YO:
The Yemeni Journalist Syndicate held a protest this week, to express solidarity with the journalist Zaid al-Ghabri of the Al-Jumhuria newspaper in Taiz, who was recently attacked in his home. The YSJ was also protesting the continuing oppression of all journalists. “This conference is to show solidarity with the oppressed journalists,” Sami Ghaleb, a member of YJS, said.
Seven members of the military police broke into al-Ghabri’s home and attacked him and his two sons, said Fikri Qasim, his colleague. The military police declined to hand over the attackers to the investigation, he said. Marwan Damaj, the General Secretary of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, said that what was most significant is that the perpetrators of attacks on journalists have not been identified or punished. Some 30 journalists from different newspapers attended the protest. But many journalists were disappointed with the low turnout.
“It is a weak activity, and it did not show much,” Balqis al-Lahabi said. Saif al-Washli, a freelance journalist in Sana’a, said that he has been kidnapped once, by unknown assailants. He spoke about the kidnapping for the first time at the protest, and said he has been threatened again. “The danger is lodged in the terrorist gangs that terrify the journalists,” he said. Al-Washali said that he was attacked because he criticized the tribal dominance over the government. “I am working in the media that belongs to the president, and my position is so sensitive, so I thought not to talk.”
Al-Washli said that he fears that his colleagues will not stand by him, which is why he has not spoken of his ordeal until now, he said. “See, out of a thousand journalists, the crowd that has come here for the protest is so few in number,” he said. He added that the weak stand of the YJS is another reason that he didn’t speak out earlier. “The syndicate contents itself with protests and condemning press releases,” he said, “whereas it has to press on the concerned authority to investigate and find out the criminals and protect the journalists.”
Ali al-Faqeeh, another journalist, said that during the protest, Abdul-Hadi Naji, a correspondent for Al-Ayyam in Aden, was still locked in the prison for financial problems, and he has since been accused of further crimes. Damaj said that the worst thing is that the journalists’ attackers are unknown. “The unknown identities of the attackers make it a difficult problem to face,” he said.
Furthermore, there is no single case in which the attackers’ identity was revealed by the police, he said. Mohamed al-Audaini, the head of the Yemeni Freedom center, said that he has been charged with murder. “I have no idea whom I am supposed to have killed,” he said. He feels these charges stem from a government plot against him. He thanked Nasr Taha Moustafa, the head of the syndicate, for his personal efforts to get him out of the jail. Some of the audience objected to the use of the word ‘personal’ for it is reducing the role played by the syndicate.
Yet he insisted on this, and said it is true. “Without his personal efforts, nothing would have been done for me,” he said. Abdul-Raheem Mohsen, a writer, said that there are many non-official organizations that work against journalists. He added that the syndicate is gathering the cream of the society, and they have to work together as a single unit to make these acts effective.
Few of the YJS’ top officials attended the protest. But Ghaleb said that their attendance isn’t important, because they are simply gathering in solidarity, and it is enough if just one person shows up from the syndicate.