Sana’a, June 8, 2008 (YemenOnline) - Civil society organisations have condemned calls by clerics for the establishment of a religious police, or “authority to promote virtue and curb vice”, as an attack on civil rights and freedom of expression.

Around 50 representatives of a variety of organisations who gathered at the al Jawi Forum in Sana’a last week said establishing a “religious police” is unconstitutional and contravenes the state’s duty to protect individual rights. They subsequently pledged to organise campaigns against it.

“Such an authority under the pretext of countering vice is only another façade for political oppression through the use of religion,” read a joint press release issued by nine of the organisations.

“It is just an outcome of the coalition between the political and religious institutions and is meant to harass and intimidate political activists critical of government policies.”

Religious hardliners including Sheikh Abdulmajeed al Zindani and Hamud al Tharehi, leading figures in the Islamist Islah Party, announced last week they had approached the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, with a proposal to set up a 25-member national committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.

The clerics, led by Mr Zindani, rector of the religious al Eman University, which is accused by the US of financing terrorism, said vice and debauchery are widespread in Yemen.

According to Mr Tharehi, the committee would comprise prominent clerics and five government officials like the ministers of culture, tourism and information.

Mr Tharehi said that after their meeting with Mr Saleh last May, the president ordered his press secretary to follow up with the prime minister to close down hotels and other places suspected of unethical practices.

“The role of this national authority, which would have branches all over the country, would be to capture the unethical practices and their sources and report them to the relevant authorities who would take action,” Mr Tharehi said.

The civil society organisations questioned the timing of proposing a “religious police” when the country is embroiled in fighting between al Houthi rebels and government troops in the north and is in a “state of emergency” in the south because of a wave of protests there.

“The regime is facing serious challenges and is trying to overcome them through manipulating its coalition with these religious groups to attack its political rivals,” the press release said.

“Political parties and other civil society organisations should challenge these groups being hostile to life and condemn the use of religion as a tool against freedom and democracy activists.”

The al Houthi rebels are fighting to restore the Zaidi imamate, which was overthrown in a 1962 revolution. They reject the government of Mr Saleh and have branded it illegitimate, even though Mr Saleh is himself a Zaidi.

Protesters in southern Yemen have been demanding compensation for tens of thousands of military and civil servants who were dismissed from their jobs after the 1994 civil war between the north and south, which forced the Yemen Socialist Party from power. They also demand the regime acknowledge wrongdoings against them during and after the war.

“The major challenge our society is facing is not a lack of virtue and religious or ethical restraint, but poverty, illiteracy and a lack of development in health, education, corruption as well as the absence of justice and equal distribution of wealth and rule of law,” the statement said. “Our society does not need religious militias and inquisitions, but a state that fulfils its duties towards its citizens and improves their living conditions.”

Mr Tharehi said the opposition to their initiative, which is still in the hands of Mr Saleh, will not succeed in thwarting it.

“To promote virtue and fight against vice is one of the characteristics of the believers. The people who attacked and tried to defame the idea to thwart it will not succeed. The clerics will have a meeting soon and contact the president to get the idea implemented,” Mr Tharehi said.

He said 99 per cent of Yemenis will vote for the committee if given the chance.

Mr Tharehi said the committee would target hotels selling alcohol and showing pornographic TV channels, but he insisted individuals’ rights and freedoms would not be threatened.

“The authority will not pose restrictions on the personal life of the people. It will rather target those institutions destroying values and ethics. The individuals will be targeted through awareness and education programmes.”

But analysts said there are political motives behind the establishment of the committee.

“This a clear signal of the weakness of the state,” said Abdulbari Taher, a former chairman of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. “Throughout Islamic history, heads of weak states have used religion as an instrument against their political rivals.”

Mr Taher said the objective of creating the committee is to split the Joint Meeting Parties, a coalition of five opposition parties that included Islah, Yemen’s main Islamist party, and the Yemeni Socialist Party.

Islah was once a strong ally of Mr Saleh’s regime, but in 2001 the party joined the opposition coalition and since then has been leading the Joint Meeting Parties in opposing Mr Saleh’s government policies.

Some of its religious leaders, however, such as Mr Zindani and Mr Tharehi, still have good relations with Mr Saleh.

“It is clear the regime would like to split the opposition coalition as most of the clerics behind the idea are from Islah. I believe the regime wants to bring Islah back under its control,” Mr Taher said.

“The use of religion in political battles is of grave sequences, even to the ones using it.”

By: Mohammed al Qadhi, Foreign Correspondent
Source: thenational.ae
June 8, 2008