the finger at. my grandfather s nephew, lutfi, has been asking who killed mohamed noman since he was eight years old. military rule was against everything my grandfather had worked for, but he wasn t the type to give up. general al masswari is the only yemeni official from that period who agreed to speak to me on the record about my grandfather s assassination. after al hamdi s coup, he was one of the last people to meet with my grandfather.
involved in what he s doing since his childhood! and this what gives the maturity of the personality, when he reaches the 20 or25 or30 or40, until he was assassinated. two weeks before my grandfather was assassinated, key events took place in yemen. this is what i know. june 11th, 1974. mohamed noman leaves yemen on an official trip to iraq, carrying with him important documents. but first, he makes a stop in lebanon to see his family. two days later, a military coup takes over rule in north yemen. colonel ibrahim al hamdi is now president, and my grandfather
to find a trace of him, which makes me wonder whether he survived the attack. i thought lebanese newspapers might have followed up after my grandfather s assassination, but despite his murder having made the headlines, i was surprised there was nothing further on any investigation. but, curiously, a week after my grandfather s death, a prominent lebanese journalist and close friend, michel abu jaude, was kidnapped. michel s articles had huge influence and sway across the region. he was eventually released and immediately after gave this interview. did the kidnappers find i criticism with your articles that you had written? yes, and they were asking me about mohamed noman. michel passed away 30 years ago. i ve come to meet his family to ask them what they might know. and before he was kidnapped, he was trying to find out
because he was such a violent. i mean, not physical. ..but in his talk, the way he talks, his words, his language. i mean, he was. ..full of revolutionary ideas. we used to call him, and i don t agree with this terminology, al ghawba. al ghawba is when the sky is dark, because so much sand in the air, meaning that mohamed, when he comes to a meeting, whatever the topic is, he is going to be the centre. i m slowly piecing together
among these documents are my great grandfather s diaries. mohamed s father was very diligent at keeping detailed records. here, ifind entries from when al hamdi took over north yemen. june 17th, which is four days after the coup. my great grandfather, ahmed, writes, i received a call from the minister of interior. he complained in the name of president ibrahim al hamdi of mohamed s activities in the media. now, clearly, ibrahim al hamdi was threatened and felt that mohamed was moving against him in the media, where he was really influential. i can see why the motive and the timing make al hamdi a logical suspect, but that theory was quickly dismissed at the time. those who hated ibrahim al hamdi put the blame on him, because he was not in good terms with mohamed.