SANAA, 15 June 2004 — An official at the Yemeni Ministry of Endowments and (Religious) Guidance was gunned down in front of his home yesterday, government sources said. Muhammad Hussein Al-Maamri, head of the Higher Institute for Guidance, was entering his home when a gunman fired times at him with a pistol, a ministry source said. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Al-Maamri died on the way to hospital. The attacker, whose motives were not immediately known, was arrested, the source said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday thousands of Yemeni girl students protested outside the Sanaa Parliament against a plan to standardize uniforms in the country’s girls’ schools. The girls, estimated by organizers to number 20,000, carried banners saying: “We call for holding accountable all those responsible for terrorizing students,” and “School uniforms are a pretext for depriving us of education.”
Another banner said: “No to oppression against woman in the name of school uniforms.” All the protesters were dressed in the traditional top-to-toe black jalabia.
A letter expressing outrage at the uniform scheme was delivered to the Parliament, complaining of “harsh” punishments inflected on those students who refuse to let down the veil. It asked MPs to open an investigation into the “insults and oppression we suffered for wearing the niqab (veil).”
Education Ministry officials have said the uniform program does not include restrictions on the veil.
