News Yemen Press Release After Website Destroyed by Minstry of Telecommunication
After it lost YR40 million
News Yemen calls press freedom advocates to support it against attack
News Yemen website has set up an old webpage for limited usage after the web experienced a horrible piracy last November 28th. The webpage will be available temporary.News Yemen apologizes for being unable to post more news stories but coverage of the consequences of the piracy and robbery against the web and efforts the web staff and its partners are exerting to solve technical and material problems.
On Saturday, the website Editor-in-Chief, Nabil al-Sofi, received a promise from the Minister of Telecommunication, Kamal al-Jebri, in a meeting on Saturday to provide all necessary information on the web hacker and to ask for assistance of international experts. Al-Jebri confirmed that anyone from the ministry proved involved in the attack on News Yemen would be punished.According to the hosting company, based in the United States, the ID of the hacker was for Yaser al-Emad, the director of the Internet Department in the Ministry of Telecommunication, but the minister al-Jebri said the government respects the performance of newsyemen.
The General Director of the Internet Administration in the Telecommunication Ministry, Amer Haza’a, said that Yemen’s ID in the Internet Protocol is for him and al-Emad.
News Yemen and internet users in the country could independently find out that al-Emad blocked and hacked several websites in favor of the government and security apparatuses.
The technical team of News Yemen and the technical supporter which is based in the United States are working hard to reinstate the archive for the past five years which include 35,000 press materials.
Checking the registration of the last 80 contacts to the web to get more information on the piracy action, the technical team has confirmed that the latest attack came after a series of failed attempts for the past six months.
News Yemen confirms it will ask the Telecommunication Ministry to continue checking the identity of other people contacted the website. But News Yemen believes that the most important issue is to help News Yemen be up again as soon as possible and to secure the internet users in the country in general as such web attack can affect Yemen’s reputation in the World Wide Web Network because it is the only government that monopolizes the internet service and has illegal authority to control the websites and break through their communications.
The web attack has not targeted only the press freedom in the country but caused big economic losses to the Yemeni Media Group which runs the News Yemen.The web attack is a robbery of the News Yemen staff’s efforts to set up the web that cost more than YR 24 million (almost $12) and destroyed five-year-long work estimated YR 40 million (almost $200,000).
News Yemen has obtained successes through its staff at the headquarters in Sana’a and its reporters in other governorates in addition to efforts of technicians. The website has successfully covered political, social, economic and religious events in the country and the world with total impartiality. It has achieved 35000 news stories, articles, features, reports, interviews and op-eds and got 40 million visitors.
The website has been a real partner for hundreds of Yemenis as it dealt with their issues with high responsibility and neutrality although some issues sometimes harmed the News Yemen’s relationship with other parties.
News Yemen considers the web attack as an “electronic crime” and calls on the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Article 19th, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, the Trade Chambers Union and all foundations which have concerns with the press freedom and the protection of legal businesses through the internet to help News Yemen raise a lawsuit against the attacker to local courts and court anywhere in the world in order to prevent such violation against press in Yemen and to secure activities of all independent media outlets in the country.
News Yemen will continue efforts alongside its partners to redesign the website and return the archive that many supporters of the News Yemen considered their own.News Yemen apologizes to its readers who used to be informed about daily events in the country through the website, but hopefully they can get back their most favored website very soon.
News Yemen was looking forward to getting assistance and support from the government to continue its role in delivering facts to people with professionalism and credibility, but the web staff is now disappointed as its efforts and dreams have vanished.
