30 November 2005
ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS WORSENING
IFEX members are raising the alarm over a worsening clampdown on Yemen's press, where several journalists have been violently attacked, opposition newspapers closed and editors prosecuted for investigating corruption or other sensitive issues affecting senior officials.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says there have been four violent attacks on journalists in the past five months, including the stabbing of freelance journalist Nabil Subaie on 12 November 2005 in the capital, Sanaa.
Subaie regularly writes for the opposition newspapers "Al-Thawri", "Al-Shoura", "Al-Nida'a", and "Al-Tajammu" and recently criticized President Ali Abdullah Saleh for appointing several family members to key government positions.
On 4 November, Mujeeb Suwailih of the pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya and Najib al-Sharabi of the Saudi Arabian satellite channel Al-Ekhbariya were attacked by Yemeni security officers while covering a strike by textile factory workers in Sanaa. Suwailih suffered internal bleeding, three broken ribs and severe bruising on his legs.
Other journalists attacked included Jamal Amer, editor of the weekly "Al-Wasat", and Haji al-Jehafi, editor of the weekly "Al-Nahar."
CPJ says none of the assaults have been properly investigated by Yemeni authorities. Two of the attacks have been linked to security officials.
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) says two newspapers and four journalists have also been banned in the past 10 days, including opposition newspaper "Al-Tajammu".
On 27 November, a court ordered the publication suspended for "sectarianism" and "attacking Islam's image" in a September 2004 article likening Yemen's current political situation to the political turmoil in 1968. Editor Abdul Rahman Abdallah and reporter Abdul Rahma Saeed, who wrote the article, were each fined the equivalent of US$260 and barred from being published for a year.
Meanwhile, a new media law about to be passed by the government could signal an end to Yemen's free press, warns ARTICLE 19. The group says the proposed Press and Publications Law contains provisions that will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, including restrictions on the content of what may be published, and mandatory licences for print media.
Visit:
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/protests/05ltrs/Yemen16nov05pl.html- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15713- ARTICLE 19 Analysis of Proposed Press Law: http://tinyurl.com/dje6y- Freedom House Report: http://tinyurl.com/d2eow- IPI: http://www.freemedia.at/Protests2005/pr_Yemen03.11.05.htm- Drug Smuggling and the Yemeni President: http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/2162.cfm- Has the President Changed His Mind on Reform? http://www.cpj.org/op_ed/Campagna10mar05.html- Yemen's Press Under Siege: http://tinyurl.com/cf3g7- Survey Shows Yemeni Journalists Poorly Paid: http://tinyurl.com/axszt