Background on the al-Ra’wi story

The conflict between Saleh Abdu Saeed al-Ra’wi and Mohammed Nasser al-Bada, which culminated in the murder of al-Bada and the vengeance killing of al-Ra’wi in the Ibb Central Prison, began in 2003 when al-Bada began to take over a piece of land in the Ibb neighborhood of al-Gabagib, which al-Ra’wi owned. 

Two years ago, al-Bada, a brigadier working in the executive bureau in the governorate, obtained a document of ownership over this land from the former manager of the endowment, Abdul-Hamid al-Ashwal. Al-Bada had hoped that this would force al-Ra’wi to revoke his claim to the land. 

Al-Bada applied various pressures attempting to force al-Ra’wi to back down. In 2003, al-Ra’wi’s wife was beaten, and he was received kidnapping threats. The more pressure from al-Bada, the more insistent al-Ra’wi was in his refusal to give in. At one point, al-Bada had al-Rawi imprisoned for five months—but al-Ra’wi refused to back down.

Al-Bada built a wall around the land, but al-Ra’wi built a room without a ceiling inside the wall, according to general manager of units administration in the governorate, Ahmed al-Doghaish, who openly supports al-Ra’wi’s claim to the land. 

Ambiguity surrounds the identity of al-Bada’s killer. “On the night of Sunday, October 13th, at about eleven thirty, al-Bada, along with a group of his friends, raided the land to destroy the room built by al-Ra’wi,” said al-Ra’wai’s wife. “When the raiders began dismantling the building, Saleh heard a bullet fired into the air. The raiders ran away.

“Saleh went outside to check what had happened, and while he was talking to me, one of the raiders hit him with a bar from behind. He fell down. They shot at him again but missed, killing their friend Mohammed,” she said. 

The raiders thought that they had killed Saleh, and began to withdraw, but they were surprised when they heard Saleh shouting at them to rescue their friend, but they left him, Mrs. al-Ra’wi said. “Saleh soon reported the event and submitted himself to the criminal investigative unit.”

On the following day, the morning of Tuesday, October 16th, the manager of criminal investigation of Dhamar, along with a group of armed men entered the Criminal Investigation headquarters of Ibb. The group’s leader presented himself to the officer on duty, S. al-Ma’in, and asked to see al-Ra’wi. The officer asked a soldier to bring him from his cell, and a few minutes later Saleh was brought to the officer’s room. 

“This is Saleh,” the soldier said. A member of the armed group immediately stabbed al-Ra’wi several times and shot him, said an anonymous witness at the Administration of Criminal Investigation.

They then attempted to escape the scene in their cars, but were stopped by an armed security car, with guns trained on the assailants. The group was imprisoned, but after 24 hours some were released.

The killing inside of the Criminal Investigation headquarters and the release of the killers provoked anger in the people of Ibb. Several bulletins were issued by social organizations, political parties, JMPs, and civil society organizations, strongly condemning the crime, denouncing the barbaric methods employed by the criminals, and criticizing the apparent indifference of the government’s security force. 

The protest echoed in Parliament, where news was revealed that Abu Asba, al-Bukhaity, and other Ibb sheikhs attempted to solve the problem tribally, al-Doghaish told the Yemen Observer last Sunday.

The sheikhs of Ibb are divided: one group, headed by Sheikh Mohammed Qasim al-Ansi, supports the tribal solution; the other group of sheikhs oppose it. While they were discussing the problem at Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Hobaish’s house last Tuesday, it was reported that after the killing of al-Ra’wi, an armed group destroyed the room that al-Ra’wi built, moved into his house and destroyed the windows and furniture. It was suggested that they were looking for al-Ra’wi’s wife and sons. 

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