Media Censorship in Yemen: Undemocratic
errr….yeah
Sanaa, 12 August (AKI) – A group of Yemeni journalists and parliamentarians are calling for the country’s ministry of information to be abolished, saying the department – considered a source of media censorship by many – is undemocratic. The call came at the end of a two-day workshop this week on how to obtain legal guarantees for the freedom of the press, the Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News reports.Those participating in the workshop – which was organised by the Yemen Female Journalists Forum and funded by the British embassy in Sanaa – also urged the House of Representatives, the Shura Council, the government in charge of drafting the new press law and the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, to introduce a new press law, in line with international legislation.
They also called for a new article to be added to the country’s constitution, providing for freedom of opinion and expression without restrictions, and which would eradicate government control of the media.
In its annual report released earlier this year, the human rights organisation Amnesty International highlighted the targeting of journalists in Yemen last year, saying punitive measures, including imprisonment, detentions and fines, increased. It gave as one example the case of Saeed Thabet, a Yemeni correspondent for a London-based news agency, who was detained for a week in March for reporting that the Yemeni president’s son had been shot.
In September last year, Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, editor-in-chief of the al-Shura opposition magazine was accused of supporting the rebel leader Hussain Badruddin al-Houthi and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment after he criticised the Yemeni president and security force activities. He was then pardoned by the President Saleh in March 2005.
al-Khaiwani…now why does that name sound familiar? But seriously, the journos in Yemen are at the forefront of the calls for reform and they pay the price for it.
