Yemen: Three injured as newspaper offices attacked

Yemen: Three injured as newspaper offices attacked

This morning police surrounded and opened fire on the offices of independent daily Yemeni newspaper Al Ayyam’s, resulting in injuries to three staff.

The shooting follows sustained police harassment since 4 May and the chief editor’s refusal to be arrested by police forces. Authorities have grown uneasy about the newspaper’s independent editorial line and its coverage of the events in the south of the country. Al Ayyam has not been able to go to print and its website has been blocked.

“This might be my last phone call,” says Bashraheel Bashraheel, Al Ayyam general director on the phone to ARTICLE 19. “I appeal to all freedom advocates to support us and help in lifting the siege.”

According to Bashraheel, Al Ayyam employees receive death threats on a daily basis and one of its designers, Yasser Hitari, has been menaced with having his head cut off.

“We have reached out to the authorities but without any response,” Bashraheel says. “On the contrary, judicial orders have been issued to arrest my father Hisham at any cost.”

Since 4 May, the Yemeni authorities have increased their stranglehold on the press. Al Ayam has had lawsuits filed against it and the authorities have repeatedly intercepted distribution trucks and burned the newspapers. Bashraheel says that Al Ayyam has incurred losses amounting to US$400,000 as a result of these measures.

The authorities are said to be unhappy with Al Ayyam’s publication of photos showing clashes between government forces and opposition groups in the south of Yemen.

“Surrounding a newspaper and attacking it is an extraordinary step. Only in fully fledged armed conflicts do we witness such situations,” says Dr Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director. “The attack must stop immediately. We demand that the Yemeni authorities lift the blockade on Al Ayyam and ensure the safety and security of all its staff.”

Al Ayyam was established in 1958 and is based in the southern city of Aden. It is very popular and considered by many Yemenis as an independent newspaper, adding particular voice to underprivileged people.

Al Ayyam is not the only newspaper suffering harassment and censorship. A comprehensive crackdown on the media by the Yemeni authorities has included six other newspapers over the past month, thereby possibly preventing potential coverage of the conflict in the south. There has been widespread unrest in the impoverished country for several years, especially in the south, where certain groups feel they are marginalised. Tension mounted in recent months, escalating at times into armed clashes between opposition protesters and government forces.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• For more information: please contact Sa’eda Kilani, sa’eda@article19.org; Tel:+962-79-9860004

Report from IFEX -------------

YEMEN: POLICE RAID PAPER, WOUND THREE

This morning (13 May) police surrounded and opened fire on the office of
Yemen's leading independent daily, the latest target of the government's
crackdown on the media, report the Arabic Network for Human Rights
Information (ANHRI), ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
and other IFEX members.

The government blames the media for fomenting unrest in the country's south
where the military has clashed with the Southern Movement opposition group.
Allegedly annoyed with "Al-Ayyam"'s coverage of the conflict and refusal to
toe the official line, police surrounded the paper's office in Aden on 13
May and opened fire, resulting in injuries to three staff members.

The shooting follows sustained police harassment since the beginning of
May, when police laid siege to the office, preventing distribution of all
70,000 copies of the paper and searching employees. The paper has not
resumed production.

Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the besieged paper's offices on 4
May to protest the government's action, with the police eventually
dispersing the demonstrators, reported the "Al-Ayyam" website. On 6 May,
the authorities shut the website down.

Lawsuits have been filed against "Al-Ayyam"'s staff, and authorities have
repeatedly confiscated and burned copies of the paper as well as harassed
the paper's distribution drivers, says ARTICLE 19. Employees have also
received threatening phone calls and notes.

"This might be my last phone call," said Bashraheel Bashraheel, "Al-Ayyam"
general director on the phone to ARTICLE 19. "I appeal to all freedom
advocates to support us and help in lifting the siege."

Bashraheel says that "Al-Ayyam" has incurred losses amounting to US$400,000
as a result of the measures.

Other newspapers have suffered government harassment. Last week,
authorities barred the sale of seven other papers - "Al-Masdar",
"Al-Wattani", "Al-Diyar", "Al-Mustaqila", "Al-Nida", and "Al-Share" and
"Al-Ahali" - to prevent coverage of the conflict in the south. According to
Minister of Information Hassan Ahmed, the newspapers had published material
that worked against national unity and the country's interests and that
"spread hatred and enmity among the united people of Yemen."

The police campaign against the Yemeni press and journalists came a few
days after President Ali Abdullah Saleh voiced his anger over what he
described as "the separatists of the south."

"There is an intense and dangerous campaign of incitement against
independent newspapers," Sami Ghali, editor of "Al-Nida", told CPJ. "Imams
of Yemeni mosques received instructions to welcome the government decisions
to suspend newspapers."

In a separate incident, on 4 May, security officers arrested Fuad Rashid,
the owner and publisher of the Al-Mukalla Press website, during a raid in
Mukalla, Hadramoot and took him to an unknown location. The website had
covered the recent clashes. Blogger Yahya Barnahfud was arrested on 10 May.

In another disturbing development, CPJ reports that authorities have
announced a special court to try media and publishing offences, amid
protests from journalists and human rights defenders. Minister of Justice
Ghazi Shayef Al-Aghbari said the decision to establish this "special press
court" was "not politically motivated, but purely professional."

According to CPJ, Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani, an independent journalist who
has repeatedly been harassed by the judiciary and imprisoned, described the
court as a "huge step backward" and a "flagrant violation of the
constitution and international law."

Arafat Mudabish, chief editor of Al Tagheer news website, said leading
journalists and activists in Yemen have regarded the confiscation measure
and harassment tactics against all media as an "unprecedented massacre" on
journalism in Yemen.

"The only solution to the problems of the South is through dialogue and
addressing the origin of the problems and not through muzzling the press
and terrorising journalists," said ANHRI.

Dissatisfied groups in the south of the country have increasingly accused
authorities of marginalising the region, which merged with the north in
1990. Since early April there have been sporadic armed clashes between
government forces and armed protesters in the south of the country,
including a 27 April protest in Sana'a marking the anniversary of a failed
uprising against the government in 1994. At least 14 Yemeni troops and
civilians were killed last week in the clashes, The Associated Press
reported.

Visit these links:
- ARTICLE 19: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/103038/
- CPJ: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/103026/
- ANHRI: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/102925/
- Breaking the Chains (International Federation of Journalists), a report
that features Yemen among countries where press laws criminalise
independent reporting under the guise of national interests:
http://mena.ifj.org/en/pages/mena-press-freedom
- Yemeni police storm newspaper, wound three (AP):
http://tinyurl.com/oa9z5e