Yemeni authorities captured the mastermind of a suspected al-Qaeda attack on the intelligence headquarters in the southern city of Aden that killed 11 people, the Defense Ministry said June 19 on its 26sep.net website. The captured man was identified as Goudol Mohammed Ali Naji. The deadly attack, which took place earlier that day, was apparently intended to free prisoners, but authorities and witnesses are at odds on whether any were actually freed. Authorities said there were no prisoners in the building at the time; witnesses said the assailants were seen leaving the building in a bus, taking freed detainees with them. Last week, the Yemen-based "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" urged the country's eastern tribes to rise up against the government and threatened retaliation for alleged air strikes in the area, the US monitoring group SITE said. (AFP, June 20)

From Amnesty International, June 7:

Images of missile and cluster munitions point to US role in fatal attack in Yemen
Amnesty International has released images of a US-manufactured cruise missile that carried cluster munitions, apparently taken following an attack on an alleged al-Qa'ida training camp in Yemen that killed 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children. The 17 December 2009 attack on the community of al-Ma'jalah in the Abyan area in the south of Yemen killed 55 people including 14 alleged members of al-Qa'ida.

Two Turkish soldiers and three members of a Kurdish militia helping the army were killed on May 29 in separate clashes with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerillas. The violence reportedly surged after imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan decided to abandon peace efforts and leave local commanders in charge of the conflict. Two soldiers and a "village guard" member died in clashes in Sirnak province, while two militia members were killed in Siirt province, after PKK members attacked a military patrol. (Southeast European Times, May 29)

Two US tourists taken hostage earlier this week were released by tribal militants on May 25 after Yemen's president agreed to free a prisoner held by the state. The release came as Yemeni authorities apologized for an erroneous air-strike that killed Sheik Jabir al-Shabwani, deputy governor of Marib province, who had been trying to persuade a local leader of "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" to surrender. The target of the attack, Mohammed Saeed Jardan, escaped, with reports conflicting on whether he was injured. Al-Shabwani was reportedly travelling to meet him when he was killed.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights on May 14 called for the release of nine adherents of the Ahmadiyya sect detained under a controversial emergency law extended by parliament that week. The nine were arrested in March and charged with insulting Islam. "The arrest and interrogation of the Ahmadis is only the latest instance of the security apparatus' abuse of the shameful, vague and unconstitutional provision on 'contempt of religions,'" the statement said.

An officer of the Saudi religious police, patrolling an amusement park in the eastern city of al-Mubarraz for unmarried couples illegally socializing, met physical resistance after he stopped a young couple walking together. The officer of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice—known locally as the Hai'a—asked the couple to confirm their identities and relationship to one another. For unknown reasons, the young man collapsed upon being questioned by the cop. According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the woman then laid into the officer, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be hospitalized with bruises across his body and face.

From Human Rights Watch, April 7:

Yemen: Investigate Laws-of-War Violations
Government and Huthi Rebels Should Hold Perpetrators Accountable
The Yemeni government and Huthi rebels should investigate alleged violations of the laws of war during the recent conflict and hold all those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. On February 11, 2010, both sides agreed to a truce - the sixth since the war began in 2004, but the agreement contains no accountability provisions.

Turkish politician and Kurdish rights activist Leyla Zana was sentenced April 8 to three years in prison for spreading terrorist propaganda. Zana was convicted by a court in the city of Diyarbakir for two speeches delivered at a Kurdish political congress in 2008. Zana has previously been convicted for spreading propaganda under Turkey's anti-terrorism laws, most recently facing a 10-year sentence in 2008 for supporting the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). She remains free pending appeal.