Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, a Yemeni journalist, human rights activist and former editor of the opposition weekly Al-Shoura, was born in Taiz Governorate and educated at Sana’a University. He was a fierce critic of government corruption and abuses, especially regarding the conflict in Sa’ada, and aligned himself with Zaidi and Houthi causes. He endured repeated harassment, as in September 2004, when he was sentenced to one year in prison and the suspension of Al-Shoura. Again in June 2008, a special court sentenced him to six years for alleged collaboration with rebels, though he received presidential pardons shortly thereafter. Then on 18 March 2015, unidentified armed men on motorcycles shot him near his home in central Sana’a. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died shortly thereafter at a local hospital. NGO’s condemned the murder as a grave loss to Yemen and demanded that perpetrators be brought to justice and called on Yemeni authorities to launch a prompt, independent, impartial investigation.