Editing Sanaa school shooting

{{Short description|1997 school shooting}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| image            = Mohammed al Nazari.png
| caption          = Mohammad Ahman al-Nazari during his trial
| title            = Sanaa school shooting
| location         = [[Sanaa]], [[Yemen]]
| coordinates      = {{Coord|15.2859|44.2371|region:YE_type:event|display=it}}
| date             = 30 March 1997
| time             = 
| timezone         = 
| type             = [[School shooting]], [[mass murder]], [[mass shooting]]
| fatalities       = 6
| injuries         = 12
| perp             = Mohammad Ahman al-Nazari
| weapons          = [[AK-47|Kalashnikov]] [[assault rifle]]
| motive           = Alleged rape of daughter
}}

The '''Sanaa school shooting''' was a [[school shooting]] where Mohammad Ahman al-Nazari killed six people in [[Sanaa]], [[Yemen]], on 30 March 1997. Nazari was convicted for the killings and [[death penalty|sentenced to death]]. He was [[executed]] a week later.

==Background==
Nazari was a 48-year-old resident of Sanaa, Yemen, and a veteran of the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], where he had fought alongside the [[Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen|Mujahideen]] against the [[Soviet Union]] during their invasion of [[Afghanistan]]. Nazari's five children attended the Tala'i Private School in the Asbahi neighbourhood of Sana'a, where it was alleged that one of his daughters had been [[Sexual abuse|molest]]ed by the school administrator, despite a lack of evidence to confirm the allegation.<ref name="News-dX">[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F99F560C0A3A6E9&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM San'a school gunman reportedly schizophrenic] (March 30, 1997). Subscription required.{{Full citation needed|date=April 2024}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2024|reason=URL is a search engine, need full citation for verification.}} Nazari had also previously been employed as a bus driver for Tala'i Private School and the nearby Musa Bin Nusayr School but was fired for unknown reasons sometime before the shooting.

==Shooting==
Armed with a [[AK-47|Kalashnikov]] [[assault rifle]], Nazari waited at the school for the [[headmistress]] and killed her by shooting her in the head. After which he killed a [[teacher]] and three other school attendees, Nazari did this by entering the school building and shooting indiscriminately at teachers and students alike. Subsequently, he went to the nearby Musa Bin Nusayr School, where he continued his shooting rampage. A total of 11 other people from both schools were injured. Both schools were damaged with bullet holes in the walls and exterior of the schools.

==Eyewitness reports==
Eyewitness 1 said he first saw the headmistress lying on the floor bloodied up (pointing to the exact area), "and another staff member dead at the other side, then as we tried attending to the dead, gunmen starting shooting again, so we ran and we hid from him and then as we came out again and we saw him opening fire on the other side and then the soldiers showed up, he starting shooting at them and was finally shot and captured by them."<ref name=APNR>{{Cite AV media |title=Yemen - Gunman goes on shooting spree in schools |url=https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=4f98c1db2448fa0b66a50800f77971ac&mediatype=video |date=2007-11-22 |type=Television production |language=ar |publisher=[[AP News]] |orig-date=1997-03-30}}</ref>

Eyewitness 2 said that in the beginning he was sleeping and heard gunfire, which woke him up immediately. The witness then stepped out of the door and saw somebody dead. He then ducked for cover and saw the gunmen hop in his bus and head to a neighbouring school where he killed a child. Then the witness said: "We saw him but he then disappeared again and I then saw the headmistress lying on the floor and then the gunmen started firing again (in the neighbouring school)".<ref name=APNR/>

==Arrest and conviction==
Nazari managed to kill six and wound 11 before he was eventually injured and arrested by police.<ref name=Independent>{{cite news |date=1997-03-30 |title=Yemeni father's school slaughter |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/yemeni-father-s-school-slaughter-1276106.html |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=2024-04-11}}</ref><ref>Man accused of killing 6 people is sentenced to death, ''[[Associated Press]]'' (April 1, 1997)</ref> After officially being declared [[sanity|sane]], Nazari (whose name was also reported as being Hassan Ali al-Baadani or Muhammad Ahmad al-Naziri) was taken to trial, where he was found guilty of the six murders and sentenced to [[capital punishment|death]] the next day. Nazari's daughters had fought against the courts, pleading that their father was mentally unstable. The court refused this plead stating that the defendant had clearly shown the ability to attend court and conduct himself in a fit manner, as well as being checked by three different doctors at the Al Sabeen hospital, who all stated that the defendant was fit enough to understand the severity and seriousness of his actions. The following day, the Yemeni President [[Ali Abdullah Saleh]] visited some of those injured in the attack.

===Execution===
On 5 April 1997, Nazari was [[executed]] by [[firing squad]] with five shots in the chest in an empty lot located between the two schools where he had committed the shootings.<ref name="News-dX"/><ref name=Independent/> After his execution, the initial sentence for Nazari's [[corpse]] to be [[crucified]] in a public area for three days was repealed; instead, the corpse was kicked to a pulp by angry citizens and burned in the streets of Sanaa.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F99F55FB7D53CE0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Court sentences San'a school gunman to death] (March 31, 1997)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022015120/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-720757.html Yemen Executes Killer of Six], ''[[The Washington Post]]'' (April 6, 1997)</ref><ref>[https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970402/2531929/around-the-world Around The World], ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' (April 2, 1997)</ref>

The daughter who the school administrator allegedly raped committed [[suicide]] five years later, while Nazari's other four children reportedly all died in an accident in 2006.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

==Victims==
*Asma Abd al-Bari, headmistress of Tala'i Private School
*Muhammad Yahya al-Ulufi, a teacher at Tala'i Private School
*Husayn Ali Qa'id al-Ba'dani
*Ali Muhammad Muqbil al-Awadi
*Imad Muhammad al-Raymi
*Unidentified student

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110522185926/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9703/30/briefs/yemen.html Gunman kills eight at two schools in Yemen], ''[[CNN]]'' (March 30, 1997)
*[http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Yemen-Gunman-goes-on-shooting-spree-in-schools/4f98c1db2448fa0b66a50800f77971ac Yemen - Gunman goes on shooting spree in schools], ''[[Associated Press]]'' (March 31, 1997) (Video)
*[http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Yemen-Trial-of-gunman/36afb0b41e6a27f23cf736ae285df3c0 Yemen - Trial of gunman], ''[[Associated Press]]'' (April 2, 1997) (Video)

==See also==
* [[List of massacres in Yemen]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:March 1997 crimes]]
[[Category:1997 murders in Yemen]]
[[Category:20th century in Sanaa]]
[[Category:Crime in Sanaa]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Yemen]]
[[Category:1997 mass shootings in Asia]]
[[Category:March 1997 in Asia]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murder in Yemen]]
[[Category:Mass shootings in Yemen]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1997]]
[[Category:Massacres in Yemen]]
[[Category:School massacres in Asia]]
[[Category:School shootings in Asia]]
[[Category:Attacks on schools in 1997]]