Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari

Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari ( born 1978 – 11 December 2008) was a Yemeni Jewish Hebrew teacher and kosher butcher in Raydah, Yemen, who was murdered by a Yemeni Muslim who accosted him near his home demanding that he convert to Islam. Al-Nahari's attacker subsequently boasted of the killing and the prosecution demanded the death penalty. The court ruled that the attacker was mentally unstable and ordered him to pay damages. In the subsequent appeals case, however, al-Abdi was sentenced to death. The murder of al-Nahari was the first of its kind in at least fifteen years. His brother is Rabbi Yahya Ya'ish, one of the leaders of Yemen's Jewish community. al-Nahari had visited Israel a few times, and at one point had lived for a time in the Oshiyot neighborhood of Rehovot, but later returned to Yemen. A few years before his death, he decided to make aliyah and had sold his house to fund the move. At the last moment his father convinced him to stay in Yemen. He had ties to the Satmar Hasidic movement in Yemen.

Attack On 11 December 2008, Abdul Aziz Yahya Al-Abdi, a 39-year old former MiG-29 fighter pilot in the Yemeni Air Force, accosted al-Nahari in the market near his home demanding that he convert to Islam. Al-Nahari asked to be left alone, but Abdi opened fire with a submachine gun until al-Nahari was riddled with bullets.

Nahari was buried in Yemen. His relatives and associates pressured the authorities to allow the body to be brought to Israel for burial, but approval was not granted. Al-Abdi admitted in court that he killed al-Nahari "to get closer to Allah" saying that he had warned the Jews months ago either convert to Islam or leave the country. Throughout the case, relatives of the deceased were verbally attacked and insulted by the defendant's tribe. Al-Abdi showed no remorse for his actions. The court ruled that Al-Abdi was legally insane, and ordered him committed to a psychiatric sanatorium. The court also ordered that a payment of 5.5 million YR ($27,500) in damages be made to Nahari's family.

In April 2011, it was reported that Al-Abdi had escaped from prison with ten other inmates after bribing the guards. Several of the escaping inmates were later caught, but Al-Abdi remains at large.

Reactions In response to the court case, the Jewish community expressed their ordeal and how unsafe they felt after extremists had been sending them hate letters and threats by phone.

Amnesty International wrote to the Yemeni Government urging the country to protect its Jews. The human rights organization stated that it is "deeply concerned for the safety of members of the Jewish community in northwestern Yemen following the killing of one member of the community and anonymous serious threats to others to leave Yemen or face death."