Yemen

Two news media owned by former President Ali Abdallah Saleh that have a reputation for tendentious news reporting – Al-Yemen Al-Youm TV and the Al-Yemen Al-Youm newspaper – were raided and closed by members of Yemen’s presidential guard.

Two weeks after the Yemeni government began a military offensive in the south against the Islamist armed group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemeni authorities called staff at Al Jazeera Arabic and ordered that a reporter and cameraman who were covering the fighting leave the area.

On 8 May 2014, U.S. freelance journalist Adam Baron was released after nearly 12 hours in detention and given 24 hours to leave Yemen, while another U.S. journalist, Tik Root, was denied entry into the country.

More than 20 cases of violence against media personnel have been registered, not only by armed individuals and groups but also by members of the security forces. All have gone unpunished.

State security and military forces unnecessarily used teargas and live ammunition against supporters of the Southern Movement (Hirak), an umbrella group seeking independence or greater autonomy for southern Yemen.

Yemeni authorities issued the ban against Aden Alghad newspaper on 22 February sparking protests in Aden.

A string of violent attacks against journalists have blighted the country over the last few months with regular reports of journalists being threatened and beaten.

On 10 December 2013, journalist Judith Spiegel posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the couple’s release: “Yes yes yes we are free! We are very fine. We will contact you all soon, but for now: thank you so so so much for all the support.”

Saraa al Shehary, a correspondent for Al Maserah TV, was kidnapped in Sanaa on the afternoon of 4 December and then left in an area near the airport the following day. It is not known who carried out the attack.

A car explosion in the capital Sanaa left a senior Yemeni journalist, seriously injured. This was the latest in a recent series of attacks which targeted journalists and media premises.

Akhbar Alyoum newspaper in Aden has been repeatedly attacked by gunmen belonging to the Southern Movement, a seperatist group in Yemen. Local authorities are being urged to provide protection for its employees and open an investigation into the incidents.

The van, which was bringing the papers to the Cairo area of the city for distribution, was attacked by masked gunmen at dawn in Aden’s Sheik Osman area. The gunmen opened fire on the two media workers in the bus, shooting one of them in the foot and abducting the other.

While Yemenis generally enjoy greater freedom of expression since Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi replaced Ali Abdullah Saleh as president in February 2012 after three decades of rule, this newfound freedom has been tempered by a rising incidence of threats and violence against the media.

Yemeni journalist Abdul-Elah Haider Shaye was freed after being kept in prison for three years at the request of Barack Obama; however, he will not be allowed to leave the capital, Sana’a for two years.

The 95-second video shows the two Dutch kidnap victims appealing to their country’s government. “These people are armed,” Judith Spiegel says in the clip. “If a solution is not found within 10 days, they are going to shoot us.”

Journalist Judith Spiegel and her husband, Boudewijn Berendsen, were mysteriously kidnapped from their house in the Haddah area of Yemen’s capital city Sana’a around the beginning of the second week of June by a group of gunmen.