On the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the founding of the Yemeni Islah Party on September 13, 1990, al-Islah.net interviewed Mr. Adnan al-Audaini, deputy head of the Information and Culture Department of the Islah party.

In the course of his speech, Al-Audaini talked about many issues related to the Yemeni issue, as well as discussed the concerns and aspirations of Islah and the role of the party in restoring the state, the legitimacy and defeating the coup.

Text of the dialogue.

At the moment we are receiving the 28th anniversary of the founding of the Yemeni Islah Party, in which the Yemeni people are fighting the battle of the liberation of the country from the militias of the Houthi coup, where is the Islah Party standing, today?

- Islah lies at the heart of the battle for the restoration of the state, the liberation of the land and the will of Yemen. And in this position, the Islah provides its full political and social weight in support of the legitimacy and service to a people worthy of a broad freedom and a state on the size of this people.

State-building has been a top priority for the Yemeni Islah Party, while today the priorities of the stage have become necessary to liberate the country. What is the philosophy of the Islah Party with regard to defeating the coup and building the state?

- Support for the legitimacy in the battle of the liberation is the step that paves the way for the process of state building, because Yemenis cannot build their state without a free homeland, not stolen or non-independent state.

The Islah Party was founded 28 years ago. How do you assess the political performance of the party through more than a quarter of a century in different stations? Where did the party succeed and where did it fail?

- The biggest achievements of the Islah Party are strengthening the status of society in the power face and the establishment of a political equation in which the opposition is the power partner in the political system. This has allowed the competition even for the position of presidency of the state, but on other hand, the Islah Party and the rest of its partners failed to maintain the cohesion of the national political front, despite its keenness on it.

What is the vision of the Islah for the next stage in political action and political pluralism in light of the country's sufferance because of the coup and the battle to restore the legitimacy?

- Protecting the legacy of civil and political action and re-opening the political market and re-preparing the work field according to the rules of the political process, because we recognize that the closure of this market will benefit only the forces of violence and those who bet on the weapons use.

What is your assessment of the JMP experience? Can we say that it was a stage that is over?

- The experience of the JMP was necessary at least to create an opposition independent in its decision from the power, and this is the key condition of any stable political system. If the task is to free the will of the people and build a state of citizenship, therefore, the experience must continue because we have not achieved these goals.

Today, as long as we are in a national alignment to face the coup, how do you see the relationship of the Islah Party with the GPC and on what basis will this relationship be?

- We in the Islah party see that it is necessary for the national will to be agglomerated that rejects the Imamate project in its various directions - the difference lies in the details - provided that this does not harm the overall battle of the Yemenis on the basis of respect for the legitimacy and work under the authority of the State for facing the Imamate, we call brothers in the GPC to a true and effective partnership.

Now, does Islah Party see that the country needs new alliances in order to achieve the overthrow of the coup, restore legitimacy and start building the state?

- The Islah Party with the rest of the political forces that support the legitimacy contributed to the establishment of a broad national coalition, and the full regulations of this coalition have completed and we see the need to announce this as soon as possible.

It is noted that the Islah is silent regarding its leaders who are subjected to oppression and assassinations, especially in some areas of controlled by the legitimate government, and these events accompanied by a systematic media campaign, to what do you return that? How do you deal with it?

- We have never silent, but we are taking the political and legal way to express our issues. When we protest, we are keen on making that protest a means of public reform in the country and not exploit the issues to harm the people and their interests. The Islah Party is not a gang that foments riots, disrupts citizens' interests and invests aches for cheap gains. We demand the government to take a serious position against the systematic assassinations practiced against Islahi elements as well as Salafists. We call upon the government to assume its responsibility for uncovering the culprits. We have earlier called for the formation of a joint committee between the government and the Arab Alliance to conduct investigations regarding the crimes committed in the liberated areas.

With regard to imbalances in public functions, what is your vision to address these imbalances as well as with regard to the army?

- We in the Islah Party called for the need to abide by the Civil Service Law and standards of efficiency in employment. We feel that many decisions need to be reviewed and scrutinized, and the person who does not meet the conditions, we do not see him fit to continue. We also demand the establishment of a national institution for the armed forces and we feel the danger of multiplicity of armies upon the future and we also called for the integration of all combat units within the armed forces.

What is the vision of the Yemeni Islah Party regarding the concept of a civil state? Is the federal state according to the outputs of the National Dialogue Considered is the solution?

- The civil state is the state that grants its people the right to choose, monitor and isolate their rulers if necessary. It is the state, in which the peaceful transfer of power and the fair distribution of wealth are carried out without violence or intervention by the military. In such a state, the task of the army is limited to protecting the homeland, guarding the political process from any armed penetration and guaranteeing what is produced of it, but does not intervene in it or in its guidance. We demand the liberation of the popular will from the domination of the forces that use weapons after determining the mission of these forces within the national military institution.

Is the battle being waged by the Yemenis under the leadership of President Hadi today with the participation of the Islah and the rest of the national forces, as well as the support of the Arab Alliance is the battle for the restoration of the state only or are there greater goals?

- The dispute with the Houthis not only because they used weapons against the Yemeni people, but because there is a difference between them and the Yemeni people in the perception of the social and political system in the country. The Houthis devote a social system that violates the idea of equality and justice and they want a political system that eliminates political freedom and circulation of power. This is what makes the problem more than the practice of killing; it goes beyond killing Yemeni dignity and excluding the Yemeni people from making political decisions.

The largest segment of the detainees in the prisons of the Houthi militias belongs to the Islah Party. Does the Islah Party have a mechanism to release those detainees, particularly some of whom have spent more than 3 years?

They were kidnapped because their party is one of the most important pillars of the Yemeni legitimacy and because it is the first political barrier against the coup. This makes the government to assume its responsibility for releasing them and taking care of their families. I am surprised by the government's failure in this matter.

Recently, the Houthi rebels have referred 10 journalists to trial after more than three years of their abduction and subjection to torture and abuse. Do the Party has a role within the framework of the legitimacy in stopping what journalists and media professionals are subjected to blatant violations, assault and targeting of their lives?

- We have a formal and national defense line to defend these heroes. We believe that the freedom of opinion and the affirmation of the human right to express one's opinion is one of the most important contents of the revolutions of September, October and February. If there is a letdown for these men, it is a letdown for those great revolutionary flows.

The anniversary of the establishment of the Yemeni Islah Party always coincides with the anniversary of the glorious 26th of September Revolution. After few days, we will celebrate the 56th anniversary of the 26 September revolution; do not you see that the imamate is still a project that poses a threat to the country and the future of the generations?

- It realy is the danger facing all of Yemen. At this moment we need to the idea and the political system of September, the idea that liberated the man and made the diaspora of Yemenis a people and a large affiliation after the affiliations that distributed Yemenis among regions, sects and tribes. It is the Republic that has a close history, in which the Yemenis have been restored as a people and not as rival groups.

There are those who say that the September revolution did not take its right as a new birth of Yemen that had to be instilled in the consciousness of the generation. How true these words?

- The Republic is the idea of freeing individual consciousness in order to produce a citizen instead of a parish, transfer sovereignty to the general public and break the monopoly of power in a category that falsely claimed to have a religious right to control the state. This awareness has not penetrated the popular consciousness as it should have. The republic has not been reflected in the way power is circulated and the distribution of wealth. Power and wealth continued as a state among the influential, and social and political marginalization continued, these are huge gaps that we are paying price for, and we must not allow these mistakes to be repeated.

What message would you like to bring to the Islahis on this occasion? What is the message of the Islah Party to the political forces as well?

- I say to the Islah members and its fans to cling to the national political line of your party and do not succumb to the regional attractions and do not allow the conflict to deviate from its national path, keep the legacy of the national struggle, you are guards and its torches' holders.

As for the political parties, we call on them to be protected by politics and its peaceful logic and not to bet on any armed formations, because the parties are entrusted with political and civil action and should not be compromised under any circumstances.