In an article on the liberal website Ahewar.org, Ahmad Rajab, an Iraqi journalist who resides in Sweden, criticized the dictatorships, regime corruption, and nepotism in the Arab and Islamic countries. To illustrate his argument, he presented a list of top posts in Yemen filled by relatives of President 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh.
Following are excerpts from the article:
"Most of the Arab and Islamic States Employ a Policy of Moronic Dictatorship"
"Most of the Arab and Islamic states employ a policy of moronic dictatorship, oppressing their peoples with police surveillance, arrests, prisons, detention camps and the most horrible forms of torture, often deadly. All these criminal deeds take place before the very eyes of those who preach Islam and who, from time to time, issue filthy words and erroneous judgments, which they call fatwas, while they themselves fall in line with the dictators and the chauvinists, betraying the expectations of their peoples – [for example,] the frauds with senior religious status, [Iraqi sheikhs] [Abu Basir] Al-Tartusi [a prominent ideologue of the Salafi-jihadi movement], Hareth Al-Dhari [secretary-general of the International Union of Muslim Clerics], and 'Abd Al-Karim Zaidan [the former supervisor of the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq], as well as the gang of Wahhabis, sectarianists, bloodsuckers.
"Modern history has seen a great many dictators and bloodsuckers of the people, such as [Cambodia's] Pol Pot, [The Philippines'] Ferdinand Marco], [Chile's] Augusto Pinochet, [the Central African Republic's] Jean-Bédel Bokassa, [Romania's] Nicolae Ceauşescu, [Congo's] Mobutu Sese Seko, [Egypt's] Hosni Mubarak, [Syria's] Bashar [Al-Assad], [Sudan's] 'Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, [Libya's] Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi, [Iraq's] Saddam Hussein, [Yemen's] 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh, [Tunisia's] Zine El Abidine [Ben] 'Ali, and others. The list of these criminals is long.
"The peoples rose up and swept away many dictators: Just recently, the Tunisian people succeeded in rising up and ousting the dictator Zine El Abidine [Ben] 'Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia seeking asylum with the foolish clerics and Mamluks of the Saudi royal family. Today, the Egyptian people are rising up in order to get rid of the ugly face called Hosni Mubarak. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of the stupid Syrian ruler, Bashar [Al-Assad], 'Omar Al-Bashir [of Sudan], 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh [of Yemen], Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi [of Libya], and all the traitors and hired [agents] in the region – since reasons for explosion and uprising exist in all the Arab and Islamic countries. The primary cause is the lack of democracy in [these countries], and in its stead a policy of terror and revenge, as well as growing corruption in all the power centers of their tyrannical governments."
"When [the Dictators] Reach the Point of Exhaustion... They Strive to Hand the Government Over to Their Son, Brother or Other Relative"
"The dictatorial rulers will do anything to stay in power. When they reach the point of exhaustion, and despair [of ruling any longer], they strive to hand over the government to their son, brother or other relative, and if none is available, some member of their clan... These dictators, who amass power through bloodshed and violence, promote and prepare their sons to become heads of state when they are gone, as in the case of Hafez Al-Assad, who passed the reins of government to his cowardly son Bashar before his death, appointing him president, and Saddam Hussein, who groomed his wretched son Qusay Hussein for the presidency.
"The weak [among these rulers] use other means; for example, they ask some sheikh [to issue] a fatwa permitting them to hand over the government to their sons. This is what the dictator Hosni Mubarak did – he appealed to the Association of Supporters of the Sunna in Damanhur province, who ruled that he was permitted to hand the regime down to his son Gamal.
"The dictator Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi, who has ruled Libya since 1968, similarly chose his son Saif Al-Islam Al-Qaddafi to succeed him, and the dictator [of Yemen] 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh – who came to power in 1978, following numerous plots and the murder of presidents Ibrahim Al-Hamdi and Ahmad Al-Ghashmi – likewise chose his son, Colonel Ahmad 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh, commander of the Republican Guard and the Special Forces, as his successor... The dictatorships are much the same in all the Arab and Islamic countries – in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Algeria, Somalia, and others..."
List of Yemeni Officials Related to President 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh
"Finally, I invite you to snigger as you acquaint yourselves with the dictators' relatives, [starting with] the brothers and [other] relatives of the dictator 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh [of Yemen], and to [thereby] understand why the masses are rising up in order to put an end to [the conduct of] these corrupt [leaders] and stealers of the people's food:
"'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh (father) – President of the Republic of Yemen.
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"Ahmad 'Ali 'Abdallah Saleh (son) – commander of the Republican Guard and Special Forces.
"Yahya Muhammad 'Abdallah Saleh (nephew) – commander of the Security Central Forces.
"Tareq Muhammad 'Abdallah Saleh (nephew) – commander of the Private Forces.
"'Ammar Muhammad 'Abdallah Saleh (nephew) – commander of the National Security Apparatus.
"'Ali Muhsen Saleh Al-Ahmar (half-brother) – commander of the First Division.
"'Ali Saleh Al-Ahmar – commander of the Air Force and the Sixth Aviation Regiment.
"Tawfiq Saleh 'Abdallah Saleh (nephew) – [chairman of the] National Tobacco and Match Company.
"Ahmad Al-Kahlani (father of fourth wife) – mayor of the capital, then governor, then minister, etc.
"'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Akwa' (brother of third wife) – minister, then governor, now mayor of the capital, etc.
"'Omar Al-Arhabi (son-in-law's brother) – General Executive Manager of the Yemeni Petroleum Company.
"'Abd Al-Karim Isma'il Al-Arhabi (son-in-law's uncle) – Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Planning, Head of Social Fund for Development.
"Khaled Al-Arhabi (son-in-law) – overseer of the Presidential Palaces.
"'Abd Al-Wahhab 'Abdallah Al-Hajri (brother of second wife) – Yemeni Ambassador to Washington.
"Khaled 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Akwa' (brother of third wife) – Director of the Foreign Ministry.
"'Abd Al-Khaleq Al-Qadhi (cousin) – Chief Executive of Yemen Airways.
"['Abdallah] Al-Qadhi – commander of the Al-Majd Forces in Taiz.
"Mahdi Maqwala (from the president's village) – head of the southern command.
"Muhammad 'Ali Muhsen (from the president's village) – head of the eastern command.
"Saleh Al-Dhanin (from the president's village) – former commander of the Khaled Forces.
"'Ali Ahmad Dweid (son-in-law) – head of the Department of Tribal Affairs.
"Nu'aman Dweid (son-in-law's brother) – governor of Sana'a province, former governor of 'Amran province, and director of the 'Amran Cement Factory for 10 years.
"Jubran Mujahid Abu Shawarib (son-in-law's brother) – governor of 'Amran province.
"The list is long, and we cannot mention all the names [of people] with family ties [to the president] who rule Yemen, its army, its media, and its public opinion, and who are behind the decision making. This contravenes the constitution of the Republic of Yemen, which speaks of the republic as a democracy rather than an autocracy.
"In conclusion, we call in unison: Down with the dictators and down with all those who hold power [because they are related] to the [ruler or to] his brother, son or his clan. Down with corruption, nepotism, and discrimination everywhere and at any time."
