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DonateNew video from The Telegraph shows Yemeni journalist Hassan al-Wadhaf's footage of being hit in the face by sniper fire during protests in Sana'a. Al-Wadhaf, who is in critical condition, works for the Arabic Media Agency.
Committee to Protect Journalists
CPJ Blog
Press Freedom News and Views
Yemen
Today marks the anniversary of the beginning of the multiday siege by Yemeni
police and security personnel of the compound that houses the offices of the
independent daily Al-Ayyam. During its assault on the headquarters of the
critical daily, the government used automatic machine guns, rocket-propelled
grenades, and heavy weaponry. The siege and the ensuing violence was apparently
initiated in response to journalists from Al-Ayyam and other outlets
conducting a sit-in outside the compound to protest the daily's suspension
since May.
One opinion was relayed to me repeatedly by numerous journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders during the week I just spent in Yemen: The crackdown against independent and opposition media in the country has not been this concerted at any time since the unification of the southern and northern halves of the country in 1990.
It is possible that so-called “Christmas Day bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to Yemen for Al-Qaeda terrorist training because it was out of the limelight. Until now, international media has sent in journalists intermittently to cover stories on Somali refugees or the Houthi rebellion in the North, but few foreign journalists are based here and the majority of coverage had come from local stringers or freelancers.
Ministers and
officials representing some 20 Western and Arab governments and international
financial institutions declared themselves “friends of 
Swathed in the traditional
black face veil, or niqab, Yemeni women brandish banners with images of
disappeared and imprisoned journalists. Every Tuesday, in
Yemeni editor Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani walked out of a Sana'a prison today after being granted a presidential pardon. The outspoken journalist was serving a six-year prison term on what were widely seen as retaliatory antistate charges. Al-Khaiwani, whose case was the focus of a CPJ advocacy campaign, offered his gratitude.
I thank the Committee to Protect Journalists. It had a vital role in standing with me during all stages of the case, and I feel that CPJ had a huge role in the achievement that we gained today.
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