 to 10 years, and was not held in a prison for adults.
None of this appears to have been applied in Amina’s case, though it seemingly must. It appears that if she were guilty, the maximum penalty should have been a 10 year sentence. She has been in prison for seven years already.
The Updates
Shada Nasser met this morning with Yemeni officials. She is happy to report that the investigation called for by His Excellency General ´Ali ´Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic of Yemen, into Amina’s age is still active. It seems birth records outside of the major cities are sparse at best, so the question requires some investigation. She expects the investigation to reach a resolution in a few days.
Ms. Nasser is grateful for all the kind attention the people of the world are showing in this matter. All the work seems to have given Amina a chance. At this critical point, it may be best to avoid excessive pressuring of the government of Yemen.
Showing our thanks to His Excellency General ´Ali ´Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic of Yemen would be better.
You can FAX a letter to:
His Excellency General ´Ali ´Abdullah Saleh
President of the Republic of Yemen
Sana’a
REPUBLIC OF YEMEN
Faxes: 00 967 127 4147
Salutation:Your Excellency
Writing articles to let people know about the story is best. Progress is being made, so please, let’s keep it respectful!
There is reason in deed to be hopeful that the truth will come out and the death sentence will be commuted. Thanks of course to georgia10, SusanHu, and Welshman for their diaries, Allison in Seattle for behind the scenes genius energy, Nadia Al-Sakkaf of the Yemen Times and all the reporters telling the tale, and the ocean of people who have been writing, phoning, and faxing everyone they could think of to get attention to this tragic case.
What great work by you. Terrific summary + important update. I’ll send a fax to the president — very polite! — in a few minutes.
(Tell everyone how you stayed up all night — was it two nights? — to get this accomplished!)
I recommended your diary at Kos too.
I am a night owl, but Yemen is half way around the world from me. An afternoon discussion with Ms. Nasser means an opportunity to watch all the weird stuff that comes on the TV after respectable stations wave the flag goodnight!
Thanks to you Susan, for your motivating diary and super work on a daily basis!
Thanks for the recap and update.
~ posted earlier on other thread ~
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Read Susan’s recent diary and previously Googled for Amina Al-Tuhaif. Now understand the similarity in the LETTER doc found and the article in Weekly Yemen Observer.
I used a copy of the latter as reference in a personalized version of appeal to all persons and Email addresses provided!
http://www.presidentsaleh.gov.ye/en/index.php?option=contact&Itemid=6
His Excellency, Minister of Human Rights Ms. Amat Al Alleem Soussua, mshr@y.net.ye
His Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Abubaker ALQIRBI
His Excellency, Ambassador Abdulwahab Abdulla Al-Hajjri
ambassador@yemenembassy.org
Subject: Appeal for Reconsideration Sentence of Mrs. Amina Al Tuhaif
YOUR PUBLICATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Yemen ratified the Convention on the rights of the Child in 1991.
I. LEGISLATION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
A- Definition of the child in Yemeni legislation
Various Yemeni laws and legislative enactments set different legal ages for the exercise of various rights and obligations:
The Constitution, the Electoral Act, the Compulsory National Service Act and the General Reserve Act set the minimum age for exercising those rights at 18 years. For example, in the Civil Service Act it is set at 18 and in the Civil Status and Civil Registration Act at 16. The Rights of the Child Law of 2002 defines the child as every person who has not passed the age of 18 as long as he has not reached maturity. The Penal Code sets the age of the “juvenile” under 15 years of age while the Passport Act entitles any person over 16 years of age to passports and travel documents.
In reference to a publication in the Yemen Observer on April 30, 2005 and a number of concerns voiced by global NGO’s who’s focus is the care of children.
Appreciation of the efforts and tasks performed by the Yemeni government, its leaders and society as a whole to meet the challenges of the 21st century and provide security and welfare for its citizens.
As an individual person, respectfully do appeal to Your Excellence to do all possible within the power and compassion befitting your position, in accordance with the Constitution and Judicial Acts of the Yemen Sovereign Nation.
Personally, my believe is that capital punishment should be reserved by the state for the ultimate and extreme crimes against society. The state should also show compassion, where it’s required by unusual circumstances of events, and certainly in the case of Mrs. Amina Al Tuhaif, a minor when alleged crimes were committed and mother of child.
In trust that your decision will be JUST, I respectfully extend my good wishes to the leadership of the Republic of Yemen and the representation of the People of Yemen.
With Cordial Greetings,
– – – – Oui – – – –
The Hague, the Netherlands
Article Yemen Observer about Mrs. Amina Al-Tuhaif with child.
PS HOME PAGE for additional links to Yemen.
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
on this case. I have speculated, in comments in a previous diary on this subject, that Amina’s plight most probably came about as a result of her husband’s family wishing to get her off their hands, whether related or unrelated to the family dispute that resulted in the husband being killed by the cousin.
Some of you may be aware that marriage in some parts of the world is very different than in the west. Ususally arranged, the wife, in less than ideal circumstances can be seen more as a servant, a family possession, and depending on custom, a revenue source.
For those who need to be told, this has nothing at all to do with Islam, for example, many Hindu brides in India face the same conditions.
Anyway, it is not uncommon for one reason or another, for the groom’s family to decide that they do not want the wife. Either the dowry is less than anticipated, maybe she does not serve the household to their satisfaction, whatever the reason, in the best of cases, the families will work something out, and return the bride to her father.
Other girls are not so lucky, and the decision is made by the husband and his family that it will be best for all concerned if she falls victim to a tragic cooking accident, which is subsequently arranged.
Cooking accidents tend to be associated with South Asia, but having the wife charged with murder, and assuming some connections on somebody’s part, having her executed, would definitely rid the family of the troublesome responsibility of having to support a widow and her children.
So – my point – (at long last) what would those in contact with Amina’s lawyer think of sounding her out on the notion of having some kind benefactors put some funds together, pull some strings, something, that would ensure a livelihood for Amina and her kids, education for all of them maybe, but would not require the husband’s family to have to worry about her at all, and possibly even give her a new start at life somewhere where neither she nor the kids would be plagued with sequelae, gossip, etc?
I have hesitated to suggest this, because I don’t think that the west has positioned itself well for this kind of thing at all, but if it could be done discreetly, locally…What do you think?
Very good idea, Ductape: excellent in fact. As you say, would need to be explored with her lawyer.
Don’t know if you have benefactors in mind, but I for one would make a (unfortunately very) modest contribution and I’m sure it’s the sort of thing that could raise some $ from BooTribbers and Kossacks. Even a small fund would go a long way in Yemen, possibly setting her up with a livelihood.
who have taken an interest in the case, neither excluding or limited to the west, but with awareness that western participants would wish to be particularly sensitive and discreet, for a variety of reasons… ;>
The lawyer (Shada Nasser) indicated to me that no financial or in-kind assistance from outside would be helpful at this time. Of course the situation may change. I’ll be keeping in touch, and have this in mind. I did have the thought of trying to get together something for a more general women’s rights fund in Yemen. Perhaps Ms. Nasser or the Yemen Times could advise.
to commend President Saleh on his wise decision to re-open the case, and uphold the high standards of Yemen as evidenced by its status as a signatory to the rights of the child.
It is encouraging to know that Yemen is resisting pressure to adopt sloppy and inhumane American-style judicial practices, if Amina were American, she would in all likelihood be dead already.
The US Supreme court ruled against execution for acts committed by minors only a few weeks ago, as President Saleh is doubtless aware.
😉