(RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 October 1999 letter to Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani, RSF condemned the month-long closure of the opposition weekly “Al-Haq”. RSF stated that “this suspension is a blatant violation of press freedom and constitutes a form of harassment of the press, the aim of which is to force journalists into self-censorship.” […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 October 1999 letter to Prime Minister Abdul Karim
al-Iryani, RSF condemned the month-long closure of the opposition weekly
“Al-Haq”. RSF stated that “this suspension is a blatant violation of press
freedom and constitutes a form of harassment of the press, the aim of which
is to force journalists into self-censorship.”
The organisation urged the president to “ensure that press freedom is
guaranteed in his country, in compliance with the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Yemen in 1997.”
On 9 October, the weekly was ordered closed for one month by a Sana’a court.
Its editor-in-chief, Abdul-Latif Kutubi Omar, was fined 40,000 riyals
(approx. US$250). The newspaper was sued last May after it published an
article accusing local officials of corruption and abuse of authority (see
IFEX alert of 18 May 1999).