Lawsuits demand: Rescue Americans stranded in Yemen

Niraj Warikoo | Detroit Free Press

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story said Abdulla Saaidi of Dearborn was in Yemen. Only his wife and children remain in the country.

DETROIT — More than 50 Yemeni-Americans from Wayne County, Mich., are stranded in Yemen as the Middle Eastern country disintegrates amid a growing war, according to two lawsuits filed Thursday in federal courts.

The lawsuits, filed in Detroit and Washington, D.C., by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), accuse the U.S. government of failing to rescue Americans of Yemeni descent who are stuck there and unable to evacuate.

The U.S. State Department and Department of Defense did not return calls seeking comment Thursday evening. But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that an operation to rescue Americans in Yemen was too risky, and "could put U.S. citizens' lives at greater risk" because "the situation in Yemen is quite dangerous and unpredictable."

The lack of help from the U.S. government has upset some Arab-American and Muslim groups, who say the U.S. government is discriminating against Yemeni-Americans. The lawsuit notes that other countries have evacuated many of their citizens. India, for example, has rescued more than 4,000 of its citizens stuck in Yemen, sending military planes and ships to safely evacuate them.

Jamal al-Labani, a U.S. citizen from California, was killed this week in a mortar strike, highlighting the dangers there.

"Help get these individuals out," said Abed Ayoub, a Dearborn native who's the legal and policy director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "They are in dire need of assistance. ... Use the military we have, use the resources we have in the region and get the citizens home. They're American. They're just as American as everybody else."

The lawsuit filed in Washington is on behalf of 41 Yemeni-Americans, including 16 from Dearborn, Detroit, Hamtramck and Melvindale. The lawsuit filed in Detroit is on behalf of 36 Yemeni-Americans from Wayne County. Dearborn and Hamtramck both have sizable Yemeni-American communities, many of whom often visit relatives in their native land. The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, said ADC.

Last week, ADC, CAIR and the Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus created a website, StuckInYemen.com, to register Americans trapped in Yemen. So far, more than 450 have registered, including the plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

After Houthi rebels took over parts of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and its allies launched attacks in Yemen two weeks ago as Yemen's government collapsed in much of the country. The Houthis are Shia and Saudi Arabia's leaders are Sunni, prompting fears the conflict could escalate into a sectarian conflict between the two groups.

Abdulla Saaidi of Dearborn said his wife, Awhead Almarqozi, and their three children were driven from their home in Yemen recently by Houthi rebels, according to the lawsuit. The mother and three children are "hiding out in a family friend's house, in dire need," the lawsuit said.

Saaidi "has reached out to the U.S. citizen's services as well as the embassy and just gets passed off to others," the lawsuit said.

Ziad Ahmed Shaawat of Detroit is stranded in Yemen along with his wife, who is pregnant, and their small child, according to the D.C. lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed in Detroit lists several Yemeni-Americans in Dearborn and other Wayne County cities who are stranded while in Yemen on vacation, such as Rashid Mohamed Sadi and Jaber Mohamed Alsaady.

Nihad Awad, co-founder and national executive director of CAIR, said the U.S. needs to immediately help the Americans trapped.

"We honestly do not understand why the most powerful military in the world can not evacuate its citizens from a combat zone like Yemen, while in fact, so many countries have evacuated their citizens," Awad said. "Our government should not leave any citizen behind."