Mid-year press freedom report in Yemen
More and more press freedoms are being violated in the interests of national security, according to the mid-year report on press freedom in Yemen by Women Journalists Without Chains. The report was discussed in Freedom Square last Tuesday. The discussion coincided with the ninth protest held by the WJWC to protest the government’s blocking of SMS news services and its refusal to grant some newspaper licenses. “The press world is full of pains and hopes,” said Tawakkol Karman, chairwomen of the WJWC. “There were many promises made by the president that have inspired people to create even more than newspapers.
However, two frustrating incidents took place during this year—the case of Khaled Salman, who sought asylum in the UK after he was tried for 14 press cases and had definite death threats against him. Also mentioned was the imprisonment of Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani, the editor in chief of Shura.net, who is currently in prison on charges of being involved with the al-Houthi rebels in Sa’ada. “If two or more newspapers are granted their license, it is not a big achievement,” Karman said. The coming 10th protest will coincide with the 29th anniversary of the appointment of the president. “We will ask the president to obtain radio and TV channels,” said Karman, as a fulfillment to his promises and to gain our legal rights.”
The report mainly discussed the nature of violations, which have included: verbal and physical attacks, death threats, the confiscation of newspapers, the blocking of websites and SMS news services, indirect revenge by fellow journalists working for pro-government papers, and the trials and imprisonments of journalists. This is the first time the organization has issued a mid-year report on press freedom. “Most of the violations come from security bodies and for security issues,” she said. Najeeb al-Yafe’ei, the editor in chief of Nass Press website, and Bashir al-Said, a journalist in al-Nedaa newspapers have received death threats from some members of the Criminal Investigation Unit after covering the case of Anisa al-Shuaibi, said the report.
Al-Shuaibi has accused the CIU of illegally imprisoning her in Sana’a’s Central prison, where she says she was raped and tortured. Issues of Al-Watan magazine were confiscated in January by the government, because it includes an interview with the former presidential candidate Faisal Bin Shamlan. Anisa Mohamed Othman, a journalist, was insulted in al-Dustour newspaper, which has ties to the government, because she wrote some articles criticizing the government. Also, the news website aleshteraki.net has been blocked because of its covering of the Sa’ada war. “To close the Ministry of Information is a national demand,” said Abdul-Bari Tahir, an ex-president of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
Ahmed Said Hashid, a journalist and a member of Parliament, talked about the violations he was exposed to, both as a journalist and an MP. He was beaten up in the Immigration, Passports and Nationality Office in Sana’a, he said, because he went to visit its jail. The Immigration, Passports and Nationality Office, in previous interviews in the Yemen Observer, denied this claim, and said that Hashid was treated well and released, because they did not recognize him first as an MP, he said. Hashid has also claimed that many people are mistreated in the Political Security prisons.
“It is not the duty of the Ministry of Information to protect journalists,” said Mohammed Shahir, the deputy of the Minster of Information. “Journalists have to come with evidences, not any one could come and claim injustice.” Shahir said that he wouldn’t mind if the Ministry of Information closed. At least he could find a better paid job, he said, teasingly. “However, canceling the Ministry won’t make any change,” he said. “Many countries have no Ministry of Information and media there is run by its intelligence.”
Both opposition and the government have to collaborate and work towards a common goal, said Shahir. However, he has many reservations about the recent protests, saying that many untrue things have been said during these demonstrations. “I challenge that any newspaper came to apply for a newspaper and it was not granted the license,” he said. “They must have dropped the paper of their request, and didn’t follow it up. Also, Karman protests because she was not granted the license of a newspaper. She has a bulletin, but it was not enough for her. “Her NGO is not public to publish a newspaper or to have a radio; WJWC is an NGO and not a corporation.”
As for the establishment of new independent radio stations, the ministry is still waiting for a law that organizes the work, said Shahir. “It will take time until the issue of laws that organize the works of the local media,” he said. This law has to be presented to Shura Council and then to be approved by the Parliament. “So I advise the opposition not only to criticize, but to help in fostering this law and make it see the light. “I think that Yemen achieved unprecedented success during the presidential election, in that oppositions criticized the president on national T.V.,” he said. “This does not happen in all the neighboring countries.”
Protestors came to the recent demonstration for a variety of reasons. “We came to this protest because of al-Khaiwani. Yemen becomes now like America,” said Fakhria Ali, the information specialist in the Yemeni Female Media Forum. “As America has the claim ‘war on terror,’ Yemen has ‘war on Houthis.’” “These protests are good, and it will lead to something, even if it is not obvious now,” said Ahmed Arman, a lawyer.
Some young men were present at the protests. “It is a good protest,” said Fawzi Abdul-Malik, 19, a high school graduate. However, he felt that it lacked lots of campaigns to make their case more popular to people. “I am worried about the results of these protests,” said Ahmed Mohamed, a computer graduate. He believes these protests won’t reach their main goals.
