(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed concern over a growing crackdown on the news media in Yemen. On 29 December 2004, the privately-owned daily “Al Hurriya” (“Freedom”) was suspended for one year by a Sanaa court. “Al Hurriya” editor-in-chief Abdulkareem Sabra and journalist Abdulqawi Al Qubati were each sentenced to two years in prison with hard […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed concern over a growing crackdown on the news media in Yemen. On 29 December 2004, the privately-owned daily “Al Hurriya” (“Freedom”) was suspended for one year by a Sanaa court. “Al Hurriya” editor-in-chief Abdulkareem Sabra and journalist Abdulqawi Al Qubati were each sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour.
In a letter to President Ali Abdallah Saleh, RSF said it found these developments all the more incomprehensible since Saleh had previously voiced his support for press freedom on several occasions, as well as his desire to abolish prison sentences for press offences.
“Never has a journalist received such a heavy prison sentence since Yemen was reunified,” RSF noted, while calling on the authorities to reverse the measures and respect their commitment to guarantee the news media’s independence.
Sabra and Al Qubati were convicted on the basis of an article criticising the president, which appeared in the 6 October edition of “Al Hurriya”. The newspaper was previously withdrawn from sale in October and its licence was suspended. Sabra, aged 60, is currently hospitalised with diabetes. His home has been placed under police surveillance. Al Qubati is in hiding. Their lawyers have appealed the sentences.
The journalists’ sentences have greatly concerned Yemeni journalists, who say they have lost confidence in the country’s judicial system and no longer believe in the president’s press freedom promises.
On 3 January 2005, in response to the court’s one-year suspension order, police went to the offices of “Al Hurriya”, forced all staff members to leave and sealed the entrance. Some 20 journalists and “Al Hurriya” contributors lost their jobs.
Previously, on 5 September 2004, a Sanaa court sentenced journalist Abdulkarim Al Khaiwani to one year in prison in response to a complaint by the Yemeni Information Ministry, accusing his newspaper, “Al Shoura” (“Advice”), of libelling President Saleh and supporting an anti-government rebellion by Shiite leader Badr Eddin al Hawthi. Al Khaiwani has been held in the main Sanaa prison for the past four months. “Al Shoura” was suspended for six months (see IFEX alerts of 17 and 7 September 2004).
