SANAA, 17 March 2005 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, angered by US charges of human rights violations against his government, yesterday accused Washington of using double standards over terrorism and rights.
“Why do they (the Americans), who violate human rights, not engage in self-criticism instead of hurling accusations at the Third World, particularly the Arab world?” Saleh asked at a public ceremony dedicated for publishing December’s population census.
Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bajammal said Washington was being hypocritical by criticizing Yemen’s rights record while itself delaying terror trials and holding presumed militants in legal limbo at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The outbursts were sparked by the US State Department’s latest report on human rights that charged that Yemeni security forces arbitrarily arrest, detain and torture people.
“We are astonished by these human rights reports. Are rights being violated in Guantanamo and in Abu Ghraib, or in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories?” Saleh asked.
Calling for the abrogation of veto power in the UN Security Council, Saleh said: “Why shouldn’t we turn to the UN General Assembly to take decisions in a democratic way? We wonder about these double standards.
“Why should the Third World obey them while they do not heed our demands for reforming the UN?”
Yemeni officials say they find US charges of human rights abuse bizarre, coming from a country which now views Yemen as a partner in the war on terror.
Bajammal said Yemen would have been able to deal with such criticisms if they had come from another country, “but it is really strange that it should come from the United States.”
The prime minister said the Americans were speaking in “two voices” — “one is speaking about human rights and the other about the war against terrorism under any circumstances”.
Bajammal added: “I am asking them: under (what) law, under (what) international or local law ... are people still in Guantanamo?”
About 540 detainees from 40 countries remain at the heavily guarded US facility in Cuba. Washington has faced strong international criticism for keeping the prisoners in Guantanamo without access to legal representation.
“I can affirm that human rights are more respected in Yemen than in the United States,” Bajammal said.
During a visit to Sanaa in February, US Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula J. Dobriansky “praised Yemen’s success in fighting terrorism, describing it as an effective partner with the international community” in combating the scourge.
And last June, Saleh was one of a handful of Muslim leaders to be invited by President George W. Bush to a G8 summit to discuss the US plan to promote political and economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa.
This did not, however, give Yemen a free hand at home, said a Sanaa-based diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The fight against terrorism is extremely important ... but that doesn’t give any (government) the right to abuse its citizens,” he said.
“There have been cases in Yemen where the government has detained individuals for a long period of time without pressing charges,” the diplomat added.
“Who has been stopping the Yemeni government ... from sending (detainees) to the courts?” retorted Bajammal. “The Americans! ... Because they need more time, they have some information.”
Meanwhile, the population census published yesterday put the number of Yemenis living in their country at 19.72 million, with another 1.73 million living overseas — a total of 21.45 million nationals.
The census, which did not say how many foreigners lived in Yemen, put the annual demographic growth at 3.02 percent.
