18 September 2008

Alert

Fixer released, another remains in detention


Incident details

Mohammed Ahmed Hassan al-Bokhaiti, Ali Nasser Gaid al-Bokhaiti (Al-Bokheiti)

media worker(s)

detained
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 17 September 2008 CPJ press release:

YEMEN: Fixer released, another held

New York, September 17, 2008 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that authorities in Yemen continue to hold a fixer in custody while releasing another. The two were picked up in July with a reporter for the U.S.-based television network HDNet.

Mohammed Ahmed Hassan al-Bokhaiti, an interpreter, was released on Sunday after spending almost two months in a prison in Sana'a, the capital, according to Willem Marx, the HDNet reporter who had worked with the fixers. Ali Nasser Gaid al-Bokhaiti, a driver, remains in prison. The two fixers are not related.

"We are relieved by the news that authorities have released Mohammed al-Bokhaiti," CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney said, "but we call for the immediate release of Ali Nasser Gaid al-Bokhaiti, who has been held for nearly two months without charge."

Marx said he received permission from the Ministry of Information to film in the country. He legally entered Yemen on July 15, he told CPJ. Both Ali and Mohammed al-Bokhaiti were registered with the Ministry of Tourism as Marx's official guides, Marx said. The journalist had planned to travel via Marib to the northwest province of Saada, where the Yemeni government has battled a rebel insurgency for several years.

The fixers were detained with Marx on the outskirts of Sana'a on July 21 as they were en route to the ancient town of Marib. Marx was interrogated about his trip and work, and then deported, that same day, to Qatar without explanation. CPJ sent a letter ( http://cpj.org/protests/08ltrs/mideast/yemen22aug08pl.html ) to Yemen's Minister of Interior, Motahar Rashad Al-Masri, in August urging the government to release the journalist's driver and translator.

Updates alert on the al-Bokhaiti cases: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/96312



Source:

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 7th Ave., 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
USA
info (@) cpj.org
Phone: +1 212 465 1004
Fax: +1 212 465 9568
 

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More on this case

British journalist deported, two fixers held by security forces 21 August 2008

Yemen

Journalists face ongoing threats, assaults 22 May 2012 Two journalists face trial for covering uprisings 16 May 2012 Journalists attacked; newspaper harassed 4 May 2012 Armed men attack journalist in Sana'a 12 April 2012 Threats and arson attacks on media in the south of the country 16 March 2012 See all alerts: Yemen


 
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