The so-called "Shabwa Defense" Paramilitary Forces, an affiliate of the Transitional Council, have refused to hand over six of their militiamen accused of physically eliminating health official and preacher Sheikh Abdullah Al-Bani in Shabwa Governorate.
The head of the American Center for Justice, lawyer Abd al-Rahman Berman, said, "The commander of the Sixth Brigade, Shabwa Defense, Ahmed Hussein Ka'alan al-Harthy, refused to hand over 6 comrades accused of participating in the assassination of Sheikh al-Bani," explaining that the attorney general in charge of investigating the case had ordered the six suspects to be brought in for investigation.
Berman added, "It is organized crime that was not carried out by individuals spontaneously, but based on directives from their leaders."
On April 21, on the morning of Eid al-Fitr festivity, gunmen belonging to the Shabwa Defense Forces units, executed Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdullah al-Bani, the preacher and imam of the Eid prayer venue, in broad daylight and inside the main chapel in the Bayhan district of Shabwa governorate.
The crime came within a wave of assassinations against pro-government officials, activists and social influencers in the southern governorates during the past years. In the interim capital Aden, dozens of pro-government preachers, politicians and activists were assassinated in the past years and the assassins were left unpunished and to live their life freely.