In a region where oil-rich monarchies abhor dissent, Yemen’s press is relatively open and diverse, with numerous opposition and independent publications and journalists who do not avoid criticizing government officials or policies. However, the Yemeni press still faces criminal prosecutions, newspaper closures, arbitrary detentions, and threats from security forces.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about recent incidents of official legal harassment of the press in Yemen. On July 9, three journalists–Faisal Mukarram, a reporter for the London-based Al-Hayat daily, Ahmed al-Hajj, a reporter with The Associated Press, and Khaled al-Mahdi, a correspondent for Deutsche Presse Agentur–were summoned by a state prosecutor and accused of violating article 103 of the press law, which bans journalists from publishing “any secret document or information that might jeopardize the supreme interests of the country or expose any of its security or defense secrets.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to protest the ongoing detention of free-lance journalists Ibrahim Hussein and Abdel Rahim Mohsen. On June 21, plainclothes police officers arrested Hussein the office of the Yemeni Unionist Party, according to CPJ sources. Mohsen was arrested at his home on May 23.
Bucking a worldwide trend toward democracy in the post-Cold War era, the political landscape of the Middle East and North Africa remained dominated by an assortment of military-backed regimes, police states, autocracies, and oligarchies. A new, younger generation of leaders has emerged in some countries in recent years, inheriting power and bringing hope for political…
While Yemen is known for its vocal independent and opposition press, the practice of journalism carries considerable risk. In 2001, the government continued to use criminal prosecutions, censorship, arrests, and intimidation against the press. For years, officials have prosecuted journalists under Yemen’s vaguely worded Press and Publications Law and Penal Code, which prohibits criticizing the…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent suspension of the weekly newspaper Al-Shumou. CPJ has learned that the Ministry of Information issued an order for the indefinite closure of the newspaper on February 3. Seif al-Hadheri, Al-Shumou’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ that the ministry provided no explanation for its action and that officials have refused to discuss the matter with him. He surmised that the closure came in response to Al-Shumou’s various “criticisms of government ministers.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent suspension of the weekly newspaper Al-Shumou. CPJ has learned that the Ministry of Information issued an order for the indefinite closure of the newspaper on February 3. Seif al-Hadheri, Al-Shumou’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ that the ministry provided no explanation for its action and that officials have refused to discuss the matter with him. He surmised that the closure came in response to Al-Shumou’s various “criticisms of government ministers.”
Read first-hand accounts by journalists covering the war in Afghanistan. • December 21, 2001—The New York Times reported that on December 20, Afghan tribal fighters detained three photojournalists working for U.S. news organizations. The journalists were detained for more than one hour, apparently at the behest of U.S. Special Operations forces in the Tora Bora area….