[سفيان]

Yemeni establishment cracking down on Southern Movement
Sanaa, 28 March - As a further step to crack down on the south Yemeni secessionist movement, a court in Sanaa sentenced a high-ranking south Yemeni activist to five years in jail for “harming national unity”. The defendant, Qassem Askar who until the civil war in 1994 had acted as ambassador of his country, was now found guilty of sedition, endangering national security and stability and of “spreading false rumors”. Askar, for his part, claims he had participated in the peaceful struggle of the people in the south against discrimination. He also questioned the legitimacy of the court, specialized in terrorism and state security issues, to hear his case, which he insists is purely political.
The verdict against Qassem Askar comes a day after Yemeni police forces in Dahleh surrounded the funeral procession of a member of the Southern Movement, Sayf al-Jahafi, who had been shot to death by the police during a crackdown on March 18. The authorities had ordered al-Jahafi's family to bury him at night time, rather than during the day, so as to avoid turning the funeral into another protest march. The family however choose to hold the funeral during day time, as customary, and when the mourners were in the process of moving forward on Dahleh's main street, they found themselves surrounded by police forces, who opened fire on them, wounding 28.