Al-Saqldi, editor-in-chief of the Gulf Aden news Web site was arrested by security forces during a raid at his home in Khour Maksar in Aden province, according to local news reports. Security forces confiscated his laptop and camera.
Gulf Aden had intensively covered clashes between security forces and disaffected residents of the south of the country. The Sana’a-based government sought throughout the year to restrict coverage of tensions in the south, where demonstrators protested policies they saw as marginalizing the region and denying it public services.
Aleshteraki, an opposition news Web site, reported in June that al-Saqldi was being held in the security services prison in Sana’a. No formal charges had been disclosed by late year.