The Jawa Report:
Yemen protesters burnt alive, buried in mass graves
PROTEST CAMP STORMED, SET ABLAZE AT 3 AM
Over 250 at least were killed in Taiz, Yemen over the past four days. On May 29th, at 3 am, forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh attacked Freedom Square in Taiz.
Water cannons filled with gasoline sprayed tents where protesters were sleeping. Thousands of protesters were camping in the Square since February demanding Saleh's immediate resignation. The tents were set ablaze and fleeing citizens shot by roof top snipers as they ran. Many were unable to escape the fires including the disabled and children as indicated by the photos linked below. The massive protest site was cleared after hours of carnage, with bulldozers scraping up the remains of tents and persons by the morning.
The protesters attempted to retake the square over the next days only to be shot point blank causing over one hundred additional fatalities.
MASS GRAVES
Reports are emerging that Saleh's forces again kidnapped severely wounded protesters and took corpses. The practice of body snatching was first reported in Aden February 25th.
Protesters killed by security forces were buried in a mass grave in Aden on February 27 a ranking Yemeni official confirmed today.The grave site is on the eastern edge of the Salahu Deen military camp, near little Aden, and was first reported last week.
The official said 15 protesters were buried together in an unmarked single grave about eight meters long, speaking anonymously due to the high risk of government reprisal.
In May, Saleh's henchmen again captured critically wounded and the dead bodies dumping them in a mass grave chopped up in garbage barrels:
Sahwa Net, Sana'a- Medical sources at the Military Hospital in Sana'a have revealed that dozens of corpses of protesters who were killed by security forces were hidden by the Yemeni authorities in unknown places in an attempt to conceal evidence of crimes committed against peaceful demonstrators. The sources affirmed that the Central Security and the Republican Guard kidnapped dozens of the killed and wounded persons and escaped them. Security sources affirmed that the corpses of protesters were transferred from the Military Hospital's mortuary in framework of a security campaign to conceal evidence of murder crimes committed by security forces against peaceful protests...A Yemeni human rights organization, Hood, revealed that dozens of protesters' bodies were taken into a cemetery at Artel area of the capital, Sana'a.
Hood further said that it received statements from medical sources saying that dozens of protesters corpses were taken to graves after the mid night on a Hilux, affirming that some residents of Artel area informed it, just after 12 hours of receiving those statements, that they found out a mass grave in which 15 bodies were buried.
HOOD, a leading and well respected human rights organization, reported that body parts were found in trash barrels in May likely of protesters disappeared in April:
Hood confirmed that it received information and testimonies written and documented about the central security forces and gunmen in civilian clothes attacking the demonstrators with live bullets, sharp weapons and poison gas on Saturday night 04/09/2011 in Zubairy Street and Ring Road, which led to the downfall of a number of dead and wounded.Hood quoted witnesses saying that “Nearly 20 people were pulled to some personnel carriers and government vehicles transferred to an unknown destination and their injuries were at the head, neck, chest, abdomen and some of them had died.” Also, confirmed that it had received “certificates for a mass graves in the area of “ Bait Boss", body parts were found in trash barrels in that area, it is believed it belong to protesters who were arrested during the massacre of Kentucky Round in Sana’a. Attorney General has received a notification of this.”
The Saleh regime simultaneously engages in mass arrests as it steals corpses and kidnaps the wounded. Family members hope their missing relatives are "disappeared" in the dungeons of Yemeni prisons, as thousands are. Current reports indicate at least 500 were taken the night of May 30th, and it is unknown how many are dead in a mass grave.
The US is continuing to urge Saleh to accept a proposal to resign with a promise of immunity for his crimes. Yemen's opposition parties and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which sponsored the negotiations, have both withdrawn support for the deal. The US strongly supported Saleh since protests began as an important partner in counter-terror, and President Obama called Saleh a friend in a major speech on the Middle East in May. However Saleh's duplicity in dealing with al Qaeda is unparalleled, well documented and a clear threat to US national security.
Opposition parties and the protesters coalition have both pledged to continue cooperation with the United States in fighting al Qaeda after the fall of Saleh. Nonetheless, the policy and statements of the Obama administration remains limp and muted, an inexplicable response to the millions in Yemen seeking a civil, democratic state. It is the divisions containing US trained CT units, headed by Saleh's relatives, that are engaging in horrific crimes against Yemeni citizens, often with US supplied equipment including tear gas and vehicles.
PHOTOS
A large protest in Taiz February 21st rattled the Saleh regime. Thousands camped out in Freedom Square continuously until May 30 when the square was cleared by fire and bullets.
A protest march in Taiz May 6 affirmed solidarity with protesters in southern Yemen
For photos of the citizens burnt alive, click here (warning extremely graphic).
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