DEARBORN — The documentary film, Karama Has No Walls, recounts the gruesome attacks that unfolded on Mar. 18, 2011, now referred to as the Friday of Dignity, when pro-government forces killed more than 50 peaceful anti-government civilians  and injured hundreds more using snipers on Change Square in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a.  

To many the event redefined the Yemeni revolution, and ultimately changed the history of the impoverished country. In the film a father who lost his son in the attacks, notes that his child helped launch a revolution —dying for a worthy cause.  Demonstrators fought back courageously that day by throwing stones at the pro-government forces. 

On Dec. 2 a large crowd of primarily local Yemeni Americans watched a screening of the documentary at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The movie was produced by Sara Ishaq, Ameen Al-Ghaberi and Hot Spot films.  

It’s still uncertain who was behind the attacks, although Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his regime have become primary suspects. Saleh recently agreed to transfer power to his deputy following a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal and the early 2011 mass peaceful demonstrations in the country. 

Ishaq agrees there are several possibilities about who the attacks could have been carried out by. “The thugs, nobody really knows who they belong to,” she said. The documentary is comprised of live footage from the Friday of Dignity. The three young cameramen who captured the scenes reflect on the event throughout the film. 

“It was such a horrendous attack. It was brutal. Nobody could believe that it happened, and I think it really did shake everybody. And the fact that I knew the cameramen that were there…they had this hard evidence in their hands which was then given to us to kind of work with,” Ishaq said.   

 She says there are people living around Change Square who have denied that the attacks happened, in contrast to the raw footage shown in the film. “People who I respected and lived next to the Square would refuse that any of that stuff even happened. They would completely dismiss it, and say it was fabricated and the protestors were the ones who attracted negative attention.”  

The uprisings in Tunisa and Egypt that eventually led to the ousting of both countries’ leaders also essentially laid the foundation for the revolution in Yemen. 

While the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia pushed Yemenis to fight harder for reform, their  demands for change began years ago. 

“The people of Yemen did not start after the Tunisian revolution, they actually started way before the Tunisian revolution,” Yemeni American and event organizer Adel Mozip said.  

Ishaq was in Yemen working on other projects when the attacks took place.  “This one was an urgent project that I really felt propelled to do because of the accessibility that I had,” she said. Ishaq was also working on a documentary that chronicled the activism of Yemeni women in the revolution. She felt obligated to produce Karama Has No Walls in order to save and document the event footage, rather than having it become lost online. 

“For me the main concern was I needed to compile this evidence, and I needed to convey the humanitarian issue that was going on and give it to the international criminal court and the United Nations,” Ishaq said. The film has been given to the attorney general of Michigan as well.

Ishaq is half Scottish and half Yemeni. Her father is from Yemen, and she moved to the country when she was two, staying until turning 18. 

The film features the tragic story of a young child, Saleem Al-Harazi, who lost his eyesight in the attacks. His father speaks about how Saleem’s condition has taken a toll on the family. 

The film featured in Dearborn is not the final version, and the project is still in progress. It’s expected to also premiere at Change Square and in Berlin. For now it’s not available on the Internet or television. To request a screening, visit the film’s Facebook page or its website,  www.karamahasnowalls.com.