Such total garbage, but its a good example of how the Yemeni government spins every event for the western audience.
Free Media : VIENNA, 7 Jan. 2010: The arrest on 6 January of the editor and publisher of Yemen’s Al-Ayyam newspaper, Hisham Bashraheel, has reinforced concerns that Yemen’s high-profile clampdown on militants is being used as a pretext to further suppress media freedom. (Read on …)
Just a quick clarification to the prior post, although al Maqaleh edits al Eshteraki and is an official in the YSP, he’s not a southerner per se, but is from the Ala’aood area near Wadi Bana in Ibb. Thanks everybody.
Committee to Protect Journalists: In Yemen, critical journalist disappears
New York, September 25, 2009—The Committee to Protect journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance and current whereabouts of Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of Aleshteraki, a Web site affiliated with the opposition Socialist Party. Al-Maqaleh was detained by unidentified men on September 18 in Sana’a, according to local news reports.A local journalist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told CPJ that although many independent and opposition Web sites have covered the ongoing military offensive in the northwestern town of Saada, Aleshteraki’s coverage has been the most comprehensive. He also said that the site has been blocked frequently inside Yemen. Al-Maqaleh is vocal critic of the government’s attack on the region, according to local press reports.
Two Yemeni rights groups, human rights group Hud and journalists’ group Women Journalists Without Chains, covered the disappearance on their Web sites. Both directly accuse security forces of being behind the detention. Multiple local news sites also report possible government involvement, citing a history of similar incidents.
“The government must disclose all the information it has about the disappearance of Muhammad al-Maqaleh,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “Al-Maqaleh was writing critically about the government’s handling of the conflict in Saada.”
Al-Maqaleh’s disappearance came after Aleshteraki posted, on September 15, graphic pictures of civilian victims of airstrikes in the Saada region where the military has been battling rebels, local journalists told CPJ. Since 2004, regular battles have erupted several times between the Shiite al-Huthi rebels and government troops in the northwestern region of Yemen. The rebels accuse the government of neglecting the region and demand more autonomy. The latest round of fighting broke out in mid-August, according to media reports. Dozens of civilians have died and thousands have been displaced, according to humanitarian agencies.
In 2007, plainclothes men in an unmarked vehicle abducted, threatened, and severely beat journalist and editor Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani. At the time, other journalists told CPJ that they believed government agents were behind his detention. CPJ has documented similar incidents in 2005 and 2006.
On Thursday, journalists in Sana’a staged a third sit-in protest demanding authorities disclose the fate of al-Maqaleh, according to local press reports. The sit-ins were organized by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. In April 2008, al-Maqaleh was imprisoned for two months for “mocking and insulting the judiciary” after he burst into laughter during trial of renowned Yemeni journalist Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani.
In recent months, media outlets and journalists in Yemen have faced unprecedented attacks by the government after clashes broke out between the military and armed protesters in southern parts of the country in late April. Dissatisfied southerners accuse the government of marginalizing the region. Authorities also instituted extensive censorship and arrested journalists to curb press coverage and silence opposition voices.
The Director of South Youth Forums recieved death threats here in the US.
Raed Qasim Ismail is a political activist and director of the forum and website of the South Youth of Aden, Shababshaib, editor of the Algnoub Alhur Magazine.
Mr. Ismail was threatened during telephone calls, emails and messages received from anonymous persons who ordered him to stop his journalistic activities and close down the South Youth website. The callers said “they” knew where he lived in the US, were monitoring his movements and his continued activity would result in harm to himself and his family both here and in Yemen.
Mr. Ismail said said he is accustomed to such threats, adding that there were attempts by unidentified bodies to hack the website several times.
Despite the death threats by email and telephone, Mr. Isamil confirmed that he will continue to exercise his right of free speech, adding that he is not afraid of such threats, and nor will he be deterred from continuing his career with his (Southern Yemeni) people until their independence.
Mr. Ismail is concerned by the threats that were received by his family in Yemen, noting that the Sana’a regime and his men bear the full responsibility for any harm to him or any one of his family members.
The existance of Yemeni intelligence operatives here in the US is well known, and numerous Yemeni-Americans in the US have been threatened by Yemeni operatives for engaging in their legally protected rights of assembly and speech in the US.
Acting as an undeclared agent of a foreign state is illegal.
Gee wouldn’t a normal press law, following up on the new legislation about the minimum marriage age, go a long way to appease the donors???? There’s seems to be good support in the parliament for the first draft. The second draft criminalizes a wide variety of topics important to an informed electorate and includes a six year jail term as the penalty for writing about anything important.
None of this is reflected in the draft, which stipulates that the release of information should not damage national security, social peace, national unity, Yemen’s interests and its foreign relations, the national economy, public and private economic interests, or trade and financial interests. Any person seeking or publishing information prohibited by this draft shall be sentenced to six years in jail according to article 71. Such open-ended and loose terms make it difficult to decide what is prohibited and what is allowed, for anything at any time can be simply decided as being against the national interest of the country. Again, the time limit for accessing requested information has been put at ten days, but the draft stipulates that the limit can be extended to 60 days. That is a lot of time.
SANA’A // A draft law on access to information that the Yemeni parliament is scheduled to debate this week has already drawn criticism from journalists and democracy activists who describe it as restricting press freedom.
“This draft law proposed by the government is authoritarian and aims to exercise more restrictions, as it prohibits the search for and publishing of information under several pretexts such as the protection of national security, national unity and the like,” said Marwan Damaj, the secretary general of Yemen Journalists Syndicate, a non-governmental organisation. (Read on …)
A press Release on the Leading Journalist and Writer, Hussein al-Lasoss’s Attack and Detention
Issued by: HOOD and WJWC
This is a press release issued by both HOOD and Women Journalists without Chains Organization (WJWC), regarding the attack exposed to the journalist and writer Hussein al-Lasoss by al-Baida province mayor’s bodyguards. Mr. Hussien was barbarically attacked and arbitrarily incarcerated with no legal justification.
Press Release
HOOD and WJWC express their deep concerns about the current miserable health status of Mr. Hussein al-Lasoss, as he is reported to have a serious injury in his head and sustain several contusions on his body as well. Mr. Hussien was barbarically attacked and arbitrarily incarcerated with no legal justification.
Al-Lasoss was kidnapped and beaten by the mayor’s bodyguards of al-Baida province. He was dragged last Thursday to the mayor’s house and then transferred to the Security Administration of al-Baida province’s prison and apprehended there to date. Mr. Hussein al-Lasoss is one of the leading journalists and the editor–in-chief of al-Baida Press website.
HOOD and WJWC also condemn this blatant physical assault and reiterate that this attack was due to his writings about corruption in al-Baida province, and believe that it comes under a systematic and organized campaign targeting writers and journalists.
HOOD believes that Mr. Hussein was attacked because of his opinion which is protected by the Yemeni constitution.
HOOD and WJWC, therefore, urge the Attorney–General to do his entitled legal duty in protecting individuals, particularly journalists from attacks and violations. They moreover call upon Attorney–General to issue an executive order of Hussein’s release and start an unbiased serious investigation with the perpetrators.
As they also call upon the Minister of Interior to proceed an investigation with the participation of Civil Society Organizations and Journalists Syndicate on the assaults and threats subjected to activists, journalists and writers by its security authorities and to take a legal action against those involved in such attacks.
HOOD and WJWC hold both the Security chief the mayor of al-Baida responsible for this attack and call upon the local community to investigate their involvement.
Finally, HOOD and WJWC call for instant release of the leading active journalist and bringing the perpetrators who attacked him and those in responsible for his outlaw detention to justice.
Issued by HOOD and WJWC
Sat. Junaury24, 2009
Al-Khaiwani was scheduled to speak on a panel called : Oblique Government Tactics that Impede a Free Arab Press when he was stopped at the airport. So this is one tactic: Not to let them travel. The rest of the Yemeni delegation has an impromptu sit-in in solidarity and none of them went. Its amazing how terrified the Yemeni government is of free speech. Poor al-Khaiwani gets targeted so much, he has his own category. The whole country is a giant prison.
Yemeni National Security at the Sana’a International Airport on Sunday barred journalist AbdulKarim from heading for Cairo of Egypt to participate in a conference organized by the National Council for Human Rights in cooperation with the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.
MP Shawqi al-Qadhi, lawyer Mohammad Naji Alaw, editor of al-Nida weekly Sami Ghalib, former chairman of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate AbdulBari Taher and rights activist Afra’a al-Hariri were also barred to leave with al-Khaiwani. They condemned this “illegal” demeanor and staged a sit-in at the airport for hours.
Rights activists said the airport security’s behavior was a violation of laws and constitution as al-Khaiwani has been pardoned by President Saleh and all convictions against him have been canceled.
A source in the National Security said that banning al-Khaiwani from travel was on a request of the Passports Department at the airport.
Head of Yemeni Lawyers Syndicate, Abdullah Rajeh, said nobody has the right to prevent al-Khaiwani from traveling after he was given an amnesty for all charges against him.
The Arab Sisters Forum has condemned this “aggressive” action against al-Khaiwani who has become free after the president’s pardon.
propagnda machine revs up
the GPC journalists are getting a raise, non-governmental journalists earn as little as $100/month
Plenary meeting for the GPC media men expected to be attended by about 400
Monday, 18-August-2008 al-Motamar: Under patronage of president Ali Abdullah Saleh , President of the General People’s Congress (GPC) a plenary media meeting will be held on Tuesday with participation of GPC media men working for the different media instruments of the GPC, and those working for the media and press of the political parties members in the national alliance.An official source at the GPC sector for intellect, culture and information has made it clear that that the meeting to be attended by more than 400 journalists aims at assessing and unifying the information address of the GPC in the present stage in pursuit of achieving the national and organisational strategies undertaken by the GPC and contributing to winning development dues, enhancing the role of the media t6hat defends the national gains and democratic process.
The source said this organisational demonstration constitutes a tradition that the GPC would hold in a periodical manner that would help enhance bonds of communication and guarantee periodical assessment of the GPC press performance. The source added the participants would discuss a group of organisational documents and studies concerned with information and means for enhancing its national message that expresses hopes and ambitions of the Yemeni people who granted the GPC their confidence in parliamentary, presidential and local elections.
The meeting is also going to discuss a number of organisational, national and professional concerns in the manner serving to raise the level of media performance and preserve rights of journalists as well the professional legislations organizing the relations among all communication parties.
The source also expects that the meeting will come out with a strategic vision regarding the information address of the GPC and resolutions and recommendations accommodating all visions and treatments and means of developing the professional performance of the GPC press.
Yemeni Security Forces has kidnapped the Journalist and Human Rights activist; Loui Al-Moaid on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. and he was taken to The National Security building. Loui is infected with Hepatitis B virus (active) and we are concerned about his life since he might be tortured severely and there is no health care at all. (Read on …)
A number of press journalists have filed a lawsuit against the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) represented by the head of the syndicate, his agents, the secretary-general, his aides and members of the executive council, demanding an end to the syndicate and the closure of its headquarters.
The syndicate’s council member Marwan Damaj said that the syndicate grants membership to those who comply with its requirements: holding a university degree and being an editor-level employee rather than a technician in a newspaper. “It is the right of any person to resort to the judiciary, and we do not prevent any person from pursuing this right,” Damaj stated.
The lawsuit filed at the court demanded to speed the judicial procedure to the Ministry of Social Affairs and to force it to form a preparatory committee and an internal system of the syndicate according to the Press and Publications Law No. 25 of 1990 and under judicial supervision of the court.
The journalists who filed the lawsuit against the YJS are Ismail Abdel-Hafiz al-Absi, Abdul Hakim Tarsh al-Mogales, Ahmad al-Makosh, Ahmad Ghailan, Fadhel Saleh, Mohammad Dahan, Mohammad al-Gofi, Abdul-Qader al-Shater, Hanna Me’yad and others. They are known in the press field as they claimed in the lawsuit, and have all legal conditions to obtain journalist profession cards stipulated by the press law and which can be obtained through the YJS. The YJS, through what has been termed an alleged internal regulation, revised the definition of the journalist profession and the press, for the definition of the YJS was partially contrary to the definitions, meanings and connotations specified in the press law, the lawsuit claimed.
This is a short interview with Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani’s little daughter, Eeba, via Hub. She says the thugs were pounding his head into the street and he motioned to her to go back inside.
I hope the regime takes advantage of the temporary lull in publicity to free al-Khaiwani before we have to go into phase two of the campaign.
This is a second list. (List #one is here and is a seperate listing.) Please join us and sign at this link in support of the heroic journalist, Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani. If you have a link, please leave it in the comments. Thanks AGAIN to Nicki for keeping track of this today…. Update: 1001 people sent a letter so far. Its a beautiful thing.
Almotamar.net – The Specialised Criminal Court on Tuesday fixed the date of one month from today for announcing the sentence against the persons accused of forming an armed gang for killing and sabotage and attacking security institutions (Sana’a 2nd Cell).
In the sitting of the court held Tuesday under chairmanship of Judge Muhsin Alwan, Head of the First Instance Court, the prosecution presented its final presentation and asked the severest sentence legally stipulated against the accused members of the gang.
The presentation mentioned that the defendants had participated in formation of an armed gang for killing, sabotage and attacking security and military institutions by using explosive charges in addition to putting poisons in camps water tanks.
The lawyer of the victims’ families, the killed Majors Abdulgfhani al-Maamari and Yahya Rawee, presented his final statement and requested the execution of the defendants. The defence body of defendant Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani presented also the closing defence and asked the court to acquit their client from charges against him.
At the end of the lawyers reading the closing statement the journalist Mohammed al-Maqaleh bust into noisy laughter and when the court asked him about the reason of his laughter he continued his laughing and ridicule of the trial saying it was a farce. The court decided sending hi to prosecution for interrogation due to his ridiculing the court and violation of the sitting as well as insulting the judiciary.
Almotamar.net – An information source at the General People’s Congress (GPC) ruling party on Tuesday expressed the GPC solidarity and sympathy with the Yemeni writer and political activist Ms Tawakul Karman against the threat of killing she has been exposed to in addition immoral words on the phone; as it was reported in media instruments.
The source affirmed that differences in opinion in the national arena whatever they were must not slide to this immoral level of personal assailing and insult that is inharmonious with religious, ethical and human values as well as with bases of democratic freedom and opinion and other opinion.
The GPC information source asked all to stand against such inconvenient practices and asked the security authorities to take their measures for providing protection for the activist Tawakul Karman and hold accountable those who carried out such irresponsible and condemned action.
Really they are quite an amazing bunch.
SANA’A, June 27 — Journalists, human rights activists, as well as partisans and women leaders held a sit-in for the seventh time in front of the cabinet in the ” freedom Square” within the frame of the sit-in activities organized by the civil society organizations, protesting against blocking the SMS news services, and calling for releasing the journalist Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani.
At the commencement of the sit-in, lawyer Khalid Al-Ansi, the executive manager of Hood organization for defending rights and freedoms, requested the audience to make a respected stance for the symbol of freedom, Al-Khaiwani.” Our fresh news this time, in this sit-in, is that Al-Khaiwani is detained,” Al-Ansi declared.
He also said,” We are having victory and we will continue till we achieve our complete demands. Al-Eshteraki and Al-Shora web sites have been unblocked and we will continue holding our sit-ins till the release of the SMS news services of Without Chains and Nass Press, as well as allowing the Without Chains Newspaper to carry on.”
For her side, Tawakul Kurman, the chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains, delivered a speech in which she said,” It a pity to have this sit-in held in the freedom Square.” “To call for releasing media means and insure a wide bias for practicing freedom of expression without any violations coincide with abducting Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, who is still in the precaution prison without charging him of any accusations.” She added.
“While we are holding this sit-in for the sake of freedom of expression and the right of having its media means, we salute journalist, Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, and announce our solidarity with him, considering him one of the pioneers of freedom of expression,” Kurman added. “The good pressmen are being violated, imprisoned, abducted, beaten, and wiretapped all over Yemen.” she elaborated.
However, during the sit-in, Dr. Abdullah Al-Faqeeh, Professor of political science in Sana’a University, said, “The Yemeni regime is portraying the Yemenis to the world to be a people of explosive belts, who are ready to explode themselves, as well as the world, calling the civil society to collate.” Al-Faqeeh also called the civil society to nominate Al-Khaiwani for Nobel Prize in its next turn. He also suggested preparing a letter draft of nomination and contacting the human rights organizations to support the Yemeni nominee for the prize.
He went on to say,” The prevention of having media means in Yemen suggests depriving the Yemenis from taking creative actions and transforming them to consumers of behavior examples and virtues as well as values of others. He also questioned how his regime could allow its citizens to have broadcast channels while it fears from 70 –letters messages.
YT: SANA’A, May 16 – The Center for Training and Protecting Journalist Freedoms presented its 2006 annual report to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, brining back memories of the sufferings of journalists and newspapers from 2002 to 2005.
Concerning last year, the report presented by Mohammed Sadiq Al-Odaini, head of the center, indicated that, “2006 witnessed 200 violations and 47 incidents of intimidation against the press, including detentions, seizures and attempted kidnapping of journalists, opinion writers, local correspondents and journalists from foreign media outlets, as well as 33 instances of threat.”
During the same year, 22 verdicts were issued against the press, including fines, tough sanctions, dismissal from employment and banning from writing. The Socialist Party-affiliated Al-Thawri newspaper suffered the most violations, with six verdicts issued against it, its editor-in-chief and writers. Four of those verdicts were issued in the span of less than a month.
Additionally, its Editor-in-Chief Khalid Salman was subjected to a series of intimidating acts and likely will experience many more by Socialist Party leaders themselves because he wanted to report professionally and impartially even if against the party’s best interest.
The report alleged that such acts of intimidation prompted Salman to seek political asylum in London, an unprecedented event in press history.
Continued on page 3
Other verdicts were issued against journalists and private as well as partisan newspapers, such as Al-Wahdawi, Al-Nahar, Al-Nass and Al-Hurriyya. The year ended as trials continued against independent, and partisan newspapers such as Al-Wasat, Al-Thawri, Al-Nahar, Al-Wahdawi, Al-Shoura.net, Al-Shoura Voice and Al-Balagh. (Read on …)
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.
SANA’A, Dec. 20 — Four Yemeni journalists urged the United Nations to protect them from physical harm, hunting, assaults and harassments. They complained that their freedom of expression is restricted.
In a letter sent to U.N. Human Rights Council, a copy of which was published by Al-Tajamu’ weekly, journalists urged the UNHRC to intercede and take an international decision to protect them in conformity with international conventions and legitimacies.
“The State hunts us, abuses our rights and restrict our freedom of expressions,” the Yemeni journalists said in their letter. “We were subjected to abduction, forcible disappearance and illegal and unconstitutional arrests. We are deprived of our livelihood sources because we criticize corruption and the military regime that has been grasping power for 28 years.”
The four journalists called on their colleagues to support their request, which is backed and signed by the famous writer and human rights activist Abdurrahim Mohsin, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Deyyar newspaper, Hamoud Al-Mahdhari, Editor-In-Chief of Al-Shoura Net, Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani and the journalist Abdulqawi Al-Qubati.
Al-Khaiwani at the conference on press freedoms:
YO: Journalist Abdul-Kareem al-Khaiwani totally disagreed with the minister. “It is hard to even discuss press issues under this climate of constant oppression,” he said. Al-Khaiwani, who was imprisoned, but later pardoned by a presidential decree, gave examples of recent journalists who suffered oppression.
“Qaid al-Tairi was kidnapped, and the ministry of interior did not investigate that,” he said. “He was banned from traveling and was sent back from the airport.” He noted that the same thing had happened to him at the airport, though there was no judicial provision for the ban. Al-Khaiwani then suggested that legislation was only part of the problem. “What can the law say about the cloning of newspapers?” he said, referring to his newspaper being assembled by someone else under the same name.
“What about the case of Rahma Hojeirah and Hafiz al-Bokari, two journalists who have been badly slandered in one of the newspapers?” Motahar al-Masri, the deputy Minister of Interior, said that no actions were being undertaken, because no legislation warranted such actions. Both the deputies of the minister of the interior and the minister of information said that the current press legislation was not being applied, because it would restrain journalist’s freedom too greatly.
Thats just infuriating. And yes, the CD does prove the wiretapping.
Interior minister Rashad al-Alimi denied that his ministry ordered to wiretap private calls and that it made a deal with telecommunication companies working in Yemen to bring systems for recording and wiretapping.
In his reply to a question by the MP Abdul-Razaq al-Hajri on wiretapping to people personal calls, al-Alimi said the constitution and law prohibit that except if there a judicial order, confirming that his ministry is ready to refer the wiretapping cases to justice if proved.
He admitted that his ministry asked the ministry of telecommunications to order the telecom centers write names and the identity cards of people who call form those centers to keep social security. He justified that some people misuse phones for threats. But he asserted there were no cases of wiretapping.
“We have not to make rules according to rumors, but according to facts. If there is a real incidence, the ministry will investigate in to it and raise the results to the Parliament, said Alimi in his comment on al-Hujri question.
The MP al-Hujri said there was a CD includes a personal conversation between the correspondent of al-Jazeera space channel in Sana’a Ahmad al-Shalafi and his wife.
Al-Alimi said shops “are full of such CDs and the CD does not prove the allegation”.
He said that people who have suits should file them to the prosecution or to the interior ministry offering adequate evidence. He pointed that his ministry is preparing a draft law to fight “electronic crimes”.
Well thats certainly a nice article fromAlsharq Alawasat.
The focusing on news and events of one country at the expense of others is unjustifiable both professionally and morally. Although we are not the only ones that practice this type of discrimination, we have yet to do anything to reverse it.
Usually nations that are more powerful from a political, military, and economic perspective, get the most media coverage, even when it comes to trivial matters like entertainment, with the coverage usually bordering on the shallow and exaggerated. On the other hand, poorer and weaker nations are the prisoners of their grim circumstances, marginalized and out of the world’s collective conscience, except on rare occasions.
Yemen is a great example of this. As close as we are to Yemen geographically, our knowledge of it does not exceed that of their daily headlines, and they are usually about the rising fundamentalist movements, or the latest Al-Qaeda crimes, or the country’s Qat obsession, and that is hardly enough information for us to say that we know what goes on there.
A recent report by “the Committee to Protect Journalists” revealed that no less then 24 Yemeni journalists have been tortured, imprisoned or criminally prosecuted in the last two years. In addition, many newspapers were closed down or have had their licenses revoked. In the report, a number of journalists went on record to detail the arrests, torture, and intimidation the faced because they dared to write about sensitive issues.
These are just the quick facts, the details are more horrific. In addition to the above-mentioned methods of punishment, the Yemeni authorities have managed to create some new ones. On two separate occasions, Private intimate phone conversation between journalists and their wives were recorded and circulated in a society notorious for its moral conservatism.
Today in Yemen the noose is tightening around the press’s neck, which is the only tool available that can reflect the voices of opposition and political dialogue.
The essence of the problem is that the Arab media are not giving Yemen half the coverage it gives other countries in the region, for in less than a year, a number of journalists have been brutalized, kidnapped and imprisoned and none of them received the same attention their counterparts did in other Arab countries.
SUPER COOL! I’m so proud of them. They deserve it.
In March, Dr. al-Saqqaf posthumously won a lifetime achievement award at the Middle East Publishing Conference, from WAN, the World Association of Newspaper Editors.
IPI Names Yemen Times “Free Media Pioneer 2006″
The International Press Institute (IPI) has announced its decision to honour the independent newspaper, Yemen Times, with its 2006 Free Media Pioneer Award. Mr. Raidan Al-Saqqaf, Member of the newspaper’s Board of Directors, will receive the prize on behalf of the Yemen Times at an award ceremony on 30 May, during the forthcoming IPI World Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland (27-30 May).
Founded in 1990 by Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, a prominent economist and human rights activist, who was also its editor and publisher until his untimely death at age 46 in a traffic accident in 1999, the Yemen Times started publishing on 28 February 1991. Yemen’s first and most widely-read English-language newspaper, its declared aim is “to make Yemen a good world citizen.”
The Yemen Times operates in a part of the world known for harsh government restrictions on the media. The closure of independent and opposition newspapers and the criminal prosecution of journalists for critical coverage of sensitive issues are routine in the Middle East and North Africa and have led to a climate of fear in which self-censorship is common. Violent attacks against journalists are also on the rise, making the practice of their profession more dangerous than ever.
Against this backdrop, the Yemen Times continues to provide accurate and timely news and information on Yemen and the region, and actively participates in efforts, outlined in its mission statement, to support “press freedom, respect for human rights, political pluralism and democracy.”
The annual Free Media Pioneer Award was established by IPI, the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, in 1996 to honour individuals or organisations that have fought against great odds to ensure freer and more independent media in their country or region. The Award is co-sponsored by the U.S.-based Freedom Forum, a non-partisan, international foundation dedicated to free press and free speech.
Previous winners of the Free Media Pioneer Award are: SW Radio Africa, UK (2005); the Central Asia and Southern Caucasian Freedom of Expression Network – CASCFEN (2004); the Media Council of Tanzania (2003); the independent daily newspaper Danas, Serbia (2002); the independent on-line newspaper Malaysiakini.com, Malaysia (2001); the Press and Society Institute – IPYS, Peru (2000); the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association – EFJA (1999); Radio B-92, Yugoslavia (1998); the Alliance of Independent Journalists – AJI, Indonesia (1997); and NTV, Russia (1996).
….to honour individuals or organisations that have fought against great odds to ensure freer and more independent media in their country or region.
Thats actually pretty interesting and thought provoking, with a variety of views and issues. I can’t believe its Faris who put this together. I wonder if he called anybody a hedgehog, accused them of hard work? hahaha
SANA’A – The Yemen Observer’s Think Tank Tent (TTT), a new discussion group, was launched last week by Faris Sanabani, publisher of the Yemen Observer Publishing House.
The first and inaugural session, held at the Yemen Observer office on April 27, discussed the situation of press freedom in Yemen.
The TTT is intended to be a “forum of choice for new ideas, analysis and debate on the most important issues facing Yemen,” Sanabani said.
The discussions are intended to allow the discussion of important issues in a candid and transparent way, in order to get a wide spectrum of opinions. It is therefore hoped to create a better understanding of the issue.
The list of subjects planned to be debated include corruption, the presidential elections, transparency in the government, the reform agenda, foreign aid, education and health care, foreign policy, tribalism, tourism and poverty.
A “Who’s Who” of journalists, government representative and opposition figures were invited, so that voices from all opinions and sides were heard.
It included Nasr Taha Mustafa, the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Saba News Agency, Hafez Al-Bukari, the Secretary General of Yemen Journalists Syndicate (YJS) and Hamid Shihra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Nass Publishing House.
In addition Nabil Al-Sofi, Editor-in-Chief of NewsYemen, Mahmoud Yassin, writer and journalist, Ahmed Al-Zorqa, the YJS Executive Director also took part.
Jalal Yagoob, Assistant Deputy Minister of Planning, Akram Sabra, Managing Editor of the suspended Al-Hurriyah Newspaper and Mohammed Al-Asadi, Editor-in-Chief of Yemen Observer also participated.The outcome of this discussion is below, so readers can see and take part in the conversations too. We are therefore especially interested in your feedback and hearing what you think.
The content of future discussions, and the feedback we receive, will be published in a separate booklet so as to be easily available to researchers, politicians, legislators and the general public.
Copies of these booklets will also be passed on to government officials, lobbyists and decision makers, so that the ideas and opinions exchanged can better help them make informed decisions on the topic discussed.
Academics, reformers and the leaders of this country are also invited to participate with ideas, opinions and support for the TTT.
The next discussion will debate the issue of corruption in Yemen, including the government’s commitment to fight corruption, create anti-corruption laws and increase awareness about the problem. (Read on …)
MEO:
Major donor countries, concerned that the reform process in Yemen has stalled, have stepped up pressure on the Sanaa regime by linking aid to tangible change.
“The donors have made it clear that there has to be change,” whether pertaining to public freedoms or the fight against corruption, a Sanaa-based diplomat said, requesting anonymity. President Ali Abdullah Saleh “has been pressured a lot by the international community on reform and good governance,” he said.
It seems a long time since Saleh was invited by US President George W. Bush to take part in a G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, in June 2004 in order to endorse Washington’s “Broader Middle East” initiative for democratization of the Arab-Islamic world. Two years later, Washington no longer sees Sanaa as one of its best pupils.
Ambassador Thomas Krajeski publicly aired US concern that Yemen had halted progress toward democracy in an interview with the private newspaper Al-Ayyam last October. Yemeni authorities deny dragging their feet on reform, but Krajeski said that his remarks were prompted by “an increasing harassment of journalists and closing of some independent newspapers, causing all of us concern about Yemen’s democratic commitment and the pace of democratic reforms”. “We remain concerned” by the situation in terms of liberties, chiefly press freedom, he said. Attacks against journalists have increased in recent months, and authorities have failed to arrest any suspects in the assaults.
A draft press law, which one diplomat described as “a law that protects the government against journalists,” is also under consideration just a few months before presidential elections scheduled for September. Another diplomat noted, however, that Yemen and Kuwait are the only two countries in the Arabian peninsula “where there is an opposition press that can go very far in its criticism” of government policies.
Information Minister Hassan Ahmad al-Lawzi insisted in remarks to AFP that the government “condemns” attacks against journalists and that press freedom will be “protected.” Another black spot in Yemen’s record is corruption, which both foreign diplomats and Yemenis see as spreading rather than decreasing.
Washington was not long in making its displeasure known. During a visit to the United States in November, Saleh was informed of its decision to deprive Yemen of financial assistance which would have made it eligible for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), an aid programme for impoverished nations launched by the Bush administration in 2002.
The development assistance programme was proposed for countries “ruling justly, investing in their people and encouraging economic freedom.” Some countries that did not meet the criteria required to qualify for MCA assistance were selected to receive “Threshold Programme Assistance.”
The MCA programme links aid to the performance of a country, gauged on the basis of 16 indicators, including one related to civil liberties and another to “control of corruption.” Yemen was picked as a “threshold” country in 2004 before being suspended last November. “Because of increasing concern over government corruption and a perceived decline in commitment to individual freedoms, they (Yemen) were suspended pending improvement,” one diplomat said.
The immediate loss for Yemen ranged between 20 and 30 million dollars. But in the longer term, it forfeited potential aid of hundreds of millions of dollars by losing its eligibility for MCA assistance. The following month, the World Bank announced a one-third reduction of its aid to Yemen – from 420 to 280 million dollars – for the same reasons.
In early February, Germany, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands – Yemen’s top donors — told the Sanaa government they wanted to see “change” and a quick implementation of concrete steps toward reform. All of which did not sit well with the Yemeni president. During a visit to Beijing last month, Saleh pointedly remarked that China does not meddle in the internal affairs of the countries it helps, and on his return to Sanaa, he rejected “dictates and conditional support.”
By Dr. Moncef Marzouki*
The problems facing the Yemeni journalist Mohammed Al-Asadi and the other Arab journalists arrested in Morocco, Algeria and Jordan for accusations of reprinting insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), reminds us of the American military terminology of ‘collateral damage’.
They are like the associated, often innocent, casualties arising from a showdown between two warring sides.
However, I take it for granted that the collateral damages are part of plot and not a mistake. Indeed, sometimes are in fact the goal of the plot, which is ostensibly targeted otherwise.
The sides that fuelled the war of the blasphemous cartoons are the racist right-wingers who dream of a devastating collision of civilizations, while also seizing the opportunity for Islamic and Arab regimes to appear as advocates of Islamic values. Instead, they are desperately in need of a shot of mercy.
Some religious figures, such as the Mufti of Qatar, have exploited the opportunity for improving their own battered image. They want to form what they call ‘Committees for Prophet Protection’, a behaviour that suggests the Holy Prophet Mohammed Salla Allahu Alayhi Wasallam, is an ordinary person.
They have taken it upon themselves, as if the prophet needs these jokers to defend him. It has become a battle between two mad, opportunist sides who struck successfully at the most sensitive of issues.
In this battle of elephants, the journalist Mohammed Al-Asadi, editor of the Yemen Observer, has been maliciously knocked to the ground, so that he is now amongst those blackmailed for the alleged assault against the symbol of holiness.
Among al-Asadi’s writings I have read are these phrases: “My name is Mohammed, the same name of the prophet Sallah Allahu Alayhi Wasallam. I can’t in any way insult him. “What I published defends the Prophet, and you can see that for yourself”.
He adds: “The report of ours joined the Islamic world in denouncing the insult. It was a summary of what some scholars have said in admiration of the prophet”.
He also said: “I published a 5cm picture of parts of the cartoons, concealed with a large cross. It was a signal of total rejection and contempt of the cartoons for the western readers of the paper”.
He asks: “Is this a slander of the Holy Prophet – which no Muslim can do, as long as he professes that there is no God except Allah and that Mohammed is Allah’s messenger?” He has given all the articles and information, translated into Arabic, to the court. “This is an accusation of my faith that I can’t accept,” he adds.
Is that then the crux of the issue? Al-Asadi is a journalist, a profession sometimes seen as one of the worst threats for Arab states under totalitarian rule.
Here we come to face our regular enemy that we hold in contempt and hate, the corrupt Arab political regime.
However, the problem is that Al-Asadi’s case is more complicated that it appears to be. A totalitarian state merely exploits the opportunity to annihilate its most hated foe, free journalists producing news of corruption and distortion.
Yet the person spearheading this campaign against Al-Asadi is one of the victims of this regime. He doesn’t bother to make an ally of Al-Asadi today, even though he may fear they may be a potential enemy of the regime tomorrow
Ali al-Jaradi, the media and culture director for the Association of Yemeni Journalists, has called on Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zandani to use the funds he raised for suing the journalists to instead sue the US authorities, for alleged abuse in the Guantanamo Bay prison including flushing a Holy Qu’ran down a toilet.
Perhaps we exaggerated by blaming political autocracy, for that is simply the tip of the iceberg.
What we have learnt is that this political totalitarianism is not an import from Mars, nor the imposed will of Israel or President Bush. Instead, the regimes crippling our energies are the result of our own totalitarian societies. This is incontrovertible.
The one spearheading the oppression of this free journalist is not the ruling authority. Instead, it is an individual volunteering to raise funds not for fighting hunger but for suiting Al-Asadi. He is well aware of what he will gain, killing two birds with one stone.
This person is carrying the flag of a society riddled with fanaticism and misogynism.
If it is not stopped, only a bloodier form of totalitarianism will be established over the ruins of the present totalitarian system.
The new totalitarianism will be ignorant and will only slowly learn – over the dead bodies of the innocent.
Al-Asadi is between the heavy hammer of political totalitarianism and the deeper totalitarianism of the society. We are all morally obliged to stand by him and to step up our rhetoric to attack totalitarianism.
Journalism, the most important tool of democracy – represented by Al-Asadi – is under siege in Yemen and the whole Arab world on two fronts, not a single one.
We must look after the individual tree more than we care for the whole wood.
——————————————————————————–
* A Tunisian Public Freedoms Activist and writer.
Accusing the lawyers of taking money from foreign sources…..
At the West Capital Court’s April 1 session in the Al-Ray Al-A’am newspaper trial, the defense, led by Allaw Establishment and headed by lawyer Mohamed Naji Allaw, presented its pleading. The paper is being tried for republishing insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).
Defense confirmed a lack of material evidence due to absence of legal Sharia in the claim against the paper, asserting that republishing the caricatures to criticize them is not a crime, which is what the journalists did. Defense quoted a fatwa by prominent Islamic scholars, which validated republishing the caricatures to defend the prophet. It also presented Saudi Islamic Jurist ‘Mufti’ Dr. Suliman Al-Awdah, who republished the caricatures on Al-Arabia Satellite Channel, and Sheikh Mohamed Al-Arifi.
Allaw described Prosecution’s claim of applying Sharia law upon the defendants as a demand for the death sentence against them for the crime they allegedly committed, even if the charge is wrong. Allaw continued, saying the case is a criminal one, which Prosecution lawyers are unauthorized to file because it is the Attorney General’s duty.
Allaw stated that he is defending the journalists because they republished the caricatures to defend the prophet, adding that he is addressing all citizens, whatever their position, so they can distinguish what they hear before making premature judgments. He gave the example of mosque preachers who incited citizens against the journalists, deeming them to be the same as the Danish journalists, even collecting money to indict them.
Allaw asserted that Prosecution lawyers’ allegations are full of lack of knowledge of the basis for law and Sharia. In return, Prosecution lawyers accused Allaw Establishment of receiving funds from foreign bodies, which they did not mention, to defend Yemeni newspapers that republished the caricatures, saying they have proof that Allaw Establishment received such sums, in dollars, to defend newspapers that insulted the prophet. They demanded that HOOD and Allaw Establishment be banned for this reason, as well as demanding that case documents, memos and correspondence be reviewed.
Press Prosecution requested the opportunity to respond to Defense claims at the next court session.
From the Yemen Times, the quote of the day, “This is really stupid.“
The hysteric media barrage the political regime is launching against the opposition parties entails a bad omen of the coming few months prior to the presidential and local elections. Upon hearing rumors that the former president of the South Yemen Ali Naser Mohammed would run for office, the regime has opened up the question of the mass graves of the January 13, 1986 Aden, bringing into mind of the Yemeni people the agonies of the infighting and reviving the bloodshed memories and hatred sentiments.
Again, the state-run- and -financed media have also tried to revive the hostilities between the socialists, saying that the socialists of the North have controlled everything and left nothing for the socialists of the South.
Last Thursday, the 26 September newspaper of the army said the US embassy had given the government some important documents about the South during 1980s. It described these documents as important, revealing secrets of the conflict between the leaders of the socialist party at that time and other relevant issues to their term in office.
This is really stupid. What does it mean to incite such kind of sentiments? Won’t this hamper the national unity and stability of the country? They always say the unity is a “red line” and a taboo that must not be touched whatsoever the reason. I agree with my colleague Jamal Anaam when he said that the unity of the political parties is a part of the overall unity of the country. President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been always giving sermons on the importance of keeping the country united, burying the past hostilities and looking ahead for a better tomorrow. Why now recalling the past with all its miseries and pains? Won’t this stir up the anger the people of the South who are now lamenting the pre-unification era wherein law and order was respected and cherished by everybody, despite the other wrongdoings of the socialist regime.
Read the rest.
Its hard to get information in Yemen. From News Yemen:
“It was a very strange action when he denied what he had said” reported a journalist concerning an interview he conducted with a member of parliament. The journalist stated that as soon as he had finished recording the MP’s remarks, the MP left and went to another media source and denied everything.
Such behavior has become normal between the parties and the journalists who complain of difficulty in obtaining information from MPs. Sami Ghaleb, editor in chief of Al-Nida’, stated that the behavior of many MPs is far from being professional. He said that the reason behind this goes back to the leadership’s inability to listen to different opinions as well the ideological and historical background of these parties. The presence of local newspapers is new to the political life in Yemen. He feels that time and the continued practice of journalism in Yemen will change the political field’s opinion of it and that relationships between the journalism profession and the parties will change as well. “Our papers hold to professional standards and give balance to their coverage which will find acceptance among the ruling elite.
Al-Ghobari stated that dealing with the parties is much easier than dealing with the official bodies. He stated that it is a priority of the ruling party to make interaction with the journalistic profession difficult, followed by Islah. He stated that dealing with the Nasserite party and the YSP is the easiest. He said that the political parties in Yemen still show great reservation towards giving information about disputes among the ruling party and the opposition.
Concerning the internal workings of the parties, Islah is the most tight-fisted when it comes to giving information. He said most information is passed on by news leaks and conversation and not through official channels.
It is unlikely that the position of the parties will change their position towards journalists and try to solve the current impasse. An official spokesman stated that his is a paradox that does not only concern the parties but the state as well.
Also: this is interesting:
Sami Ghaleb defended the syndicate in his article published in Al-Nida’ under the title “The Governmental Quagmire and the Journalists’ Syndicate.” He considers this as a war waged by the government against journalism in order to raise party strife and incite anger against its members. This campaign began after the leader of the syndicate presented his resignation and following the joint parties’ support of it. He was surprised by this after a cordial visit between the minister of information and the syndicate which was considered a first step by a government official.
Al-Thawra published an article that stated “there are accusations of deals being made between journalists and foreign embassies in order to execute suspicious projects. However, do not forget the doubt surrounding MPs and their evil intentions towards the syndicate.”
The author, Al-Majidi, stated that the reason for the attacks comes from the profession’s defense of several journalists who underwent attacks and death threats as well as their opposition to laws that would restrict journalistic freedom.
Theres a lot more in the original article.
Its this kind of stuff that makes me think the Yemeni government fits the definition of a rouge regime.
fromNews Yemen:
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate announced its condemnation for the hostile acts suffered by the journalist Qa’id Al-Tiri, (the editor of al-Thoury) and expressed its disapproval of the closure of Al-Usbu’.
The Syndicate demanded that the Ministry of the Interior conduct an investigation into circumstances surrounding the journalist’s kidnapping which occurred on Saturday as he was heading to his workplace in the Ministry of Media. The Syndicate condemned the criminal aggression that Mr. Al-Tiri was exposed to during his captivity, which included torture with electricity.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate stated that this act was just one in a string of aggressive acts committed against journalists over the last few months. It went on to say that if it were not for the indifference of the concerned parties then the perpetrators of these acts would have been brought before the court.
The Syndicate disapproved of the continued closure of Al-Usbuu’ despite the expiration of last year’s ruling to close the journal. It announced its deep concern over the arbitrary use of the law to close newspapers, which goes against the spirit of the law. Such manipulation causes material, mental, and physical harm to journalists.
Related: Judge Beaten by Prison Official:
A member of the Haja Governorate public prosecutor’s office, Judge Sahal al-Samit, was harmed during his visit to a prison yesterday. In a special interview with News Yemen Judge al-Samit stated that the vice manager of the prison in the security administration began to beat him as he (the judge) was freeing a number of prisoners who had been held illegally for some time. The president of the public prosecutor’s office in Haja sent a memo requiring lawful investigation into the event. The head of security in Haja related to News Yemen that he stopped the beating.
And Lawyers Beat-up by judicial police and soldiers.
from his paper, The Yemen Observer:
SANA’A – Yemen is focusing on the wrong people in targeting Mohammed Al-Asadi and the Yemen Observer in the accusations of insulting the Prophet (PBUH), according to a leading academic.
Dr Abdullah Al-Faqih, Professor of Politics at Sana’a University and head of the Change Forum, an independent NGO working to promote political dialogue, appealed to they Yemeni people arguing that they are “fighting the wrong war” in targeting the newspaper.“Yemen’s battle is not with Al-Asadi but with poverty, illiteracy, underdevelopment, and diseases,” he said.
Dr Al-Faqih, in an interview with the Observer, wrote an appeal for real justice to be made, calling the trial a ‘witch hunt.’
His statement follows below.
“It is inconceivable to think that a newspaper like the Yemen Observer would intentionally seek to insult Muslims or their Prophet (PBUH) in any manner.Yet the Observer and its Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Mohammed Al-Asadi, are put on trial for committing such a crime.
The paper and its editor are accused of republishing the infamous blasphemous cartoons that were initially published in a Danish paper last September.
The cartoons later provoked world-wide Muslim rage, leading to the death of tens of Muslims after clashing with police in several world capitals.The editor of the paper, whom I met a few months ago in Aden, is a very articulate, polite, and trustworthy young Muslim journalist.
The paper itself has a history of moderation and respect for Islam and other religions. In fact, it frequently runs stories attesting to its commitments to, and respects of, Islamic values and principles.
Those close to Al-Asadi, lawyers and friends hold great respect for him and think he and the paper are being targeted for no good reason.
Images of the cartoons appearing in the paper were covered with a big X. The accompanying editorials expressed disgust at the publication of the cartons.This is not a case related to freedom of the press per se. The Observer was part of the anti-cartoon movement and not a supporter of those ridiculing the Prophet and all Muslims.
The case appears to be a case of “witch-hunt.” The trial of the Observer and the call for the execution of its editor is a disservice to Yemenis, Muslims and to Islam too. “Witch-hunting” has nothing to do with Islam and its principles, values, and way of life.The attempt to use a situation, of misjudgment at worse, to settle old scores or to intimidate newspapers and journalists, gives the wrong message to people within and without the Muslim world.
The ongoing court case serves only those who propagate stereotypes of Muslims as intolerant people.
It is neither in the interest of the litigants, nor in the interest of the defendants to continue a baseless case and to provoke laymen’s emotions in a very irresponsible manner.Sheik Zindani, a very popular Yemeni religious scholar, is said to be steering the case. It has been reported that Mr. Zindani collected the sum of five million Yemeni rials from donors for hiring lawyers to prosecute the Observer and two other Yemeni papers.
The motives behind the case are not quite clear. Zindani himself has had some trouble with press coverage, with American accusations leveled against him. He also has had trouble with the government’s handling of his case. The political situation in Yemen is very complicated.Whatever the motives are, it would be a violation of justice to try the paper and its editor -using an incident of misjudgment in the worst case scenario – and not taking into account the paper’s history and the editor’s characteristics.
While my brothers and sisters who are litigants in the case may have the best of intentions, they should know that they are fighting the wrong war.The Yemen Observer is not the enemy, and its editor-in-chief is not the culprit. To those brothers and sisters who were offended by the paper, please and direct your attention, energy, and resources to Yemen’s real battle. Yemen’s battle is not with Al-Asadi but with poverty, illiteracy, underdevelopment, and diseases.”
Al-Faqih runs the Change Forum, which seeks to promote dialogue among political forces in Yemen, provide consultation on policy matters, and propose policy alternatives.
He makes a good point that this case is giving the regime another big round of negative publicity internationally, following on the heels of the escape.
The paper’s editorial:
For the past eight years the Yemen Observer has worked hard to provide accurate, balanced and informative news about all aspects of Yemen. It prides itself on providing up-to-date news and analysis in English, acting as a vital tool for non-Arabic speakers to learn more about the country.
Yet the continued suspension of the newspaper’s license – for unfounded allegations connected to the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) – is starving it of the crucial funds it needs to operate.
The actions were and still are meant to damage the good reputation of the newspaper, which has only ever acted with the very best interests of the country and its readers at its heart.
The Observer journalists continue to write and produce news on this website. We will, of course, resume printing the newspaper immediately when the draconian restrictions are lifted. However, if the Government do not change their mind, the newspaper faces a bleak future.
The newspaper’s forced closure has come just as the Government tries to boost tourist numbers and international investment in the country. If the Observer remains closed, a valuable international window onto Yemen will be lost, and a worrying message about press freedom in this country will be sent to the rest of the world. Press freedom is in real danger in this vital year.
The Yemen Observer has launched a massive campaign with local authorities including Parliament, leading religious scholars and senior judicial consultants at the Supreme Court of Yemen. All of them have shown understanding and sympathy. They admitted they were misinformed by the official media, which claimed that the Observer ran the abusive cartoons, but gave no further explanation in what context.
The editorial board of the Yemen Observer and all its workers at all levels would like to extend their deepest gratitude to readers and international organizations that have been a great support for all of us during this difficult time.
The situation cannot be allowed to continue.
On Wednesday March 8 the trial of the Editor-in-Chief Mohammed Al-Asadi resumes. We hope that both the Court and the Government will take the sensible and correct route, and allow Mr. Al-Asadi to run the newspaper freely once again.
Until then, we will be continuing all our usual news coverage online at this website: www.yobserver.com. We value our readers greatly. At this difficult time for the newspaper, we appreciate your support all the more. Thank you, and please keep visiting the site.
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.
Update: the late Dr. al-Saqqaf won. Im very happy and I commend the conference for their excellent choice.
from AMEinfo:
Awards for lifetime achievement in regional publishing will be made at the Middle East Publishing Conference that opened in Dubai yesterday…..Newspapers: Ghassan Tueni, journalist, publisher and civil servant, who took over An Nahar (Lebanon) in 1947 and helped establish it as an outspoken, independent, liberal newspaper; Hisham and Muhammad Ali Hafiz, considered founders of journalism in Saudi Arabia, having in 1978 founded Asharq Al Awsat; the late Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf (1952-99) the founder, editor and publisher of the Yemen Times who was also a human-rights activist; the late Abdul Aziz Fahd Al Msa’eed who was a towering figure in Kuwait’s post-independence press; and Mustafa Ameen (1914-97), journalist, writer and publisher who established Al Akhbar.
You know who Im rooting for. The Yemen Times archives go back quite a ways and Ive read several articles by its founder, and they are quite impressive and you can get a sense of who he was and why he’s still so missed and respected in Yemen.
Quite an interesting seven page article in the US News and World Report, lots of interesting quotes, covers the big topics: poverty, corruption, lack of oppostion leadership, journalists, the tribal areas, education, traditionalism, potential state failure, democratic reforms, counter terrorism efforts and the impending election. To follow is an assortment of random quotes from the article:
This time, the assault is an exercise, but Yemen’s elite Counterterrorism Unit has successfully carried out several high-risk operations against suspected terrorists and kidnappers. Portraits of six fallen soldiers, the unit’s “martyrs,” hang on the walls of their barracks. “They are without a doubt the bravest guys I have ever worked with,” says Ed, a U.S. Army trainer on his second tour in Yemen.
These days, though, Yemen is facing its own crisis, the result of deepening poverty and a government in denial about the depth of reforms needed to survive. In the past year, the United States and the World Bank have slashed their modest aid programs to Yemen, increasingly fed up with a bureaucracy that is one of the most corrupt in the world. “Yemen is teetering on the edge of failed statehood,” warns one U.S. official. “It will either become a Somalia or get serious about transforming.” For a nation awash in guns and crisscrossed by well-worn smuggling routes, the threat is grave.
(The 17) The group was captured after U.S. intelligence passed a tip to Yemeni security forces.
“This is a country that is really in the balance,” says Thomas Krajeski, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen. “There is a risk here for failure, and there is a chance of success. It is our job to give them all the help we can, but they have to make some hard decisions now.”
Increasingly, however, Yemenis fear that the strongman who has ruled for 28 years will be unable or unwilling to make the tough reforms needed. “The Americans are happy because they found someone who will fight terrorism,” says Mutawakil. “But my fear is that we’re establishing the foundation for terrorism in the country, just as they did in Iraq.” He is particularly concerned about what he calls Saleh’s “divide and conquer” style.
Amid all this, Yemen has somehow managed to remain one of the most democratic nations in the (admittedly autocratic) Middle East–and one of the very few with a relatively free press. The government tolerates a raft of opposition parties and independent newspapers. Yemenis, for the most part, feel free to criticize the government, and even Saleh, in public.
The democratic reforms all stop short of threatening Saleh’s rule
The final straw came when her staff recorded “appalling cheating” by government officials during a by-election for a parliament seat. “This past year, the scales dropped from our eyes,” she says. “We’re tired of promises. We’re tired of good intentions. <
> It comes to a point when it’s not enough to say that you held the country together as it fell down the tubes.” “In the past, we have been lenient when it comes to accountability,” says Qirbi, the foreign minister. “Now we are making the people who are responsible accountable for any poor performance. We have overcome a major obstacle, which is admitting that there are deficits.”
“We have maybe the worst educational quality in the world,” says Arhabi, the minister of planning. “I have myself seen students in sixth grade, who if you ask them to pronounce the alphabet, they aren’t able to finish it. Forget about reading and writing.”
Even worse, some corruption is officially sanctioned. As many as 60,000 people are receiving at least two government salaries, often doled out officially to buy their loyalty. “Many of the double dippers are tribal sheiks or military people,” says Yahya al-Mutawakel, the vice minister of planning.
Perhaps the brightest is the Social Fund for Development, an independent government agency that helps build schools, clinics, roads, and water wells funded mostly by foreign nations. With only 150 full-time employees, the fund managed some 1,000 projects last year with an $80 million budget. The fund–and Arhabi, its director–win nearly universal praise from foreign donors for their integrity and exhaustive accounting system. The secret: highly paid employees and the ability to fire staff at will.
Underlying any discussion of reform, however, is one uncomfortable factor–nobody can picture Yemen without Saleh in charge. Even his most implacable critics fret that there is no viable alternative today
“I expect more dangerous risks in Yemen–extremism and fanaticism,” he says. “But it’s not related to religion. It comes out of the failure to satisfy life’s needs.”
For many, the upcoming local and presidential elections will be a test. And the stakes are high. “What we are afraid of is that the Yemeni people will lose hope in elections as a means of change,” Sabri says, “because this is what the traditional forces want.”
Itrs really a good article.
an article by Rahma Hugira, News Yemen
Sana’a -Yemen
Recently, 23 prisoners of alQaeda most dangerous members in Yemen broke away from their prison after a very long process of planning, while Yemeni security were too busy chasing and snooping on opponent journalists .The fugitives were said to dig a more than 400 meters underground tunnel to the most secured prison in Yemen, the Political Security. Some of them were even luckier and had opportunities to running away for three a number of times.
Fortunately, for more than month Alqaeda members were digging the tunnel to smuggle their leaders, for the third attempt! Whereas the local security were keen on spreading a recorded private telephone conversation between Aljazera correspondent in Yemen ,Ahmed Alshalfi and his wife, as scandal to punish him for interviewing the kidnappers of tourist Italians last month!!.
Regardless of what was reported in Yemeni newspapers and speculations about whether the breakaway was a means to blackmail the US administration or a deal between Alqaeda and some powerful figures in Saleh’s regime, there is the other side of this story: the tragedy of unlucky civil society activists that has to be mentioned.
This week perhaps, the fugitives are planning to go through their agenda, whereas three editors of Yemeni newspapers were shown standing with criminals in blue convicts clothes in a cage. There are Mohammed Alasadi, the editor-in-chief of Yemen Observer and Akram Sabra, Managing Editor of al-Huraea and Kamal Alulofi, editor-in-chief of Alray Ala’am, who still wanted by the police. The three face gross accusations for republishing the Danish satirical cartoons, in spite of the fact that they had published the caricatures as away to denounce them, the authorities found it as a golden chance to and use it against them and thus further undermine the freedom of press.
Besides the three detained journalists, there are more than 13 ‘unruly’ journalists, who have been threatened to be charged with the same accusations because of their straightforward articles criticizing the corruption of Yemeni rulers. Furthermore, three newspapers including, Yemen Observer, one of only two papers that are published in English in Yemen have had their licenses canceled.
Despite the inhuman conditions the detainee journalists are living in, and the others whose reputation has been defamed, these journalists are afraid that they would be targeted by extreme anger and assaults from the angry and misled public, whose illiteracy and extremism was exploited by the regime to attack its enemies and blackmail its friends.
These contradictory attitudes of Saleh’s mismanagement are complicated equations for anyone who doesn’t follow Yemeni issues, but for Yemenis, they are perfectly understood and it is known to all here that the real enemies of Saleh’s are those who oppose him by means of civil methods, not by breaking laws or threatening the world security and peace.
Therefore, Saleh has spent more time and effort to fight his critics inside Yemen or outside than he has done about international wanted persons or corrupt figures. For this, he employed military operations or Yemeni people’s attitude to influence public opinion in Yemen. The media, mosques and army camps are the most popular platforms that are used to incite people with misleading ideas and views to serve the ruling regimes in the Muslim world.
If we could count how many times president Saleh roused these platforms against terror and against his opponents, especially journalists, we will see that the subject is there in 90% of his speeches. Furthermore, the media and mosques still incite uneducated Yemeni people against the West and against America.
Then it is typical that the regime would ask for security and financial cooperation to use for the purpose of blackmailing donors further, and terrorizing journalists .That is what Yemen’s friends found it out lately about Yemeni-American cooperation to fight terrorism. Now they that they can’t achieve any victories against terror with corrupted and cheating partner like the Yemeni regime. It is beyond the ability of Saleh to fight terror, which has created by bigotry and illiteracy because it has been used by him to maintain his rule period for more than 28 years.
It is clearly that the big challenge in fighting terror in Yemen, Bin Laden’s homeland, for the USA and the international society is how to manage to avoid supporting the double terror in; Aalqaeda terror and terror against journalists .
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*Chairwoman of Yemeni Women Media Forum
From the Yemen Times
As Muslims, we have nothing to be alarmed about in terms of freedom of speech, as we are the ones provided with wisdom and the miraculous Qur’an.
We are not to call for tyranny and bans on freedom. It is obvious that we cannot stop publication of what we view as indecent in our sacred faith. The telecommunications revolution and future sciences tell us this. Let me say frankly that demanding closure of the Danish newspaper that insulted our prophet and the other newspapers that followed suit is a lack of common sense. Yet, failing to make use of Western freedom of press and other technologies to show the West the values of Islam is intellectual failure and a guilt that should not be linked to Islam. However, adopting censorship in dealing with the West is a woeful mistake against Islam and our prophet.
It is certain that official bodies were behind the rage that spread throughout the Arab world. Yet, governments were the main inciters of the people, undertaking to magnify the insult and determining the method of retaliation as well.
It remains skeptical whether those who burned the Danish and Swedish embassies in Damascus and Beirut were politically, rather than religiously motivated. The stylish slogans used in demonstrations hid other things. God did not order the burning; it is not the prophet’s norm. Even if it was voluntary public rage, it undoubtedly contributed to spreading offense and paved the way for future prejudicial behavior. The result of burning embassies and treading on flags is the self-same objective these drawings wanted to highlight. It was their intention to say that Muslims are terrorists and their religion is a peril to Western civilization.
What was the outcome of these enraged behaviors? Obviously, it was not to respond to the insult. It was even prudent not to provoke it. However, it was a basic ideal in the media profession. Some of those deprived of journalistic fame and lacking any fans tend to seek fame by insulting pillars of humanity. In most times, their publications will remain unread, rendering them to be the editors and the readers.
However, things take a different turn if they are met with angry reactions, as their readership surely will increase. Now that the Danish illustrations have been read widely and other cartoonists have followed suit by adding more drawings, a question arises about the wisdom of such enraged reactions, reenacted in Sana’a, Amman, Rabat and Cairo. Do we expect to burn these cities’ embassies and ban their trade? It is certain that the aim of all this was not to receive an apology or to wipe out the offense. Like the old racist, extreme, hidden agenda, it was the desire to rupture dialogue with the West, to draw a wedge and stir up religious, societal and cultural conflicts. Yet, the common interests of these groups that came together pose a great threat to humanity at large and the Islamic nation and authorities should be aware of their danger. They should not follow in their tracks and they should avoid the irrational artificial conflicts they often arouse.
I do not want to belittle or be indifferent to the insults to our prophet (pbuh). I denounce insulting our prophet and announce that my heart is filled with his love. Yet, I refuse that his position should be employed for ignoble political gains. However, I protest being used as a tool because of this love to spread the offense and turn naïve individuals into heroes. The drawers of these illustrations were made famous by our actions and more light was shed on their drawings as well.
The agenda of burning embassies and treading on flags has its objective, of which seeking an apology for defaming our prophet is not among them at all. Yet, apology or no apology, officially financed conferences, seminars and debates will not stop.
The concurrent burning of the embassies in Beirut and Damascus did not come out of the blue. Those who still dream and long for the ‘old days’ are seeking to restore them through hatred and incendiary actions. I am aware that it is rather unsafe to say such things and there are many who advise that it be overlooked. Yet, it would be a misuse of religion to ignore it because our religion is a complete network of values and principles.
Tawakkol Karman is a Yemeni journalist and heads Women Journalists Without Constraints (WJWC).
The unlikely hero, Yemeni Editor Mohammed al-Asadi, has an interview with Newsweek:
You mean to say the government has a prosecutor dedicated to the press, and that prosecutor has a dedicated jail?
That is one of the characteristics of the Yemeni government, putting journalists in jail to stop us from telling the truth to the public.
Your newspaper has been closely identified with the government, so is this the result of some sort of factional dispute within it?
The Yemen Observer has an independent line, and while it’s true that our CEO is close to the government, when he hired me he granted me complete editorial independence. He had no say over what I published.
The article as a whole discussed Islam and particularly the Prophet in reverential tones. So why the government reaction?
Most of these extremists don’t read English, they just saw the pictures. And the article was accompanied by an editorial, saying the cartoons were terrible, but we should accept the apologies of the newspaper that published them and move on, not continue running through the streets. That’s what really angered the [government] hard-liners. Even religious scholars have supported us: it’s the intention behind the publication, not just the publication.
Saleh promises again. This first time he said this, I think it was 2003, I believed him. Then al-Khaiwani went to jail. Now he says this again as al-Asadi is in jail.
Much discussion lately has been centered on what limits a responsible media should place on itself. At the other end of the spectrum remains the burning issue of censorship, propaganda and governmental limitations on the flow of information to the public. For some years the reformist posture of the Yemeni regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh had credibility internationally because of the existence of a lively Yemeni press. One reason confidence in Saleh’s commitment to democratization has diminished is a prolonged and systematic assault on Yemeni journalists, as an informative press is the bedrock of a government run by the people.
International reaction to the government’s proposed amendments to Yemen’s Press and Publications Law has been unanimous in condemning the measure as a mechanism of heightened censorship and an infringement on the rights of the Yemeni public.
The Committee of Protect Journalists recently issued an alert outlining numerous and often violent attacks on Yemeni journalists. The CPJ noted that journalists have been stabbed, shot, bombed, arrested, kidnapped and threatened. Newspapers have been fined, closed, and cloned-ie, “establishing similarly titled and similar-looking newspapers to undercut them and confuse readers.” A transcript of a journalist’s tapped telephone conversation with his wife was circulated via email. According to CPJ research, “Witnesses and evidence point to involvement by government officials and suspected state agents in a number of brutal assaults.” In 2005, the violations averaged about one a week. The CPJ notes that the judiciary is also used as a means of retribution against journalists. The latest violation is the verdict against the opposition newspaper al-Thoury and its editor Khalid Solman, The paper, the editor, and several writers were found guilty of the crime of insulting the president.
One function of the media is to act as a watchdog on government, constructively reporting on its failures as well as successes. With increasing concentration of political power, military power, land ownership, and business ownership in much of the same hands, there are very powerful forces working against transparency in Yemen. As illegal and unjust practices multiplied, so have attacks on Yemen’s journalists. In the context of widespread corruption, hostile and powerful elite prefer to operate without public scrutiny.
The institutions that normally would provide a vehicle for the expression of the peoples’ voice are disabled in Yemen, often becoming an extension of regime power. Those in civil society with independence are undermined in a variety of ways. The NGO “Female Journalists Without Borders” was recently cloned by a government affiliated organization that began operating under the same name, forcing the authentic organization to rename itself “Women Journalists without Constraints.” Prominent civil leaders Hafez al-Bokari, head of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, and his wife, journalist Rahma Hujaira, were targeted by the official newspaper of the Yemen military, The 26 September, with false charges that they were agents of Denmark. In a letter to the Yemeni public prosecutor, the couple wrote, “Such fake information proves that this article is an attempt to use the anger spread in the Muslim world to attack us individually and to attack our institutions; Yemen Polling Center and Yemen Female Media Forum for that these institutions are concerned with democratic, social, and media reformation and development and they tackle general issues related to the society.”
Some traditional Yemeni social institutions have been distorted by corruption. Some sheiks place their loyalty with the ruling apparatus and work for its welfare as well as their own benefit, with the welfare of the people a distant concern. Sheila Carapico, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the University of Richmond, recently said in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor that Yemen has used a range of tactics to erode the independence of the tribes. “One of the techniques the government uses to extend its reach is to coopt selected prominent sons of sheikhly families, who are almost always also military officers, into the regime,” Carapico stated.
Many members of Parliament are also from sheikly families. The anthology Building Democracy in Yemen, observes about the ruling party, The General Peoples Congress, “The dominant GPC has developed a policy of mixing tribal sheikhs with the political authorities. These traditional forces have come to dominate Parliament through the GPC, which in turn, because of loopholes in the current electoral system, continues to strengthen ties and to move, from one election to the next, towards a one party system.” The author concludes, “This reflects the dominance of a very small minority in society in terms of actual structure and authentic culture.” This elitism undercuts the equal access and equal rights necessary for democracy.
The inherited political power of some families has distorted the representative nature of the Parliament, which works against the health and welfare of the Yemeni people. The 2006 budget, which passed overwhelmingly, underfunded education, healthcare, electrical development, and water projects, and increased military spending to 37% of the national expenditures. Further, in a clear conflict of interest, many of those with governmental or military positions also have ownership stakes in numerous large businesses and have become some of Yemen’s largest land owners. As noted by Paul Dresch in The History of Modern Yemen, “the style of politics complained of by Southerners as a return to tribalism was complained of by others, within the North, as tribalism’s negation.” The reality he says is “day to day politics with networks of individuals who control both trade and real estate.”
Elections are often a way to express the people’s judgment and hold their representatives accountable. This institution is also dysfunctional in Yemen. The electoral commission is heavily biased toward the ruling party, leaving open the possibility of fraudulent voter registration rolls. Numerous instances of underage voting occurred in the last Parliamentary election. Pre-printed ballots were distributed. Vote buying and voter intimidation occurred. The ruling party controls and exploits the broadcast media, denying equal opportunity to opponents in the market place of ideas.
In the absence of effective social or political institutions for the expression of grievances, some disenfranchised groups have resorted to other means. Motorcyclists have been denied their right to work in Yemen’s capital city, Sanaa. After months of peaceful protest, they left the head of an ox outside Parliament, hoping perhaps that tribal means might get the attention of their representatives. Somali refugees staged a protest outside UN headquarters that resulted in severe violence when security forces moved to disperse them. A march by students was also violently broken up. Residents took to the streets in Taiz to protest water shortages. (The absence of clean water adversely affects over 80% of the Yemeni population while large qat plantations owned by influential persons consume a great deal of water.) Teachers staged a nationwide sit-in to protest unfair and undemocratic practices. Textile workers staged a series of strikes to demand overdue salaries. In July, nation wide protests were sparked by the latest reform dose that was implemented without cuts in government spending or authentic anti-corruption measures. (The effects of the dose are continuing to cripple most Yemeni households while corruption and embezzlement continue in some ministries.) Recently, Yemeni women’s groups protested to urge the government to enact a gun control law that has been pending for years.
Others have taken much more extreme measure to express their grievances. A 2004 Parliamentary report documented individuals including children imprisoned by the government as hostages. Recently in an attempt to force the release of some of these government hostages, tribesmen kidnapped foreign tourists in separate incidents. (The regime normally does not respond with urgency to the kidnapping of Yemenis, thus the identity of the victims.) All incidents were resolved peacefully. In one case, the government agreed to provide money and four governmental jobs to each of the kidnappers. In response to a similar incident the next week, the government announced it would seek the death penalty for the kidnappers. A study of these kidnappings published in the official daily al-Thoura concluded that “wronged and weak people sometimes have no way to express their views, gain their rights or publicize their cases.” Advocates of freedom of the press often emphasize the public’s right to know. As the study demonstrated, equally important is the public’s right to be heard. The non-governmental print media is the only vehicle available to the Yemeni public to voice their grievances to each other, the government and the international community.
Public or independent ownership of broadcast media is illegal in Yemen, depriving the people of a national voice. The proposed amendment to the Press Law continues this exclusion. The government controlled broadcast media in Yemen provides little in the way of standard educational programming in this country with an illiteracy rate of nearly 50%. The governmental media often works to hide the true scope of issues from the people themselves and the rest of the world. A week after the escape of 23 prisoners in Yemen, including many convicted members of al-Qaeda, the official English language news agency of the government, SABA, and that of the ruling party, al-Motamar, made no mention of the escape but covered subsequent events like the scheduling of conferences and congratulations issued to other governments.
While the governmental media engages in name calling and scape goating that can deepen divisions in society, the non-governmental media provides a political space for national reconciliation by exploring important issues. Many in Aden have grievances about land confiscation, exclusion from employment and other discriminatory practices, and indiscriminate tactics by security forces that recently resulted in the death of a little girl. Despite the media blackout on the armed confrontations in Saada province between the military and a rebel group, stories have leaked out about the targeting of civilians and the looting of private property by security forces. Some tribal areas have been systematically denied the most basic human services like wells, hospitals, schools, roads and electricity. The non-governmental media also reports very important but less complex issues like those of cotton farmers in Hudeidah province who complained about tainted insecticide that destroyed their entire crops. Social issues are also addressed like the lack of pre-natal and post-natal health care for over 85% of Yemeni women that results in extremely high death rates for both mother and child.
Despite reformist rhetoric, much political power in Yemen is a function of identity not merit. Rather than empowering the public, the trend has been toward the succession of political and economic power within a few families. Any movement toward pluralism and reform requires that the electorate retain what rights and advantages they have, especially the ability to communicate with each other, their government, and the international community. Every citizen becomes disenfranchised when journalists are unable to speak the truth. A Yemeni journalist beaten or threatened is an attack on Yemenis and their right to be heard. And just as it is the responsibility of journalists to defend society, it is the responsibility of all of society to defend its journalists.
Works Cited:
Carpacio: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0124/p06s02-wome.html
Study: http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060113-110615-8468r
CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/mideast/yemen26jan06na.html
Paul Dresch, A History of Modern Yemen, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Building Democracy in Yemen: Women’s Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2005
The Yemeni Government manipulating the cartoon controversy.
Update, NY YJS emergency meeting scheduled, tactics described as a settling of accounts with the three papers closed. And that seems rather clear but how blatent, really Im shocked and Im not easily shocked anymore.
Related: al-Jazeera reporter detained for taking pictures of the mosque where the escape occurred. This is the same guy they wiretapped and then emailed around transcripts of his conversation with his wife.
Original post:
I can’t believe this. It’s very unfair. I hope they keep up the website. Also does the Prime Minister have the authority to close a newspaper? Its interesting the way the regime is exploiting this cartoon incident to its advantage, like with the taqrgeting of Hafez Burkett. al-Shoama is the paper always printing stories about international conspiracies against Yemen.
SYO ANA’A – The Prime Minister, Adbul-Qader Bajammal gave instructions to cancel the license of the Yemen Observer claiming the newspaper has republished the Danish cartoons.
The move came with blackmailing efforts by the Al-Shomoa publisher, Saif Al-Hadhiri, an anti-western person, to inflame up the angry public against the newspaper.
Yemen Observer has published a full page on the development of Danish cartoons in Yemen in a full page. Fragments of the cartoons were put together with huge and thick black X mark on the drawings in protest to their existence.
“I am very surprised by this development,” Mohammed Al-Asadi, editor-in-chief of the Yemen Observer said.
“They want to close the newspaper in response to our efforts and continuous calls for understanding, tolerance and accepting the apologies of the Danish people, officials, and editors. We have received dozens of apologies from Denmark.
“We are totally against the publication of cartoons and at the same time we should accept apologies that have been several times made by the Danish editors. We should.
“We, at the Yemen Observer, believe in dialogue if misunderstanding takes place anywhere on any issue and believe in co-existence,” Al-Asadi added.
The Newspaper, Akhbar Al-Yawm by Al-Shomoa, is a blackmailing tabloid and everybody in Yemen knows this fact. They have been trying to blackmail us for the past days, when the newspaper refused to respond to their attempts, they published a story on their front page on this issue.
Updates will follow
So now Im on the side of this paper that has published three editorials against me that called me a CIA operative, a neo-conservative hedgehog, an extremist, an operative for the opposition, an idiot, and a Yemeni man in disguise. Oh yes and a Hashimite and a Houthi. And dispite the fact that the owner of this paper attacked me on air on the al-Jazeera show screaming into the phone in a rather bizarre way that I work too hard, I have to say objectively it is unfair and illegal to shut them down.
Saba: The source said the ministry had based its decision on 1990 Law of Pressand Publishing No. 25 regarding the publishing of insulting images thatviolates Section A of Article 103 of illegal publishing, which stipulates that no publication can cause damage to the Islamic belief and its sublimeprinciples, or degrade divine religions and human conventions.The official stressed that the ministry was committed to press freedom,and media .
Cute. The charges on the government newspapers are dropped. The opposition and independents are fined.
YO, SANA’A – A court in Sana’a ordered the Editors-in-Chief of the Al-Asema and Al-Nas newspapers to pay fines last week after they were found guilty in a defamation case.
Al-Asema, which supports the opposition Islah party, were ordered to pay fines of YR 100,000 to the victim, a handicapped person who they falsely reported as saying that he had accused the Fund for the Handicapped of corruption. The newspaper was also ordered to pay a further YR 2,000 towards the General Budget for costs.
Al-Nas, an independent weekly newspaper, was ordered to pay cost of YR 100,000 to the Ministry of Endowment, for what the judge called a “public verbal assault” against an official in the Ministry of Media in 2004.
However, in separate cases, the court dropped a charge of verbal assault against the Al-Mithaq newspaper, supporters of the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party.The court also postponed a case against the Al-Wahdwi newspaper, which supports the Popular Unionist Nasserites party, as well as postponing the judicial decision for the Al-Thawri newspaper, the mouthpiece of Yemen Socialist Party.
The court had set last Wednesday as the date for a decision in a case against the Al-Thawri newspaper but it was later postponed.
Four cases, including the case against Al-Thawri as well as three other cases filed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, were set for next Wednesday. Judge Nabil Jaghman said more time was needed to look through all the cases.Cases against the Bareed Al-Yemen newspaper, which is published by expatriates from America, as well as a case against the Editor-in-Chief of the Akhbar Al Yemen newspaper, which is also published by Yemeni expatriates, were also postponed.
Charges have been dropped from the Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Mithaq newspaper, as well as a separate case against Col. Ali Al Kohlani, the head of the Economic Corporation and the head of a Yemeni drug company. Another case concerning the private Al Rai Alam newspaper was also dropped.
Isn’t is a conflict of interest to be the head of the Economic Corporation while you are running a private company?
are apparently also politicized. From the Yemen Observer:
The two parties discussed common interests and mutual cooperation, according to a press statement by the teachers syndicate issued last Monday.The American foundation delegate met also on Monday with representatives of the Union of Educational Professions. The Union of Educational Professions, an affiliate of the ruling party, issued a press statement before the meeting with the American federation representative, which said that the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate claims they represent teachers. “The Yemeni Teachers Syndicate [an affiliate of the opposition Islamic party] has never resorted to the false media propaganda that serves the interest of a certain partisan affiliation,” the statement said accusing the syndicate people of disloyalty.
“The intensions of those who work for personal or partisan interests are immediately revealed by themselves and their acts. For instance, interference of those who went to ask help from the American Labor Organization to impose them as legitimate representatives was a dangerous sign to the country,” the statement reads.
“They should have sought help from God and joined the Union’s national action.” Specht said that his union will launch a cooperation program with a democratically elected union in Yemen. The cooperation is expected to be on union administration and professional training of teachers.
Ok so what is happening here? The opposition alligned teacher’s syndicate called some foundation? The article never actually states the name of the American organization. Who is Specht? And what is his union?
It could be the AFT (American Federation of Teachers.) The AFT is huge -its a voluntary organization but almost every American teacher and school worker belongs to the AFT, they have great retirement benefits. Its part of the AFL. The AFL-CIO is a bohemoth and represents tens of millions of American workers.
(Update: but then theres always Google, “AFT staff member Larry Specht is quoted in the article. ” Kewl, Im glad its not some dummy foundation but actually the AFT, a powerful union. And apparently they do things like this all the time, recently in Lebannon.)
While the IFJ threatens sanctions, apparently in town is the CPJ, and they nailed it, right down to the cloning. Statement follows:
A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm today at the deterioration of press freedom in Yemen. Over the last several months, a growing number of Yemeni journalists have been the victims of brutal assaults, arrests, intimidation, and government-sanctioned newspaper closures. They now also face the prospect of a new press law that would impose harsh restrictions on the media.
At a press conference in the capital, Sana’a, the press freedom watchdog called on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to ensure that a number of recent violent attacks on journalists are thoroughly investigated and that the perpetrators are brought to justice. The delegation included CPJ board members Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune and Dave Marash of the soon-to-be-launched satellite channel Al-Jazeera International, along with CPJ Senior Program Coordinator Joel Campagna.
The delegation met over two days with journalists, press freedom lawyers, and civil society activists, who described a climate of intimidation and mounting restrictions on Yemeni journalists over the last year. Witnesses and evidence point to involvement by government officials and suspected state agents in a number of brutal assaults, according to CPJ research. Journalists who covered protests, reported on official corruption, criticized the president or government policies, or discussed the possibility of President Saleh’s son succeeding him as president have been targeted.
Yemeni authorities have not credibly investigated the attacks or identified the perpetrators. Nor have government officials condemned the assaults. (Read on …)
I feel a Billy Jack moment coming on. I really do. You know,when I just go berserk.
YT: In a Saturday morning sit-in at the Yemeni Women Journalists Forum, several members of parliament, journalists, officials and members of civic organizations showed their solidarity with Al-Jazeera reporter Ahmed Al-Shalafi, whose telephone conversation was wiretapped and distributed by email to some journalists.Participants denounced wiretapping as a lawbreaking act and said investigating with wiretaps is unnecessary. MP Ali Hussein Ishal said monitoring journalists’ telephone conversations is as old as the security authorities themselves. He added that journalists are attacked because they disclose corruption and defend rights and freedoms.
Mohammed Naji Allaw, Coordinator of Hood Organization for Rights and Freedoms, revealed that Yemeni authorities allow telecommunication companies to operate on condition that they provide devices to monitor customers’ telephone conversations. (Read on …)
This is an article I wrote that was published in the Yemen Times in January 2004 (before I had the blog) about the old proposed Press and Publications Law in Yemen.
(Im putting it here because I need it and its in some funky self justifying font and the blog should flatten it out, a much quicker solution than me trying to figure out how to undo it in Microsoft Office.)
Unfortunately, this article is still true and the new proposed press law is even worse.
The Free Press and Democracy
It is a telling statement about the rigors of political evolution that the Sana’a Regional Democracy Conference prohibited journalists and some NGOs from attendance, when the foundation and substance of democracy is honest public debate among a well informed electorate.
As noted by Stamford University, since 1974 more than 60 countries in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa have made transitions from authoritarian regimes to some form of democracy. Many around the Arab world are calling for some reform or democratization in the Middle East.
More than 600 delegates from 40 countries and international organizations met this week in Yemen for the Sana’a Intergovernmental Regional Conference on Democracy to discuss ways of promoting democracy and strengthening the rule of law. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called democracy “the rescue ship” and the “choice of the modern age for all people.”
Arab League Secretary-General Amir Moussa pointed to many forces inhibiting the flourishing development of Arab States including economic and social problems and regional political crises.
Yemeni journalists were prohibited from attending the inaugural ceremony and were not permitted to take photographs. The National Organization for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms was excluded altogether. The organization reports itself to be “astonished.”
As Butros Butros-Gali noted nearly a decade ago, “Democratic institutions and processes channel competing interests into arenas of discourse and provide means of compromise that can be respected by all people.” The cornerstone of democracy is knowledgeable citizens. Freedom of the press is among the fundamental prerequisites for a functional democracy.
While many governments in the Middle East are striving for economic and political growth, the development agenda is largely silent about censorship, journalistic immunity and free speech. Many, if not most, states in the Middle East have laws on the books protecting journalists from the state and protecting the state from journalists. Numerous countries in the region have enacted laws explicitly prohibiting journalists from the publication of facts that report social issues or social discord, or that criticize leadership or government performance.
And these are the most important topics for journalists in a democracy. Censorship emasculates the citizenry and prohibits it from serving its role in a democracy: informed discussion, debate, and decision making. Beyond explicit censorship, an entrenched political culture that values stability and protection of current structures is a heavy burden on free speech and thus democratic evolution in the region.
Yemen is an example of a country heroically and steadfastly working toward a fuller democracy while struggling with countervailing influences. The proposed Yemeni Journalist Syndicate Draft Law would take Yemeni democracy several steps back and no steps forward. This proposed law would, according to a consortium of the Yemeni media, inhibit free speech and violate sections of Yemen’s constitution. The law proposes charging a 3% fee on all advertising revenue, not profit, and effectively bankrupting the independent press that is not financed by the government or political parties.
The bill also requires that journalists join the syndicate, effectively contravening the voluntary nature of trade unions. Lawyers, journalists and trade unionists have criticized the law which they say will convert the syndicate into a punitive apparatus. The legislation would have a chilling effect on independent reporting and free speech nationally. Only a shadow of the democratic potential of the Yemeni people would exist. The Committee to Protect Journalists has asked President Salah to withdraw the bill which it states “limits the ability of Yemen’s citizens to freely disseminate and receive information.” The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate itself has also requested the government withdraw and cancel the bill. As Yemeni journalists listen in the halls to catch a phrase about democracy, one must wonder where they will be quoted next: on the pages of AI or on the pages of the AP?
Thats not a bad article considering I was clueless then to the duplicity of the regime. I wonder if I can recycle it? The Yemen Times does have a new editor now. (I’m joking.)
(When the Middle East Times published the article in Egypt, they inserted “fellow Egyptian” in front of Butros Butros Gali.)
So as it turned out, 2004 was a terrible year for the journos, culminating in the arrest of al-Khaiwani. And in 2005, the pace picked up- journalists have been kidnapped, beaten, stabbed, threatened, and shot, at a rate of about one a week. Papers have been closed, held from publishing, and cloned. Its very bad. And we can say its clear, once they start kidnapping journalists and issuing cloned papers, the regime is really *not* interested in “honest public debate among a well informed electorate.”
This is a very good article from the Yemen Times. It is the second of a two part series, Part One was excellent as well. This may be the guy who was arrested and held for three days a few months ago and in the end they said it was a traffic charge. I think so but Id have to look it up.
On Thursday, the 22th of December-2005, hundreds of Yemeni journalists launched a vital shift for a new period of time, which can be named as the period of perceiving the transfer of power and concerns of the cultured contemporary man.This principle (the peaceful transfer of power), closely linked to democracy, can remove the absolute individual governance from the path whether it is monarch, republican, military or civil. The totalitarian regime pursued by the ruling party gives a chance for the establishment of active and wise communities of rapid political, scientific and economic growth.
Saying no to the Press Law No. 25 issued in 1990 and shaped by an oppressive authority, the Yemeni journalists in Sana’a and Aden realized the importance of independent and free journalism. From differing points of view, they have woven a unified stance toward oppression, totalitarianism and the totalitarian inherited mentality dominating the minds of some of the slaves of the current ruler.
A stance like this is thought of as a distinctive achievement in hard circumstances endured by the Yemeni community due to oppression and corruption. This stance flows in the river of liberation from fear and liberation from oppression and malpractices against political and social activists.
The Law No.25 issued in 1990 is labeled among the first laws issued after the establishment of the unified Republic of Yemen in 1990. It reveals totalitarianism of rulers in power before and after 1990, and its articles, characterized with injustice and oppression against self-expression and press freedom contradicts the claim that Yemen’s Re-unification is associated with democracy. It confirms that the totalitarian mentality assumes a totally different form according to time and place.
This Law was not put in effect over the last four years following the establishment of the unified Republic of Yemen and it was only falsely passed on a newspaper under the name of Sada Al-Sha’ab (Public Echo) run by a Sana’a University girl, who has become a GPC member. The name of this girl was Valantina Abdulkarim.
After the expansion of serious opposition writing criticizing the oppressive and corrupt political regime and the international visions on Yemen, the ruler resorted to its totalitarian law for combating such democratic and liberal tide.
A number of interpretations of the Press and Publication Law No.25 for the Year 1990, including a governmental interpretation, were showed by the Ministry of Human Rights under Ms. Amatalalim Al-Suswa. These interpretations agreed that the law put journalism and self-expression at risk and it never fulfills the need for freedoms and rights ought to be enjoyed by the Yemeni community.
Marks brought out from the different interpretations of the law was taken into consideration by the invaluable project that designed the new law with an open eye on the military ruler. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate presented around 70 remarks during their discussion of the law.
The two U.S. experts Madeline Chakinz and David Emacro gave their famous remark: “A number of law clauses contained in the Press Law are not essential and they can be described as restrictive and vague, leading to the oppression of legal expression.”
The U.S. experts decided that the goal of the Press Law No.25 issued in 1990 and the New Law is to oppress the freedom of expression that started to contribute to directing Yemen to the right path for a better future. This raises a question that is, “What is the hidden goal behind the apparent one?
The totalitarian mentality never has thoughts away from the system of severe penalties to ensure its dominance and stay in power and tend to become more active in the field of arbitrary legislations. The press law, planned to be passed on the democratic countries, donors and international organizations by denying the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate and journalists their legitimacy and rights, is merely a completion of a system of oppressive legislations. These oppressive legislations tend to fight the personal rights, anti-women discrimination laws and the political, economic and cultural freedoms. These legislations are approved with an allegiant majority of MPs, Shura Council members and Cabinet officials.
The Press Law No.25 and the New Law are based on a unified philosophy that is prohibition and criminalizing through the Article of publication bans. The lawmaker devoted the six chapter, titled “Publication Bans and the Penal Provisions” for restricting freedom of the press. It laid more emphasis on the goal aimed at harboring the corrupt minority who do not accept criticism, transparency or accountability because of its dominance over the constitutions and laws. This conduct was not limited to it, but it reached other systems.
Now it is time to pose at Item No.12 of the Publication Ban, which say: “ Direct criticism of the character of the statesman, attributing any sayings to him or publishing any photo for him can only be done after a permission from the President’s Office and the Ministry of Information unless what is to be published has occurred in an address to the public or in an interview. These provisions are not passed on the objective criticism, but they are passed on what harms presidents and kings of brotherly and friendly countries.”
Pausing at the final paragraph, one can notice that it falls into three parts: kings of brotherly and friendly countries such as Jordan and Britain, presidents of brotherly and friendly countries such as Iraq and the U.S. and presidents and kings of enemy countries that we do not know.
Rule in Yemen gave itself a right which is not possessed by anyone and it can never be overwhelmed by any citizen from Jordan, Iraq, Britain or the U.S. where officials are held to account- except in Jordan- from junior employees to the statesman. So, why has the ruler intervened in matters that never concern him nor do they concern anyone in the brotherly and friendly countries.
Concerning the statesman, his throne appear to be an exalted and worshiped platform beyond the political reality. He can rule, commit war crimes, embezzle public money, penalize whoever he wants and as he wants, do what he likes and gratify his desires and lusts without being criticized, monitored or held to account. What a kind of statesman is this? From which planet has he come? And what are the features he enjoys?
We do not know why freedom is neglected. Is it because of illiteracy and slavery of some officials, or because of something else?
The former U.S. President Clinton was subjected to interrogation for exploiting his post to gratify his personal desires, and another president in Africa was tried for being accused of raping one of his guards. There are also three presidents in South America who are investigated before being tried.
The Press Law in Yemen makes things worse than they should be; it distinguishes journalists from citizens with the establishment of special ministry and special court, and out of the President’s post, it made an exalted deity despite the fact all those are human beings to be governed under the law and respected by the law unless they commit crimes.
We strongly reject the Press Law No. 25 issued in 1990, based on our freedom and right for self-expression on different life issues, locally and internationally. We reject to retrieve from our clear stand toward the restrictions imposed on our community by the Intelligence Security System.
We say to all activists to dispense with slavery that deny their rights and freedoms in one-way or another.
Abdulrrahim Muhsin is a well-known Yemeni journalist and opposition activist. Established the anti-regime movement called “Irhalo” which means get out. He was a former media person of the presidency office until he was dismissed recently and harassed because of his opposing attitude and writings.
This pattern of cloning was one of the hardest things for me to understand, because its a deliberate attempt to misinform the Yemeni public. The regime regularly clones parties, newspapers, organizations, and in this case, a NGO. It steals their identity in a parody of the authentic organization. Is that bizarre or what?
(YT) The Women Journalists Without Constraints is the new name of the organization that was previously named “Female Journalists without Borders”. Ms. Tawakul Karman, head of WJWC, said to the Yemen Times that the name has been changed because it was impersonated and was given to an imaginary organization by the government
Also more than 50 attacks and infringements on journalists in 2005.
Some quotes from the Yemeni papers with links
Buying good media coverage, not an unusual occurance:
As for chairman of the board of directors of the Watani Bank Dr Ahmed Al-Hamdani, and according to media sources, has allocated around YR one million for journalists who would stand by him against dealing with the attack on him, saying it was targeted against him from among the other banks operating in the country.
Politicians differed in their explanations of the reasons that led the authorities to uproot the activities of Al-Houthi followers. Some say that the reasons are political; others describe them as ethnical while the third group relates the authorities’ attempt to exterminate Al-Houthi as a response to U.S. and Israeli demands. Majority of politicians, however, believe that Saudis, through their strong influence in Yemen, have a hand in plans for eliminating the Shiite movement of Al-Houthi, which according to their belief, limits the expansion of the Wahabi movement in Yemeni territory.
The kidnappers told the mediators that ‘they resorted to kidnapping because they failed to convince the security authorities to release their relatives and refer them to judiciary”….Security authorities claim the three detainees have been accused of fighting the US-led coalition in the Iraqi territories. They also accuse them of having connection with one of the organizations facilitating the transportation of Yemeni fighters to Iraq.
Agriculture:, a main stay of the economy.
They said they aimed at achieving a high rate of productivity this season but insecticides spread in their farms destroyed the crops. A vast area was destroyed because of these bad insecticides making the 2005 product less than the planed rate by far….Consequent to their deteriorating conditions, many farmers were compelled to abandon their farms.
The study, published by the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) program, added that the majority of working women are concentrated in the agricultural sector as unpaid family workers. It is estimated that approximately 61.9% of women workers in Yemen are unpaid.
The report pointed out that Yemen had captured the highest figure in the cost of building a legal entity for businesses. While in Kuwait it is 24% of the average income of the individual, it reaches at 269.2% of the average of income of the individual in Yemen.
Criminal enterprises: of the powerful negatively impact society.
Considering the strategic location of Yemen, drugs are usually shipped from Southeast Asia through the Gulf of Aden and other coasts around the country. From there, it is shipped to numerous gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and other countries in the region. Not surprisingly, many of these illegal drugs are left behind and used in Yemen. New markets for these drugs have been created in places like Aden, Hodieda, and other cities across the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf shores.
Traffic police only get paid the equivalent of $5 for a day’s work, which is the reason for this widespread problem….A traffic police officer who preferred to remain anonymous said, “People don’t understand that we are living through this dark age as well. With salaries like the equivalent of $150 monthly, we can’t even guarantee ourselves a future.” It is hard to imagine who is right when you hear the story from both sides. Citizens complain of traffic police oppression, while traffic police complain of government oppression.
Yet Another Journalist Targeted:
“They called me an al-Houthi associate and accused me of acting against the regime and the state, which is the same accusation used by security officials in the area against any citizen rejecting their brutal and illegal actions,” he said. He added, “other calls were made by those officials to my relatives asking about my home in Sanaa and where I go.”
He said he fears retaliation by the police, who could attack his family living in the Al-Shahil district because of what he has written in the report.
I think the governmental sector failed in protecting antiquities. It is very difficult to convince the authorities with the importance of antiquities and to make them realize what antiquities are….Confronted with a question about the security of archeological sites many of which are believed to have been left to looters and robbers, Prof. Yosuf replied that this is the duty of the locals themselves and the local government.
GCC:
Other political analysts described the summit results as below expectations, some going so far as to say that even the pro-Yemen GCC attitudes were below what the people of the Gulf states aspire to. Other analysts believe that any steps taken by the GCC countries are useful to Yemen and should be welcomed. Nasserite leader Mohammed Al-Sabri believed Yemen required further reforms in all sectors to avoid lagging behind the Gulf states.
As you follow the story of Yemen, you start to notice the same people over and over again. Like I found some article about press violations in 2000 and there was Jamal Amer, the recently kidnapped editor.
Mohammed Qahtan of the Islah party got a letter that said: “It is astonishing that you have accepted to become a rabid dog for a party that was able to use the hounding talents of fools and opportunists like yourself in the service of its interests.” He has charged that the secret police was behind the letter predicting he would “drown in a cesspool”.
This al-Bukari is another one.
Al-Sahwa.net –(12/11) The manager of the office of the Saudi
Okaz newspaper in Sana’a Hafez al-Bukari was dismissed
from his job, reasons are vague.While al-Bukari refused to comment on the dismiss,
some media reports though it based upon pressures on
and calls to the Okaz headquarters in Saudi by Yemeni
informants who do not agree with al-Bukari activities
and defending stances for the sake of press freedom
after he had been elected a secretary-general of the
Yemeni Journalists Syndicate in 2004.
(Read on …)
Update on this.
International pressure on the Yemeni authorities to release journalist and editor of al-Shoura, Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, is mounting by the day. A letter of protest, issued by the New York Based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), was sent to President Saleh and other copies were sent to the White House and to several international institutions concerned with freedom of the press. (Read on …)
Committee to Protect JournalistsAccess to U.S. journalist Jane Novak’s Web site, Armiesofliberation, which is frequently critical of the Yemeni government, was repeatedly blocked inside Yemen.
Yemen Observer The security source said that the captured elements’ confessions disclosed that they used to write reports about public opinion trends and sent them together with some photographs to Abdulmalik al-Huthi and external journalists, particularly to the American journalist Jane Novak.
The New York Times Ms. Novak’s perpetual harping on these themes appears to infuriate the Yemeni authorities.
Yemen Times Jane Novak, an American researcher, interviewed Hashid, addressing issues related to human rights, freedom, prisons, and inmates in Yemen. The interview was downloaded onto many news websites, enraging a lot of people.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Swiss For the Yemeni government, she has become something like enemy of the state number one.
Expresso, Portugal But thousands of miles away in a land where ever was, all readers of newspapers know who is Jane. In Yemen, Jane has become a nightmare for the regime.
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