Zaki al-Saqladi, a reporter for the Al-Masdar newspaper, was shot dead in front of his home in the city of Dhale, Yemen, on October 5, 2018, according to his employer and local media.
Unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on the journalist while he was inside his car, according to the reports.
In addition to being a journalist, al-Saqladi was also a high-ranking member of Dhale’s branch of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (also known as al-Islah), an Islamist political party, according to local media. Al-Saqladi acted as a head of the branch, news outlets said.
Nabil Alosaidi, co-chair of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, told CPJ in an email that al-Saqladi was killed “because he is a journalist and because he belongs to the Islamic al-Islah party, of which certain leaders were subject to assassination in Southern provinces.” The journalist’s employer and Yemen’s Ministry of Information declared al-Saqladi’s death an attack on the press in the country.
Al-Saqladi worked as a correspondent for Al-Masdar’s print and online operations for eight years, according to his employer. The journalist mainly wrote about war, crime, and terror attacks in Dhale, according to a CPJ review of the website.
Al-Masdar did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.