Yemen
Editor disappearsPosted Oct 12 2009
Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Socialist Party Web site Al Eshteraki, was abducted in the capital city of Sana’a on Sept. 18. His disappearance follows Al Eshteraki’s coverage of military airstrikes that killed 87 people and injured more than a hundred others in Sa’ada in northwestern Yemen, where the military and rebels have been fighting for five years.
A local journalist, who has remained anonymous due to fear of retribution, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that Al Eshteraki has had the most extensive coverage of the conflict in Sa’ada and has frequently been blocked inside Yemen.
On Sept. 25, journalists staged a third sit-in, organized by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, in Sana’a. The sit-ins also protested the detention of other journalists by the Yemeni government.
Four moths ago, Fuad Rashed, editor of the Mukalla Press Web site, and Salah al-Saqladi, editor of the Aden News Web site, were arrested supposedly for writing articles favoring a southern separatist movement, according to Reuters.
Furthermore, the International Press Institute (IPI) reported that on July 15, Anis Mansour Hamida, a journalist for the now-suspended Aden-based daily Al-Ayyam and other news Web sites, received a 14-month prison sentence for “separatism and attacking national unity.”
IPI also states that the government has banned several publications and tried to close the local office of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.
More information
- International Press Institute
- Committee to Protect Journalists
- Reuters