Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari ( born 1978 – 11 December 2008) was a

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i Jewish

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

teacher and

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

butcher in

Raydah Raydah (; sometimes transliterated Raidah or al-Raidah) is a large market town located north of Sana'a, and north of Amran, in northwestern Yemen.Sharp, Jeremy MYemen: Background and U.S. Relations(RL34170, PDF). Congressional Research Servi ...

, who was murdered by a Yemeni Muslim who accosted him near his home demanding that he

convert to Islam Reversion to Islam, also known within Islam as reversion, is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. Conversion requires a formal statement of the ''Shahada, shahādah'', the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there i ...

. Al-Nahari's attacker subsequently boasted of the killing and the prosecution demanded the death penalty. The court ruled that the attacker was mentally unstable and ordered him to pay damages. In the subsequent appeals case, however, al-Abdi was sentenced to death. The murder of al-Nahari was the first of its kind in at least fifteen years.

Life

Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari, a 30-year-old father of nine, lived in the small Jewish community of

, a market town in the Amran Governorate of northern Yemen. He worked as Hebrew teacher at the local Jewish school and as a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

. He was married to Loza Solaiman.Arrabyee, Nasser. , ''Yemen Observer'', 03-03-2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. His brother is Rabbi Yahya Ya'ish, one of the leaders of Yemen's Jewish community. al-Nahari had visited Israel a few times, and at one point had lived for a time in the Oshiyot neighborhood of

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

, but later returned to Yemen.Stern, Yoav
Jews of Yemen reportedly to be relocated in wake of deadly attack
''Haartez'', 18-12-2008. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. A few years before his death, he decided to make

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

and had sold his house to fund the move. At the last moment his father convinced him to stay in Yemen. He had ties to the

Satmar Satmar (; ) is a group in Hasidic Judaism founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), in the city of Szatmárnémeti (also called Szatmár in the 1890s), Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary (now Satu Mare in Romania). The group is a b ...

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

movement in Yemen.

Background

The Jewish community in Raydah numbered 266. They had complained about threats received from groups of Islamic extremists previously and they subsequently asked for the protection of the Yemeni government. However, security authorities in the past refused to recognize the claims of the Jewish minority, saying there was no evidence of threats against them.al-Kibsi, Mohammed., ''Yemen Observer'', 17-02-2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-08.

Attack

On 11 December 2008, Abdul Aziz Yahya Al-Abdi, a 39-year old former

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twinjet, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the large ...

fighter pilot in the Yemeni Air Force, accosted al-Nahari in the market near his home demanding that he convert to Islam. He called out "Jew, accept the message of Islam."Jew shot to death in Yemen by 'disturbed extremist'
''Ynet'', 12-12-2008. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. Al-Nahari asked to be left alone, but Abdi opened fire with a submachine gun until al-Nahari was riddled with bullets.Prosecution seeks death for Yemeni Jew's murder
''Arab News'', 17-02-2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. Nahari was buried in Yemen. His relatives and associates pressured the authorities to allow the body to be brought to Israel for burial, but approval was not granted.

Court case

Defence

The suspect, Abdul Aziz Yahya Al-Abdi, claimed he was a representative of the

Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

in Yemen and the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. He initially refused his Yemeni lawyers who had volunteered to defend him and demanded an American lawyer chosen by the U.S. Embassy in

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

, claiming that while his Yemeni lawyers would be murdered for representing him, an American lawyer could be protected. Al-Abdi's trial, held in the criminal court of Amran Governorate, started on 22 December 2008. Al-Abdi admitted in court that he killed al-Nahari "to get closer to Allah" saying that he had warned the Jews months ago either convert to Islam or leave the country. Attempting to avoid the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, Khalid al-Shalali, one of Al-Abdi's lawyers, told the court that his client was mentally unfit and suffering from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

when the murder was committed. Al-Abdi's medical report was presented. The report, which recommended that he be committed to a mental hospital, noted that he had murdered his wife five years earlier, but had avoided prison by paying her family compensation. While his lawyer was reading the report, Al-Abdi said "executing me is better than putting me in a sanatorium, I'm very well." He then turned to the victim's father and widow saying "I killed him while I was very well, they deceive you." The lawyers also presented to the court a document signed by 40 men from the tribe of Al-Abdi witnessing that he was suffering psychotic problems.

Prosecution

The lawyer representing the al-Nahari family, Yahya Allaw, cast doubt on the report, saying it failed to state which doctors had issued the report, or their specialization. He added that the report failed to specify the exact physiological state of the suspect when he committed the crime. These claims were seconded by the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, who represented Al-Nahari in court

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

. The court accepted the demands of the victim's lawyer, and decided to refer the medical report to a medical committee for clarification on the suspect's psychological state.

Verdict

The verdict was passed on 2 March 2009. The small courtroom was packed with several dozen other members of Abdi's Kharef tribe and the only Jewish people present were the victim's father and widow, also the only woman in the courtroom. As the court session got underway on Monday, the authorities sealed off the court building for fear of a violent backlash.Yemeni Jew killer ordered to pay blood money
''al-Watan Daily'', 08-03-2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. Throughout the case, relatives of the deceased were verbally attacked and insulted by the defendant's tribe.al-Thaibani, Kawkab
Last session before Jewish murder verdict
, ''Yemen Times'', 11-02-2009. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. Al-Abdi showed no remorse for his actions. The court ruled that Al-Abdi was legally insane, and ordered him committed to a psychiatric sanatorium. The court also ordered that a payment of 5.5 million YR ($27,500) in damages be made to Nahari's family. When the verdict was read out, the dozen people present inside the small courtroom expressed relief, except for the victim's relatives. Police hurried to empty the courtroom as soon as the trial was adjourned and prevented journalists from speaking to people present.

Appeal and death sentence

The family of the victim decided to appeal the verdict to demand that the death penalty be implemented against the convicted. The prosecuting lawyer, Khaled al-Ansi, said, ”The verdict is a big scandal” and “The trial was not fair, and was not secure, the Judge was afraid. The verdict will lead to the emigration of the remaining Jews from Yemen.” The rabbi of the Jewish community in Amran, Yahya Yaeish, said “The verdict will encourage more killings of Jews.” On 21 June 2009, the appeals court sentenced Al-Abdi to death. His lawyers responded that they would take the case to the country's Supreme Court. In April 2011, it was reported that Al-Abdi had escaped from prison with ten other inmates after bribing the guards. Several of the escaping inmates were later caught, but Al-Abdi remains at large.

Reactions

In response to the court case, the Jewish community expressed their ordeal and how unsafe they felt after extremists had been sending them hate letters and threats by phone. The killing heightened the distress amongst the Jewish community in Raydah and their complaints eventually reached the President of the Republic. They demanded to be relocated to the capital

Sana’a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation o ...

and to be compensated for their houses and property in Raydah. Their demands were met by President Saleh, who ordered properties to be provided for them in Sana’a. In 2009, five of Nahari's children made aliyah. In 2012, his wife Lauza and four other children followed, having remained in Yemen so she could serve as a witness during the trial.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

wrote to the Yemeni Government urging the country to protect its Jews. The human rights organization stated that it is "deeply concerned for the safety of members of the Jewish community in northwestern Yemen following the killing of one member of the community and anonymous serious threats to others to leave Yemen or face death."Amnesty Int’l urges Yemen to protect its Jew
, JTA, 24-12-2008.

References

External links

Save Yemen's Jews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahari, Moshe YaIsh Yemenite Orthodox Jews People murdered in Yemen Deaths by firearm in Yemen Murdered Jews 1978 births 2008 deaths Antisemitism in Yemen People from 'Amran Governorate Shochtim People executed for refusing to convert to Islam