al-Asadi Trial Begins
Update: Un-believable. The proscutors (all 21 of them) want the death penalty and the YO shut with financial compensation in the form of their assests. I still dont get this: how a private citizen can pay for state lawyers. I know its Yemen and I know its Zindani, but what is that?
Up to 21 prosecution lawyers called for the death penalty against Mohammed Al-Asadi, the Editor-in-Chief of the Yemen Observer, and the permanent closure of the newspaper, during Al-Asadi’s trial on Wednesday. The lawyers, commissioned by Sheik Abdul-Majid Zindani, the Chairman of Islah Shura Council and led by Mohammed Al-Shawish, also called for the confiscation of all the newspaper’s property and assets, and for financial compensation to be paid to be the Muslim’s ‘Finance House’, which last existed during the time of the Caliphs, 1200 years ago. They recounted a story in which a lady was killed during the Prophet’s lifetime after she insulted him, and that the Prophet then praised the killer.
Original Post:
I still cant believe this. Zindani whipping up a frenzy and collecting money and the YO shut. Ten new lawyers for the prosecution. At least he’s getting international coverage unlike Khalid Salman and the other Yemeni journalists kidnapped, beaten, stabbed, beat up every week for the last year. From the WAPO :
Arab Press on Trial Again
As freedom of the press in the Arab world grows, so do the challenges faced by independent journalists there.Yesterday, Kuwait passed one of the strongest press freedom laws in the Arab world. Tomorrow, Muhammad al Asadi, editor of the weekly Yemen Observer, goes on trial for charges of blasphemy resulting from the Observer’s coverage of the Danish cartoon controversy.
While many Arab governments still wield heavy influence over newspapers and broadcast outlets, the days in which journalists simply served their governments are gone. An independent press has emerged in Lebanon and Iraq. New online media are thriving, especially in the Persian Gulf. But as Al Asadi’s trial shows, governments that fear a free press are not resting either.
Al Asadi was detained for 11 days last month after the Observer published the cartoons under a thick black banner in a story about Yemeni protests over the caricatures of the prophet Mohammad that appeared in the Copenhagen daily Jylands Posten. The government revoked the Observer’s license to publish. Two weekly tabloids, Rai al-A’am and Al-Hurriya, condemned the cartoons but also lost their licenses, apparently for reproducing the controversial images.
Al Asadi says the Yemeni government objected most to the paper’s editorial denouncing the cartoons but also calling for Muslims to stop protesting and accept the apology offered by Jylands Postens.
“That’s what really angered the hard-liners,” he told Newsweek’s Rod Nordland. “Even religious scholars have supported us: it’s the intention behind the publication, not just the publication.” Al Asadi was not alone in presenting all sides of the Danish cartoon controversy.
Related from UNNWR: Just like Zindani blames the oppostion media for his designation by the US (ande UN) as a major terrorist, President Saleh blames the journalists for the cuts in World Bank and US funding:
What do you think about the cuts in U.S. and World Bank aid?
It is true that the World Bank and some other donor countries have reduced their assistance according to misinformation that they received from the newspapers of the opposition parties, as well as from the leaders of these political parties, who want to create frustrations for the Yemeni government. They tried to spearhead a campaign against the government on the theme of corruption, as well as reforms, which have caused the World Bank and some donor countries to believe that this is true, but it’s not true.
