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Help free abducted journalist

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is asking for your support to call on Yemeni authorities to guarantee the safety of journalist Mohammed al Maqaleh. He was abducted by security forces on 18 September for reporting on the Sa'ada war.

On 24 September, Yemeni journalists staged a sit-in at the presidential palace to demand news of the whereabouts and the release of al Maqaleh, the editor of the opposition Socialist Party website, "Al Eshteraki".

Al Maqaleh was abducted shortly after the website reported that Yemeni military air strikes targeted civilians, killing 87 and injuring more than 100. The victims were internal war refugees, mostly women and children, trying to escape the fighting in Sa'ada City. A second air strike was launched as civilians fled to a nearby bridge.

In 2007, al Maqaleh was detained for several months for "disrespecting the judiciary" after he laughed during the trial of prominent journalist Abdulkarim al Khaiwani, who was charged with subversion for writing about an earlier round of the Sa'ada war.

Yemeni rights groups covered the disappearance of al Maqaleh on their websites and directly accuse security forces of being behind the detention. According to IFJ, plain clothes intelligence operatives driving vehicles with military plates have often grabbed journalists off the street who are later tortured and disappeared.

Join the campaign calling for the release of journalist Mohammed al Maqaleh. Send a message of protest to the Human Rights Ministry in Yemen, Fax: +967 1444834, and Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, at Fax: +967 1274115.