MEDIA-MIDEAST: Yemeni Journalists Fight for Rights

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nabil Sultan

SANA'A, Jun 18 2004 (IPS) - The Eastern Court in Yemeni capital Sana’a suspended publication of the al-Shamoa weekly for three months last week and sentenced its editor Abdulbasit al-Shameeri to imprisonment for that period. He was also fined a half million Yemeni Riyals (2,800 dollars).

The editor had written about instances of corruption in the government. The motto of his publication is ‘Towards a Country Free of Corruption’.

Al-Shameeri is not alone. Journalists are fighting for freedom of expression in Yemen in the face of heavy odds.

The former editor of another weekly had been sentenced to three months imprisonment last week. His two colleagues were given five months each. All three were banned from writing further.

The three were sentenced over a report published in al-Asboo last year on teenage sex and about some women who had married without the knowledge of their fathers..

The information ministry filed a lawsuit against the three journalists on the ground that publication of the report was "unethical".

Jamal al-Jubee, the lawyer who acted for the journalists said the suit filed by the ministry was "illegal" because neither the girls nor their relatives sued the publication, and that nobody was hurt by the publication of the report. His arguments were turned down. But in the end the journalists were saved by presidential pardon.

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate appealed to President Ali Abdallah Saleh to cancel the sentences against the former editor Jalal al-Shara’abi and his colleagues Naif Hussain and Faud al-Rabadi. Saleh cancelled the court order following this petition..

The journalists syndicate said in its appeal to President Saleh that harassment of journalists was rising dramatically, and that this threatens freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

The syndicate added in relation to another case that a free media must also be responsible, should not hurt others and must not violate the law. This case arose from an article in the al-Ehya al-Arabi weekly, mouthpiece of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party attacking the Saudi regime.

The writer Abdul Jabar described those being pursued as al-Qaeda militants as mujahideen and martyrs. "How do you consider those militants who fought for Islam and dignity as terrorists while you have an alliance with enemies of Islam and Muslims like America?"

The writer added that "Saddam Hussein was the symbol of dignity and honour and the ‘lock’ over unrest in the region, but you broke it."

The information ministry has sued the newspaper and the writer for propagating terrorism and violence, and for harming Yemeni-Saudi relations.

"It is an irresponsible act, a violation of the law, a propagation of extreme and deviant concepts," the ministry said in its petition. "It is an insult to Yemen’s relations with Saudi Arabia, which compels legal measures to be taken against the newspaper and writer."

In April the Western Court in Sana’a fined journalist Saeed Thabet and banned him for writing for six months over a report that an officer of the special forces tried to shoot Col. Ahmad Ali Abdullah Saleh, son of President Saleh, and commander of the special forces. Thabet’s report was denied by the authorities.

"For me the verdict is the equivalent of a death sentence," Thabet said in a comment on the verdict.

Thabet was arrested by the Political Security Organisation (PSO), the state secret service, without any legal procedures. Thabet said later the judicial system had failed to function independently and honestly.

At a meeting later Thabet, who is also deputy chairman of the journalists syndicate demanded abolition of the ministry of information. "It is a tool for repression, and the press law in Yemen is backward and savage," he said.

"Media should be the tool of the people in accordance with our religion and morals," he added. "We do not want absolute freedom, but we want responsible freedom, not in front of the ruler but in front of god and constitution."

Mohammed Naji Allaw, head of the National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms says the judicial system is linked too closely with the executive. "It is quite common to see the judicial system follow the government in everything it says," Allaw told IPS.

The independent Journalism Freedom Protection and Training Centre has condemned the actions against journalists. The sentences passed against the journalists "bring more fear to the future of journalism and freedom of opinion and expression in Yemen," it said.

"At the time when advocates, activists, journalists and civil society organisations inside and outside the country were awaiting a decision which rebuilds the reputation of the judiciary in Yemen, they were shocked by the verdicts against journalism," the Centre added.