Yemeni Journalists Facing Repression with More to Come
Repression: The court said an article by Saeed in September 2004 about political violence in 1968 incited ethnic conflict and threatened national security. The judge said the article also insulted Islam, Al-Tajammu’s lawyer Jamal Jaabi told CPJ.
“The closure of Al-Tajammu and the writing ban on two of its journalists is an outrage,” said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper.
“The authorities in Yemen must stop using spurious lawsuits to silence the independent press.” On November 19, a lower court fined the opposition weekly Al-Thawry one million Yemeni riyals ($5,500) for defaming two government officials.
And more repression coming in the form of the new draft press law.
Reuters: But while the proposal provides for the elimination of prison sentences for press-related offences, it imposes a 100,000-YR (nearlyUS $5,000) fine in its stead – a sum 10 times greater than the penalty imposed by the current law….The YJS, meanwhile, has stated that it is still waiting for a copy of the draft.Under the current law, said YJS secretary general Hafez al-Bukari, the legal prosecution of press offences is nothing more than a tool for repressing journalists. “There shouldn’t be press prosecutions separately, there should only be general prosecutions,” he said.
The London-based ARTICLE 19 organisation, devoted to freedom-of-expression issues, showed disappointment with the draft, warning that the new legislation “may signal the end of the government’s brief experiment with press freedom and democracy.”
Law Programme Director Toby Mendel of ARTICLE 19 said in a 29 November statement that, “What the free press needs now is a strong statement of support from the government –the draft law is just the opposite.”
The non-governmental Yemeni journalists are really an amazing group of people for fighting for their rights in the face of such a nearly overwhelming push against democracy and free speech by the regime. More
