Cross-posted at DailyKos. Thanks to Georgia10, and thousands of you who sent faxes and e-mails, and who made phone calls:

THE life of a 21-year-old mother was spared shortly before she was due to face a firing squad yesterday as appeals by British ministers and others forced the Yemeni President to suspend the execution.

Amina al-Abduladif’s lawyer was with her in prison when the last-minute reprieve came. Shada Nasir told The Times: “She was shaking and crying. She had said her prayers and her farewells and was sure she was going to die. What we don’t know is whether the execution has been delayed for a day or a week as no one will tell us.

“She is still very frightened and confused about what happens now.”

Times UK || Special thanks to Sarahlee for sending me the link.

Our worries are not over. We must keep acting. More below … where your ideas are needed … and CONTACTS:
I suggest — preliminarily — these immediate actions:

1. We thank Amnesty International UK for its hard work: press@amnesty.org.uk

2. We berate all those in the press we contacted about her story, none of whom acted. You know who you contacted. Contact them to protest their failure to inform.

3. We find a way to communicate directly with Amina and send her letters of support, or whatever else we might be able to send to her. (To that end, I want to reach her attorney, Mrs. Shadha Mohammad Nasser, a lawyer at the supreme court. I’l try to find out how but if any of you know how, please share.)

More from the Times UK story today:

Officials in the capital, Sanaa, said that President Saleh was “moved” when he learnt of the plight of Mrs Abduladif, who was convicted of murdering her husband when she was 16 after insisting that her confession was forced from her under torture.

The President has asked justice ministers to look again at her case while her lawyers are demanding a new trial.

For the moment Mrs Abduladif remains on death row with her two-year-old son, who was born in jail after she was allegedly raped by a prison guard. She had gone on hunger strike after a prison official told her that he had read in a newspaper that her execution date had been set for yesterday.

“I have pleaded with her to eat something and to have hope,” Mrs Nasir said. “She is very grateful for all those abroad who protested about her case. We believe it was this international intervention that saved her, as here she had become forgotten.”

About the rape:

Mrs Nasir hopes that the authorities will order an investigation into who raped the young mother. Prison officials only learnt of the attack when she was facing her executioners two years ago and told them that she was pregnant.

“What has been done to this young woman by the police and the judicial system is shameful,” Mrs Nasir said. “She has spent years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit and was raped while in their custody. I don’t know how much more she can take.”

About the history of her case:

Witnesses say that Mrs Abduladif’s husband was killed by his cousin in a family dispute in January 1998 but their evidence was not presented during the trial in May 1999. Mrs Abduladif has described how she made a false confession after being beaten and sexually assaulted.

About the imposition of the death penalty on someone of her age — she was 14 when the murder was supposedly committed, and she was sentenced to death when she was 16 — only confessing to the crime after being tortured:

President Saleh also wants to know why the courts broke their own rules by handing a death sentence to someone who was under 18 at the time.

About the fate of her son:

The authorities have yet to decide what should happen to her son. Under Yemeni law, now that he has reached the age of two years, he should be taken from her. Since Mrs Abduladif was jailed she has seen little of her two daughters from her marriage. Her youngest child was killed in a car crash.

She had two daughters from her marriage — before age 14? And one has been killed?

What a life. Let’s discuss ideas on how we might help her further and how we might contact her directly through her attorney (see just below the fold).


CONTACTS YOU CAN USE:


It appears that it was the British government that did most, if not all, of the diplomatic work to save this woman from execution yesterday. However, we can continue to try U.S. State Dept. officials:


The Under Secretary for Political Affairs, R. Nicholas Burns

tel 202-647-2471  fax (202) 647-4780


Assistant Secretary C. David Welch, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA/FO)

tel 202-647-7209  fax (202) 736-4462


Director Alan G. Misenheimer, Office of Arabian Peninsula & Iran Affrs (NEA/ARPI)

tel 202-647-6184  fax (202) 736-4459


Yemen Country desk
tel (202) 647-6558
(I spoke to Tracy Roberts at this desk yesterday. I told her she seemed the best informed on Yemen, and she replied that that’s all she does, every day. She was helpful.)


Thomas C. Krajeski

U.S. Ambassador, Yemen

Telephone: (967) 1 303-155 to 159

Fax: (967) 1 303160/1/2/4/5


U.S. State Dept. Contact Form

Main Switchboard:
202-647-4000

TTY: 1-800-877-8339 (Federal Relay Service)

ALSO: The Yemeni embassy in D.C. was helpful. The secretary told me that she had passed on all of our faxes to the Yemeni ambassador directly.


Embassy of the Republic of Yemen

2319 Wyoming Avenue, NW

Washington DC 20008

Telephone: (202) 965-4760

Fax: (202) 337-2017


List of e-mail addresses at Yemeni embassy in D.C.


And don’t forget to re-contact all the media outlets you faxed and called over the weekend, and BITCH about their failure to provide ANY coverage.


 

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