Baraa Shiban, a Yemeni activist with Reprieve, a not-for-profit organization which has actively campaigned for the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison and called for an end to drone strikes as a counter-terror measure, said his countrymen lived in fear, plagued by the idea that their community could be targeted by drones at any given time.
Since US President Barack Obama resume its drone campaign in Yemen after al-Qaeda managed to secure serious advances against a weakened Yemeni central government, rural communities saw their villages, roads and fields bombarded from the air on account alleged terror militants had been spotted in the area.
Back in December, 12th, 2013, Yemen rose in anger against the central government for having allowed the US to infringe on the nation’s airspace, after a wedding convoy was mistakenly targeted by a drone. A reported 12 people died on the day.
Keen to justify its action, Washington immediately issued a statement by which it confirmed that its intelligence services had identified a terror militant and thus prompted the relevant authorities to authorize a strike.
Shiban who has followed the investigation closely and conducted his own independent enquiry told reporters that Yemeni security officials claimed the target of the strike had been a militant called Shawqi al-Badani. However, Shibdan maintains that such an individual never attended the wedding ceremony. “None of them [victims’ family members] even heard of this guy named Shawqi al-Badani.”
Al-Badani, who has always vehemently denounced and opposed drone strikes stressed that his countrymen lived in a continuous state of fear. “Communities are living in continuous fear day and night just wondering when one of these drones is going to strike; they don’t know when or where the strikes will take place and because of the fact that it might happen that you’re standing at the wrong time in the wrong place, you could be a victim to these drones.”