The writer and poet Mansur Muhammad Mansur Rajih has been detained under sentence of death for over thirteen years. He was convicted of murder by the Ta’iz Court of First Instance in March 1984, subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal in 1986 and finalised by the Supreme Court in Sana’a. He faces execution if […]
The writer and poet Mansur Muhammad Mansur Rajih has been
detained under sentence of death for over thirteen years. He was
convicted of murder by the Ta’iz Court of First Instance in March
1984, subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal in 1986 and
finalised by the Supreme Court in Sana’a. He faces execution if
the Yemen Presidential Council ratifies this sentence.
International PEN considers Mansur Rajih to have been convicted
of murder after a trial which fell well short of international
standards. There are serious concerns for his health.
**Updates IFEX alert dated 5 January 1993**
Background Information
On 8 July 1983, Mansur Rajih was arrested with his father and
uncle in their village of Humayrim in Ta’iz Province. They were
charged with the murder of a man from their village. Rajih had
been freed only eight days earlier from the six month term of
imprisonment during which he was neither charged nor tried. He
was taken to the National Security Interrogation Centre in Ta’iz,
where he was interrogated, reportedly under torture, for nine
months. The torture, intended to compel him to release the names
of other members of a political opposition group to which he
belonged, allegedly included the “Kentucky Farruj”. This involves
being tied by the knees and wrists, suspended from an iron bar
and beaten with sticks and cables. He was also said to be
subjected to electric shocks and lashings and deprived of sleep.
At the trial in March 1984, prosecution witnesses gave
conflicting evidence, none of them could identify the defendants
and there were questions surrounding whether the witnesses were
even present at the killing.
Between December 1992 and January 1993, Rajih went on hunger
strike in protest at the lack of a review of his case. He was
admitted to hospital in February 1993 with a number of illnesses
including muscle weakness, emphysema, and pains in the chest,
stomach and back. He was returned to prison against the advice of
his doctor. His health has also deteriorated from being held in
atrocious prison conditions including seven years in shackles.
Rajih had always been politically active and was President of the
Yemeni Student Association while in Syria, where he studied
agriculture at the University of Aleppo from 1979 to 1980.
Following this he went to the Lebanese University in Beirut to
study Business Administration and became Secretary General of the
Arab Student’s Association. Additionally, he was a member of the
major Yemeni opposition group the National Democratic Front. It
is thought that Rajih’s political activism is the real reason for
his detention. He was arrested upon his return to Yemen in 1983.
Mansur Rajih began writing poetry in the 1970s and had a
well-established reputation when he was arrested at age twenty
five. He has continued to write numerous poems and short stories
which have been published during his time in prison.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
murder on less than substantial evidence after a trial which
fell well short of international standards
activities while a student living abroad, and may be executed for
this
Appeals To
His Excellency Ali Abdullah Saleh
President
Sanaa
Republic of Yemen
Fax: +967 1 246 201
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
