Zechariah Dhahiri
Zechariah (Yaḥya) al-Ḍāhirī (, , b. "circa" 1531 – d. 1608), often spelled Zechariah al-Dhahiri () (16th century Yemen), was the son of Saʻīd (Saʻadia) al-Ḍāhirī, from Kawkaban, in the District of al-Mahwit, Yemen, a place north-west of Sana’a. He is recognized as one of the most gifted Yemenite Jewish poets and rabbinic scholars who left Yemen in search of a better livelihood, travelling to Calicut and Cochin in India, Hormuz in Persia, Basra and Irbīl in Babylonia, Bursa and Istanbul in Anatolia, Rome in Italy, Aleppo and Damascus in Syria, Safed and Tiberias, as well as Jerusalem and Hebron in the Land of Israel (then part of Ottoman Syria), Sidon in Ottoman Lebanon and Egypt, and finally unto Abyssinia where he returned to Yemen by crossing the Erythraean Sea and alighting at a port city near Mocha, Yemen. He wrote extensively about his travels and experiences in these places, which he penned in a Hebrew rhymed prose narrative, and eventually publishing them in a book which he called Sefer Ha-Mūsar ("The Book of Moral Instruction"), in circa 1580.
Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri
On April 2, 2011 Al-Ashiri was arrested and charged with providing false news, inciting hatred towards the regime and calling for an overthrow of the government. On April 9, 2011, just seven days after his arrest, Al-Ashiri was reported dead while in government custody under mysterious circumstances. Authorities claim that he died of complications due to "sickle cell anemia." The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that this diagnosis was denied by family members. Photos later surfaced of Al-Ashiri's corpse, which displayed cuts and gashes, and added further evidence that Al-Ashiri had been beaten to death. As a result, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities to conduct a thorough investigation on his death.