10/25: He was speaking to the International Press Institute’s Naomi Hunt by Skype, which was something of a feat because Skype has been jammed from Yemen since February.

It is just one of the ways in which the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is inhibiting media coverage in his country.

He clearly wishes to prevent the world from seeing what’s happening in the clashes between renegade forces and his troops.

Only days after the United Nations called on Saleh to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution, at least 12 people were reportedly killed and many more wounded after fighting broke out in the capital, Sana’a.

But Almasmari says the international media is still not paying nearly enough attention either to the protestors or to the bravery of reporters and cameramen.

Here are some of his key quotes from Hunt’s Q&A:

“Journalists in Yemen right now are very much in danger… It’s chaotic; you can see that the freedom of press in Yemen has deteriorated so much. There’s no government, no law. And when there’s no law, anyone’s life is at risk…

That’s why journalists have been killed, four of them, since Saleh came back [on 23 September, from Saudi Arabia, where he was treated for injuries sustained during an assassination attempt]…

With the absence of law and any government, it’s easy for anyone just to attack a journalist or just to kill him, making this a lesson to others that anyone who goes against a specific group will not be safe.”

Hunt: The journalists who have been killed over the last month were covering protests. Do you think they were among the protestors, or do you think they were singled out?

“They were singled out for sure… It’s not only being attacked and being killed, it’s the harassment journalists go through. The tons of phone calls, the tons of visits to the office… their kids being at risk of being kidnapped…

It’s more a direct threat to journalists; anyone seen with a camera, anyone seen with a recorder, anyone seen with a pen and paper writing down notes is automatically targeted.”

Hunt: Tawakel Karman, the Yemeni journalist and activist, was one of this year’s Nobel peace prize awardees. Has that helped to focus more attention on the situation in Yemen?

“No. [She] received her prize for her advocacy and peaceful protest and not for her media work… The international media has been ignoring press freedom in Yemen…

There is not one single foreign journalist in Yemen right now; it’s all local work. And our government, in its efforts to stop any connection with the world, [prevents] any network, any TV network, any media outlet, any foreign media journalist from entering the country… and yet they are still not giving the much-needed attention and support that’s needed…

“The [international] media should not forget Yemen. There’s a revolution going on. There are people being killed…

These things should not be ignored. Different revolutions only took less than 40 days; in Yemen it’s now entering its tenth month. The world should not ignore Yemen and should respect that.

That is the only way that the current regime will understand that it will be held accountable for its crimes, but if Yemenis continue to be ignored, that gives the green light to those who are against democracy and press freedom to continue in their mission of killing and attacking innocent civilians, and media houses as well.”

Source: IPI

and just pisses me off all over again.

Update, ripped shamelessly from Howie:

I have no idea what this is about and haven’t be able to reach Karim. The photo is from Naba News, not the most reliable source by far, (being run by the National Security and all) which says al Khaiwani is in Cairo (or is that just google translation?) and it was something to do with his hardy and justified criticism of Ali Mohsen who is just as bad as Saleh, and Karim has the courage to say so. Hopefully his body doesn’t look worse than his face. Update: he’s not too bad this time.

Update: Finally he writes me. Hes fine. He doesn’t know the cause or person behind the attack, and he doesn’t accuse anyone.

* also kidnaps, arrests, slanders, attacks his office, steals his computer, follows his kids, blocks or hacks his website, tries to snap his neck, withholds his medicine and throws rats in his jail cell, and in 2007 a security guard declared himself the head of the PFU while shooting up the building. The dude has his own category.

Clearly for FOX News, news worthiness depends on who is doing the killing; one person killed by al Qaeda vastly outweighs the hundred killed by the Yemeni government in the last week. For a day, CNN ran the headline: Yemeni women burn veils, wow, interesting, at least they mentioned “Yemen,” as the state was simultaneously pounding residences in Taiz with artillery and shelling villages in Arhab with missiles.

And neither one can find for five seconds for this from today, (if its not working try this direct link.)

Fox News: Car Bomb Kills Anti-Terror Chief in South Yemen.

VS.

- Airstrikes on Arhab leave 120 civilians killed, 340 wounded

- Nationwide slaughter since UN SC council resolution 2014

- One million demand regime change

- Yemen Post: Several Million of Yemeni gathered nationwide in the streets of Yemen yesterday, demanding the fall of the regime and Ali Abdullah Saleh’s trial as they say the president is continuing to murder his people.

Protesters had spell out “butcher” across their chest in red ink in denunciation of president Saleh’s many crimes. “He’s using snipers to gun down women and children, Sana’a and Taiz are under shelling attacks everyday…Saleh is killing Yemeni and the World stands silent…We will not,” said Mohamed Hassan Said a defected officer.

In Sana’a, the capital, a funeral march was organized to bury the bodies of the victims of the revolution amongst whom was 4 year-old little Waffa. While carrying the coffins the crowd was chorusing anti-regime slogan, asking the international community to bear witness of the crimes committed against peaceful Yemeni people.

And in spite of the anger and the sorrow which is crushing hearts, Yemen went on chanting: “Peaceful, peaceful”.

As the day advanced in “Change Square”, the sounds of explosions could be heard in the background, coming from Hasaba and other northern districts of the capital, as Sofan, al Dari and al Sahwan have become the new targets of choice of the government forces.

In Hayel Street, protesters reported that a woman, Kafaya al-Hamoodi was killed by a sniper as she was walking pass. Her body was taken to the University’s makeshift hospital for protection and identification as protesters fear further body-abduction from the regime, for they say Saleh is trying to pass their victims for his.

In Taiz, the other main flashpoint of the revolution, tens of thousands of protesters defied the regime and its shelling and killing campaign as they descended upon the streets of the city, screaming their anger.
Despite the presence in Sana’a, of diplomats from the UN and the GCC, the regime attacked n broad day light its citizens, launching its forces against peaceful protesters.

As a result a reported 10 people were wounded, 5 in critical conditions. Dozens more were severely beaten up by thugs loyal to the regime.
In Ibb and Hodeidah, unprecedented numbers were recorded said the marches’ organizers as Imams loyal to the revolution are continuing to call on Yemeni to join “their brothers”.

Yemen Post: Islah profile: As revolutionaries in Yemen are celebrating their victory in eventually obtaining some worldwide attention, and relishing in the fact that western nations have taken up the matter of Saleh’s presidency to the UN Security Council, the main opposition party, al-Islah is slowly but surely high jacking the revolution, rallying to its cause more and more protesters.

Interestingly enough, the very revolutionaries who are standing up against the regime, decrying its oppressive methods and its brutal use of force are turning towards political figures which throughout the years have been accused of similar if not worse crimes.

Al-Islah which only a few years ago was calling for a more traditionalist Yemen is now holding the banner of Democracy and Freedom, hoping that this new “image” will help it topple Saleh’s presidency, putting an end to decades’ long rivalry.

Yemen Post Staff: According to a doctor in “Change Square” whom from the very beginning of the popular uprising has dedicated his time and energy to the revolution by treating the injured, relieving them from them pains and ailments was saddened yesterday after over hearing a conversation between two dissidents officers loyal to defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

As doctor “Mohamed” was taking a well-earned break after hours of non-stop surgeries, treatments and what not, he unintentionally heard officers hatched the following plan:

One of the officer, seemingly higher in rank than the second man was telling his fellow dissident to disguise himself as a civilian, blend in the anti-regime march and set up an explosive device near president Saleh’s troops as to force the Central Security Forces or the Republican Guards to attack the o get their way

The officer added that if it didn’t work the man had to simply start firing upon the protesters himself, posing as one of Saleh’s thugs.
As it happens it might be defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar who is accusing president Saleh of murdering his people, who turned out to be the biggest thug of all.

It is not the first time since the beginning of the revolution that protesters or residents have complained over al-Islah’s repressive methods and propaganda’s technics, saying that “they [al-Islah members] stopped at nothing to get their way.”
However, since criticizing General Mohsen or Sheikh Sadeeq al-Ahmar is now often associated with being anti-revolutionary, many peaceful Yemenis prefer to remain silent, afraid of potential repercussions.

YEMEN – Two more journalists killed in Saleh regime violence

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns cameraman Abdel Hakim Al-Nour’s death during a military offensive last night in Taiz province and reporter Abdel Majid Al-Samawi’s death in a Sanaa hospital on 3 October from the gunshot wound he received more than a week ago.

Their deaths bring to five the number of journalists who have been killed since February, when protests calling for President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s departure began.

A cameraman and producer for the Mas production company Al-Nour was killed during a bombardment of the city Taiz that caused many causalities. He was also the person responsible for media at the Hayel Saeed Anam Association.

Al-Samawi died in Sanaa Technological Hospital from the neck injury he received when a sniper shot him on 25 September. Born in 1956 in a village in Damar province, he leaves a wife and six children.

The three other journalists killed since the start of the protests are Hassan Al-Wadhaf, a cameraman with Al-Hurra TV, Mohamed Yahia Al-Malayia, a correspondent for the Al-Salam and newspapers, and Jamal Al-Sharabi, a photographer for the independent daily Al-Masdar.

Al-Wadhaf died on 23 September from the injuries he received while covering violence against demonstrators in Sanaa five days earlier. Al-Malayia and Al-Sharabi were among the many fatalities when snipers opened fire on demonstrators in Sanaa on 18 March.

Reporters Without Borders offers its condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the two latest victims, and holds the Yemeni authorities responsible for their deaths.

The press freedom organization is very disturbed by the increase in violence against civilians since President Saleh’s return on 3 October from Saudi Arabia, where he spent four months recovering from the injuries he received in an attack on the presidential compound.

Bell Pottinger acted for controversial Yemen organization
September 1st, 2011 | by Melanie Newman Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Bell Pottinger, the London-based public relations firm, has been working for a little-known organization in Yemen with apparent strong links to the country’s president, the Bureau can reveal.
This may be the most controversial account yet for the firm, which has already come under fire this year for its work for Bahrain’s government.
Bell Pottinger is understood to have provided communications services to Yemen’s National Awareness Authority, which is headed by President Saleh’s nephew, for around three months. A source within Bell Pottinger, who asked not to be named, told the Bureau the Authority ended the contract a few weeks ago. The firm also worked for Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010.
Working for Yemen
Lord Bell, chairman of Bell Pottinger’s parent company Chime Communications and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, admitted to the Guardian on July 28 2011 that his firm had been working for the government of Yemen.
Bell Pottinger sub-contracted a US company, Qorvis, to carry out ‘media outreach for print and television media and strategic communications consultancy’ in the US for the National Awareness Authority of Yemen, at a rate of $30,000 per month.
The paper quoted him as saying the contract was to assist with ‘achieving a peaceful transition to a new government,’ and the paper added that the firm was working for a ‘special entity that has been created within the Yemen government to ensure a transition to a newly elected government’. But the National Awareness Authority was set up in January 2010, well before the ‘Arab Spring’ and any suggestion of transition.
The paper also said the firm was not understood to have been working for Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is still in Saudi Arabia recovering from an attempted assassination carried out in June, which followed protests over Saleh’s 33 years of rule.
Bell Pottinger is under no obligation to reveal its clients in the UK and its work for the National Awareness Authority has only come to light because of a mandatory filing on the US Department of Justice register of lobbyists working for foreign governments.
The filing on August 4 2011 shows Bell Pottinger sub-contracted a US company, Qorvis, to carry out ‘media outreach for print and television media and strategic communications consultancy’ in the US for the National Awareness Authority of Yemen, at a rate of $30,000 per month. In November 2010 Bell Pottinger also contracted Qorvis to place an opinion article by a Yemeni official in a news outlet, as part of its work for the foreign ministry.
The National Awareness Authority was set up with the stated aim of promoting national unity and tolerance and combating extremism.
Close relations
But President Saleh’s nephew, Colonel Tareq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who is also the commander of the Presidential Guard, is the Authority’s chairman and founder, and its board of trustees includes members of President Saleh’s current cabinet.
In February 2010 the National Awareness Authority’s website carried an article praising the heroism of the Republican Guard, an elite force run by President Saleh’s son. The same article discussed counteracting the ‘deviant and misguided ideas’ of those who ‘seek to stir up dissent’.
A report in the newspaper Yemen Today at the time of the Authority’s establishment quoted its vice-president Dr. Abdullah Abo Horia saying the new organisation had been accused of spreading propaganda, which he said was due to a lack of trust. Abo Horia added: ‘There is a lack of patriotism, especially among the youth, caused by opposition groups and others who put their own interests above the national interests,’ adding that the organisation was financially independent of the government.
The editor of Yemen Today, Faris Sanabani, was formerly President Saleh’s press secretary. He is also on the ‘media committee’ of the National Awareness Authority and a member of its board of trustees.
Hakim Almasari, publisher and editor in chief of the independent English language newspaper Yemen Post said: ‘The National Awareness Authority is a mouthpiece of President Saleh’s ruling family, which I believe funds it.’
The Bureau was unable to contact a spokesman from the National Awareness Authority.
Lord Bell said: ‘All appropriate authorities were aware of the work we were doing in Yemen.’ He declined to comment further.
Special projects
Bell Pottinger Sans Frontieres (BPSF) the arm of the firm which managed the Yemen account, has a ‘special projects’ unit which describes itself as the ‘SAS of strategic communications’. Services offered by the special projects team include ‘geo-political reputation rebuilds’; ‘conflict zone influence operations’; ‘psychological warfare’ and ‘counter-radicalisation’.
Bell Pottinger agreed to try and spin international coverage of Yemen, despite the appalling human rights situation in the country.
Mike Harris, Index on Censorship
‘The company develops and delivers influence campaigns, products and events that address civic populations or adversary forces in support of political, military or diplomatic objectives,’ its website says.
The NGO Reporters without Borders recently highlighted the difficulties in covering the protests in Yemen against a background of harassment of journalists including abductions, murder attempts, arrests, expulsions and attacks on offices.
Iona Craig, a freelance reporter based in Yemen, said: ‘The media situation is particularly tough for local Yemeni journalists who have come under consistent intimidation and sometimes direct physical attack from supporters of the regime. Several foreign journalists have been deported and others have been turned away at the airport as they tried to enter the country.’
Bell Pottinger has not done anything illegal, but Mike Harris, a spokesman for Index on Censorship, which has campaigned against British PR firms working for undemocratic regimes, said: ‘Bell Pottinger agreed to try and spin international coverage of Yemen, despite the appalling human rights situation in the country.’

Yemen Times
Q: But, some locals in Sa’ada told us that the Houthis do not allow anyone to air an opinion against them, for instance, describing them as Twelver Shiites.

A: First of all it is misleading to say that the Houthis are Twelver Shiites. They are not. They are Zaydis.

Are you a Houthi?

No I’m not Houthi, I’m a state-employee at Sa’ada Radio. We used to be against the Houthis. I’m Zaydi and over 99 percent of the population in Sa’ada is Zaydi, but there is no group here called Twelver Shiites.

And it is not true that the Houthis prohibit others from expressing their opinions. If this were true, they would prevent the Salafists from practicing their traditions such as Taraweeh prayer [a prayer done at night during Ramadan after the Al-Esha festival], which does not exist in the Zaydi school.

But if you went to Sa’ada today, you would find the religious traditions of both Zaydis and Salafists performed in their mosques with no problems. They are not going to bring their prayers out of the mosque and argue that our Zaydi School approves of this religious practice. And not only Salafists, but Islahis practice there as well.

There is also hard-core group of Salafists called Muqbil group. They are extremists and they have their school in Damaj, Sa’ada. They carry out their traditions in complete freedom.

Three weeks ago, a Salafi imam was murdered in Sa’ada. Does this point to sectarian conflict in the governorate?

No, I do not think so. Because even the Salafis were disappointed about this happening. The real story of the murdered imam is that he was carrying hand-grenades to bomb some buildings in the governorate. You may have heard two weeks ago of a similar incident, in which an explosion targeted the republican hospital in the city of Sa’ada. So they [the people who killed him] tried to disarm the grenades. He attempted to throw the grenades at them, so they were forced to kill him. And they are now in custody pending state trial.

Do you have any information on the armed conflict between the Houthis and Islahis in Al-Jawf governorate?

What I know is that there have been fierce armed clashes between the Houthis and the Islahis.

Do you know why these clashes are taking place?

At the beginning they were both on good terms and stood together with the revolution. But we have heard that there was a foreign intervention – frankly, from Saudi Arabia, which shares a similar religious ideology – in which the Saudis armed the Islah groups in Al-Jawf with heavy weapons to fight the Houthis and prevent their extension into other parts of the country.

This is what we heard from the locals there and we also heard that the Saudis pay any one who participates in the fighting. This armed conflict in Al-Jawf has killed many people. Because of the high casualty rate, some people have named it the seventh war.

But the nice thing now is that both sides have signed a ceasefire agreement, and a new governor was recently elected in Al-Jawf. The problem is that everything in Al-Jawf was at standstill and even salaries of public employees have been suspended for over six months, in contrast to Sa’ada where the state government is still paying salaries.

So I would like to explain that Sa’ada did not separate from the state. Yemen’s flag is still present, and the national anthem is performed on Sa’ada Radio despite its being a revolutionary radio.

The radio in Sa’ada has sided with the revolution, but it is still committed to the national constants including the national anthem and different radio programs. There has been a serious focus on revolutionary programs and projects, but our policy towards the key constants is still unchanged.

During the 2006 presidential election, the Egyptian Sheikh al Masiri (also know as al Maribi because his Dar al Hadith offshoot school is in Marib) issued a fatwa during a live nation wide broadcast that voting for the opposition is condemned under Islamic law. Saleh also trashed the protesters on TV because of gender intermingling. (Yemen is the most gender segregated country on earth.)

The Salafi attitude that it is illegitimate to revolt against a Muslim ruler is supported by many Muslim leaders, but not shared by Zaidis; their tenants find it an obligation to oppose an unjust ruler as well as to rule by consultation. Along with the reinterpretation and interaction with others, these principles led the UN in 2002 to highlight the teachings of Imam Ali as a model for Islamic democracy. This Yemen Times article covers the regime’s use of state preachers to reinforce the message that the Yemeni revolution is un-Islamic. However, even al Zindani’s calls for an Islamic state to follow the current tyranny were widely disputed by activists and intellectuals who argued that a civil state is their right as well as a fulfillment of requirements of justice.

Conversely Saleh’s statements in support of jihad and the Iraqi resistance, Yahya Saleh praising the deaths of US soldiers from the stage at Sanaa University and so on, is an extensive topic on its own.

Yemen Times “Obey your leader even if he whips your back and takes your money.”

Since the beginning of the uprising in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s the regime has used a baffling number of ways to try to stifle the revolution.

One of these ways involves using religion to convince Yemenis that demands for President Saleh’s departure is forbidden and illegal in accordance with the Quran and Hadith (statements of the prophet Mohammed).

Saleh’s loyalists and religious sheikhs have intensified their religious activity during the past six months, using mosques and state-run media channels, with the aim of protecting Saleh from being toppled.

In Yemen, Islam has a strong influence over the majority of Yemenis. The regime has exploited the religion card to maintain power and to legalize its crackdown against Yemenis.

Earlier this year, Islamic clerics were divided into three categories: Saleh’s loyalists, Saleh’s opponents and those reluctant to take sides.

“Obey your leader even if he whips your back and takes your money.” Religious sheikhs supporting President Saleh have repeatedly used this hadith.

It was noticed that this hadith also were said by many normal and tribal illiterate Yemenis.

Sheikh Abdulwahab Al-Humaiqani, an Islamic cleric and human rights activist who opposes Saleh’s regime, told the Yemen Times that many religious modernists doubt the authenticity of this hadith. Al-Humaiqani resented the clerics’ deploying the hadith to persuade others to obey political leaders, especially in such a critical time as Yemen has experienced in the last six months.

According to Al-Humaiqani, there are other hadiths that talk about the importance of disobeying leaders if they fail to dispense justice and equality.

“It’s the leader’s duty to give people their rights and provide them with education, health and other services,” he said. “The religion orders leaders to act as people’s protectors.”

“Unfortunately, many regimes use those religious statements that serve their interests and avoid many religious statements that talk about leaders’ duties and people’s rights,” he said.

Al-Humaiqani opined that the greatest crime is to make an uninformed statement about religion. He criticized the appearance of some ‘half-educated religious sheikhs’ on TV channels making arguments about dangerous religious issues without knowledge.

He stressed the importance of participation of senior clerics at this time to give people the right answers about these sensitive issues. “It’s regrettable that some senior Yemeni religious clerics were absent during the uprising. They want to avoid being badly affected by the regime,” he said.

Al-Humaiqani called for Yemenis to ask reliable religious clerics about such issues to avoid serious sequences, especially in these days.

Al-Humaiqani listed some hadiths that talk about obeying a leader: “You must take the hand of tyrants off and you should force him to apply justice; otherwise, evils will rule you,” says one of the hadiths.

Another hadith says: “The best kind of Jihad (holy war) is to speak truth before a tyrant.”

On the other hand, some Salafis (extremist Islamists) say that disobeying a leader leads to bad consequences and is therefore forbidden. They are known for their good relationship with president Saleh for many years.

However, some Salafis joined the revolution earlier this year and others still support Saleh strongly.

Abduljaleel Al-Abdali, a social activist and pro-democracy protester from Hodeida governorate, said that religious disputes have become more aggressive and more dangerous over the past six months.

Speaking to the Yemen Times, Al-Abdali said: “The majority of Yemenis are under the influence of religion. For the most part, they don’t understand the principles of the Islamic religion and deal with it emotionally rather than logically,” he said.

“In Yemen, we notice that people who exploit religion for political and social aims are successful and always achieve their personal aims. They depend totally on religion to reach what they seek because they know that most Yemenis are emotional,” he added.

al Sahwa: Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of Suhail TV cameraman Ahmad Firas by soldiers form Daylami airbase on the afternoon of 12 August as he was driving with his wife and children, who were released a few hours later.

The same military airbase previously arrested Al-Sahwa reporter Yahi Al-Thalayan and held him for 10 days before letting him go.

Mohamed Ayda, the Sanaa bureau chief of the US Arabic-language TV station Al-Hurra, was the target of an attack on the evening of 10 August by several unidentified men who tried to stab him with curved janbiya daggers. He was rescued by several passers-by. This was not the first time that he has been the target of threats and attacks.

Reporters Without Borders urges the Yemeni authorities to investigate these constant attacks on the freedom of journalists and the media and to impose appropriate sanctions so that the media’s work is not obstructed by members of the security forces or by groups that use violence.

It further denounced the attempted assassination of deputy information minister Abdu Al-Ganadi. A bomb exploded outside his home on the morning of 18 August without causing any casualties.

Yemen main opposition parties, the Joint Meeting Parties, have condemned the attempted assassination, calling the Yemeni authorities to investigate on the incident and bring the involved into justice.

Saleh’s ongoing murder of over 500 protesters since the start of the revolution is exceeded by his war crimes prior (bombing refugee camps etc.) Saleh’s family’s coordination with al Qaeda is well documented as are his criminal networks and looting of the budget. Rebranding Saleh is like rebranding Saddam.

Over 450 serious attacks on journalists have been recorded in the last six months. Fire destroyed the building housing HOOD the leading Human Rights organization, and all its archives on July 18. The deliberate and often random murder of Yemeni citizens is a near daily occurrence over the last months. Security forces containing the CT units under Saleh’s son and nephews have bombed, shot, beaten and burned people alive, including children.

“President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has hired British PR firm Bell Pottinger , through a subcontract from US PR firm Qorvis to promote a better image for the regime in the US and Europe. Bell Pottinger has hired a big suite inside the Sheba Hotel. The company is received about US 2 million per month from Saleh’s family for publishing articles in international newspapers to improve Saleh’s image and employing its relations with US congressmen in favour of the regime. This is part of Saleh’s regime’s better utilisation the country resources and assistance. I am wondering if these companies can prove the image of Yemeni People as terrorists.” More here (ar).

Yemen Post Over the last week, one journalist killed, another escaped an assassination attempt, two were attacked, and the biggest law firm defending journalist rights in Yemen was burnt to ashes….More than 60 newspapers have shut down in three months after security forces confiscate and burn thousands its of newspaper copies. Al-Neda newspaper office was attacked by gunmen and property was damaged…This comes as government spokesperson Abdu Ganadi accused journalists in Yemen are serving foreign agendas.