Yemen / Middle East & North Africa

  

Journalist forcibly detained in Yemen twice this summer

New York, August 17, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to release Abdulelah Hider Shaea, a Yemeni journalist who covers Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda. Armed security forces arrested Shaea on Monday after raiding his family home, according to news reports.

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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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Yemeni court gives five journalists suspended jail terms

New York, May 25, 2010—The Sana’a appeal court in Yemen should overturn suspended jail sentences given to an editor and four reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The sentences come just a few days after local media reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned all journalists being tried or convicted of press offenses to mark the 20th anniversary of Yemen’s unification.

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Yemen jails editor in ongoing media onslaught

 New York, May 12, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Yemeni government to end its campaign of intimidation, violence, and politicized prosecutions against journalists in the wake of yet another prison sentence for a journalist.

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Yemeni editor, long harassed, is charged again

New York, April 15, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to drop new charges brought against Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party’s news Web site Aleshteraki, in connection with a 2005 article. 

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CPJ condemns assault on imprisoned Yemeni editor

New York, April 13, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by recent reports that a Yemeni editor, detained without charge since May 2009 for covering unrest in the southern part of the country, was assaulted by inmates.

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Muhammad al-Maqaleh released in Yemen

We issued the following statement in response to local and international press reports that Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of the Yemeni Socialist Party news Web site Aleshteraki, has been released for what the reports described as “health and humanitarian reasons.” Al-Maqaleh was kidnapped in September 2009 but appeared in government custody in February and alleged that…

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CPJ welcomes editor’s release in Yemen

We issued the following statement after learning that Hisham Bashraheel, editor of the daily Al-Ayyam, who has been in custody since January 6, was released today for what colleagues described as “health reasons.” The release comes one week after CPJ called on President Saleh of Yemen to release a number of journalists who are in…

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CPJ urges President Saleh to free ailing editors

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the health of imprisoned journalists Hisham Bashraheel and Muhammad al-Maqaleh and calls for their immediate release.

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Yemen blocks live reports by Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya

New York, March 12, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Yemeni authorities’ seizure of equipment enabling the pan-Arab satellite news channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera to broadcast live from the country.

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