Yemen group calls for Islamic state

Desmond Shephard | 21 August 2011

CAIRO: A Yemeni Islamic group has called for the implementation of the Sharia, or Islamic law, across the Islamic world, at a recent conference.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group in Yemen, called at their “One Nation, One State and One Flag” conference for the country to establish and Islamic state in order to unify all Muslims under the banner of Islam.

According to reports, a number of protesters in the country joined in the call to push for the new governance and end the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has cracked down on pro-change protesters over the past 7 months.

The group announced that they hope to “uproot all current regimes separating the Muslim lands, and replace them with an Islamic government,” which they say will “put into operation the laws of Islam rather than that of man-made laws.”

The pronouncement is not likely to have much sticking ground, experts say, pointing to numerous calls over the years from similar groups calling for one unified Islamic government from Morocco to Iraq.

“What we are seeing is people simply trying to voice opinions and gain support among certain groups in these countries,” said one security expert.