Yemen

2010

  
Bullet holes, bottom right, at the entrance to the Yemeni newspaper Al-Ayyam are a reminder of a government siege of the outlet. (CPJ)

In Yemen, press freedom worst in 20 years

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.

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Abdulmutallab studied at this Arabic-language school in Sana’a, Yemen, before he tried to blow up a plane in the U.S. (Reuters)

Foreign journalists have privileges locals don’t in Yemen

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…

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Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, left, and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband at last week's conference in London. (Reuters/Ben Stansal)

Saleh uses security as cover to quash press freedom

Ministers and officials representing some 20 Western and Arab governments and international financial institutions declared themselves “friends of Yemen” during last week’s closed-door meeting in London to address threats posed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, according to news reports. Participants, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, offered assurances that the international community, in addition…

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2010