Security forces arrested eight minors for lighting firecrackers in celebration of Eid al Ghadeer, a mainstream Zaidi Shiite holiday banned since the inception of the Sa’ada war in 2004. Yemen’s attorney general stated “high level orders” prevented the children’s release. Zaidi scholar Mohammed Miftah was also arrested on charges of celebrating the holiday. Miftah, a human rights activist, received an eight-year sentence following an unfair trial in 2005 and was pardoned in 2006.
