Yemen
Head of Women Journalists Without Chains charged for protestPosted Jan 26 2011
Journalist Tawakkoi Karman was released Jan. 24, two days after being arrested and charged with “inciting disorder and chaos,” according to Reporters Without Borders. Karman is the head of Women Journalists Without Chains and has been a prominent participant in a three-week long period of protests demanding political reform, inspired by the protests in Tunisia.
Karman was released on the condition that she “does not violate ‘public order and the law’ again,” according to Reporters Without Borders. “She was freed after several thousand people participated in a sit-in outside the public prosecutor’s office this morning to demand her release.”
Last year, Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was labeled a “predator of press freedom” by Reporters Without Borders. Freedom House lists Yemen as “not free,” even though freedom of expression and a free press are guaranteed by Yemen’s constitution. The government tightly controls licensing of media outlets. “Preferential treatment is given to pro-government publications with opposition-oriented media facing undue bureaucratic obstacles in their licensing efforts,” according to Freedom House.
Reporters Without Borders listed at least seven journalists who have been arrested in the current wave of protests.