Al Mukalla: Yemen’s internationally recognised president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has ordered his government to work urgently on reopening courts in liberated provinces as to put an end to a backlog of cases and ease congestion inside prisons.
At two consecutive meetings with the country’s attorney-general, Ali Al Awash, and the head of the Supreme Court, Hamoud Al Hitar, Hadi said reviving judicial authorities inside the liberated areas would restore people’s trust in the government and help clear the backlog of cases accumulated over the years.
The country’s courts have been brought to a halt since early 2015 when Al Houthi rebels overthrew Hadi and his government and began military explosions in Southern Yemen. More than two years of fierce clashes and heavy shelling have completely destroyed courthouses while many judges opted to go into exile to escape Al Houthi harassment. With improving security in the liberated provinces, including the port city of Aden, many judges have returned home and begun resuming duties.
On Monday, the governor of the southern province of Abyan, Major-General Abu Baker Hussain Salim, inspected the resumption of Zijibar Court of Appeals where local judges began deciding on pending cases. In the province of Hadramout, the new governor, Major-General Faraj Salmeen Al Bahsani, said at a meeting with senior officials in Mukalla city on Monday that he would focus on helping courts to operate normally, fighting corruption and providing more fund for the health sector.
Meanwhile, fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition heavily struck Al Houthi-held Sana’a, hitting military installations controlled by Al Houthis and military brigades loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Residents said that larges explosions shook the capital on Monday and Tuesday after missiles hit Attan, Al Nahden and Noqum mountain where ballistic missiles and ammunition are stored. Similar intensive air strikes destroyed Al Houthi military locations and reinforcements on battlefields in Taiz, Jawf, Hajja and Marib.
The Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that fierce clashes continued on the western and eastern outskirts of the city of Taiz where government forces push into Al Houthi areas with the aim of ending more than a year of siege that pushed the city to the brink of starvation.
In the northern province of Jawf, Abdullah Al Shandaqi, Jawf resistance spokesperson, said on Tuesday that army troops and allied tribesmen engaged in heavy clashes with the rebels in Quz and Sadah regions in the district of Al Masloub.
