After receiving death threats, a Yemeni company charged with organizing the concert of Egyptian singer Eyhab Tawfiq decided to cancel, it as it was previously scheduled for July 23. 

This comes after an unknown organization claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted a security compound in Hadramout’s Sayun district, some 700 km east of the capital Sana’a.

Hosting Arab singers and artists is part of Sana’a Summer Activities staged every year in the Old City of Sana’a. However, there have been increased calls for banning such concerts and parties.

Last week, youth affiliated with Islamic organizations distributed papers that criticize holding such parties and described Ehab Tawfiq as immoral and indecent.

Big posters were seen in shops and public places and they urge people to denounce hosting Tawfiq and other singers, hinting he seeks to spread immortality in Yemen.

Early this month, the Authority for Promoting Virtue and Combating Vice, announced officially on July 15, called authorities for banning the concert as it opposes the religion and helps promote vice and the mixing of sexes.

Under such calls, among many others, the concert organizers called off the concert. Others stress that the Culture Ministry is responsible for canceling the concert.