On 11 March 2006, M. Qaed Al-Tairi, an employee of the Ministry of Information and journalist at Al-Thawri newspaper, the mouthpiece for the Yemeni Socialist Party to which he is a member of the Central Committee, was kidnapped by a group of unidentified people, on his way to his office, in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa and was taken away in a car. Al-Tairi has been severely beaten and finally released in Wadi Dahr village, about 20 km from Sanaa. Al-Tairi was allegedly asked by the attackers to stop writing against tribalism and the republican system. Before the attack, the Al-Thawri journalist participated in two NGO workshops and has openly criticised the regime and its alliance with the tribal forces.
Since July 2005, at least four journalists have been subjected to severe physical assaults from unidentified attackers. None of the investigations carried out by Yemeni police forces have led to the identification of the attackers.
Furthermore, violences against journalists have also been perpetrated by Yemeni police forces. On 4 November 2005, Mujib Suwailih, a cameraman for the pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, and Najib al-Sharabi, a correspondent for the Saudi Arabia-based satellite channel Al-Akhbariyya, were covering a strike by employees of a public textile factory in Sanaa when they were attacked by Yemeni security officers.
Journalists in Yemen also face increasing legal harassment and other forms of government interference. On 12 February 2006, three journalists were sentenced to prison and were banned from writing in any newspaper for six months, by the Southeast Court in Sanaa, for offending the president by their writings against corruption, deteriorating health and living standards and administrative failures, an offence according to the provisions of the Yemeni Law press. In recent months, at least four newspapers have been temporarily suspended by Yemeni courts.
While a new press bill proposed by the Ministry of Information and currently before the Yemeni Parliament, was said to contain an article abolishing prison sentences against journalists however considered by Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) as too vague, other Yemeni laws of the penal code may be still used to condemn journalists to prison sentences. Furthermore, the existing press law has still recently been used to severely condemn journalists.
In addition, our organisations remain concerned with the contents of the press bill. The draft is harshly rejected by the YJS which calls for its redrafting as it considers that the draft law contains a lot of limitations to freedom of expression. Among others, the proposed law spells out a range of bureaucratic controls and harsh restrictions on the media that include vaguely worded prohibitions such as a ban against offending the president or harming state interests. Newspaper may also be suspended and journalists banned from their profession.
FIDH, HRITC and SAF call upon the Yemeni authorities to:
– Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all journalists in all circumstances and to thoroughly investigate the attacks against them and make the results public;
– Put an end to all prosecutions against individuals which aim at sanctioning their right to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly.
– Amend the domestic legislation and in particular to abolish prison sentences for press-related offences in any law, in order to comply with Yemeni international legal obligations and in particular, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Yemen in 1987 and its Art. 19 (2) which stipulates that « Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice »;
– Ensure the freedom of expression guaranteed by Yemen’s Constitution in its Article 41 as well as the right to the freedoms of opinion and peaceful assembly in compliance with international human rights standards ratified by Yemen.