The name Assassination is derived from the insidious perpetration of murder; That is, without the knowledge of either the victim or the community. What means here: the act of murder, which flooded the country over several years of its history. But there is no heroism, nor honor, when the parties - seemingly hidden - resort to this disgusting method of behavior, when you are with your rifle and your killing machine in the face of another defenseless victim except from his voice or image.
The conversation returns again to assassinations, which take on a political character, with the return of the invisible killer to the fore, and his blind machine that would spread terror and disturb the public tranquility. In Taiz, or in Aden, in Sana’a or Hadhramaut, or in every inch of Yemen. Therefore, we are all obligated to condemn the act of assassination, as it directly targets Yemeni society and undermines any efforts made to search for a possible formula for peace.
Yesterday, the Yemeni journalist, Saber Al-Haidari was assassinated in the city of Aden, by an explosive device that seems to have been placed in his car. According to the journalist's colleagues, he had left Sana'a in 2017, after being harassed while working by Ansar Allah group officials (Houthis). This is the second act that the journalistic community has been subjected to in less than a year after the crime of targeting journalist Rasha Al-Jaradi with a similar act, and the third was the journalist Nabil Al-Quaiti, who was assassinated with live bullets by a gun man while leaving his home in the city of Aden, mid-2020.
Should we not pause for a while to think about the state of the country, and what this cowardly killing machine has achieved so far?! And what has been gain? Nothing, everyone, including those referred to as perpetrators, went on to become victims of what they had done. Among all these reckless and uncalculated operations, there is a country that is lost and seeping from the hands of its people into Hell.
These acts appear to be extremely criminal and cowardly, as the assassination targets those innocent humans who are fully engaged in peaceful activities, as their character shows. Or the criminal may use some journalists and opinion campaigns to send messages of terror, but this time to threat the Yemeni public opinion, and the society that wants to enjoy a moment of peace, in light of a fragile humanitarian truce that has been extended for the second time. However, the parties behind this are necessarily delusional, as the acts of assassinations throughout the country's history, have been committed by only fragile regimes have resorted to it to terrify people, before they fear any other contradiction.
The post-election assassinations of 1993 created the conditions for the war of the summer of 94. At that time, the regime concerned with these acts believed that through assassinations and murdering opponents, it could pave its eternal path to power. But while we pass through all these terror acts, we shall learn some lessons from our history. Where are those regimes? And what awful crimes it did to itself and to the Yemeni people? It is very shameful, even frustrating, to go back again to that dark era, where innocent peaceful people (especially those not involved in war) were used as a tool for sending messages of control and criminality, and to deal with Yemeni blood with such contempt and cheapness.
Shouldn’t we pause for a while to think about the miserable state of the country? and what this cowardly killing machine has achieved so far?! And what has been gain? Nothing, everyone, including those referred to as perpetrators, went on to become victims of what they had done to others. Among all these reckless and uncalculated operations, there is a country that is lost and seeping from the hands of its people into Hell.
Yes, what if this blind killing machine was used to end the life of a male or female journalist, or activists working in the public sphere? How can the messages emanating from this act be understood, except in the fact that the party behind this act completely lacks conscience, and before that lacks the spirit of giving priority to the public interest, and it is not possible in any way to claim any kind of public benefit, by murdering an innocent and creative soul?
What does the killer of Saber, Rasha and Nabil think of himself? How can he do this heinous act, then return to his home, between his family and his children, if he has that, to live with this sinful act, without suffering the torments of what his hands have committed? Did the assassin stare at the posts and the astonishing images shared by the public of the victims' children and their families all over the social media? What is the military gain from robbing someone's of his or her life? And leaving their families in a state of confusion and torment of questions whose answers cannot be found: Why did you kill our sons?!
