Global Voices Advocacy » Walid Al-Saqaf

Yemeni authorities prevents 6 newspapers from distribution

Walid Al-Saqaf — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:10:30 +0000

Fresh attacks on the press amidst growing protests in the south:

Yemeni authorities prevents 6 newspapers from distribution

Yemeni government ordered the confiscation of six national newspapers, whose copies were pulled from the news stands and markets across the country yesterday alleging their role in promoting secessionism and anti-unity rhetoric. The move, according to observers, is unprecedented in recent Yemeni history and marks a serious downturn in the country's level of press freedom, which had already suffered several blows in the recent past.

The six weeklies that were prevented from distribution are Al-Masdar, Al-Watani, Al-Diyar, Al-Nida, Al-Sharei and Al-Mustakilla are known to regularly publish critical articles targeting the authorities including recent articles condemning government actions against anti-government demonstrations that took place in the end of last month in the south of the country.

The government's measure comes on the heels of another incident in which a government appointed officer burnt and confiscated thousands of copies of Al-Ayyam, which is among Yemen's most widely-read dailies. Al-Ayyam is based in the southern city of Aden and is considered among the most active in reporting about the anti-government southern movement.

According to NewsYemen, the authorities pledged to continue to confiscate newspapers that ‘use the rhetoric secessionism and target national unity'.

It is worth noting that an ongoing peaceful movement in the southern governorates of Yemen have gained momentum over the past months and have increasingly become more visible in the national and international media, triggering the authorities to accuse the media of targeting the country's national interests.

Among the media organizations that covered the protests, which sometimes turned violence, was Al-Jazeera Satellite TV channel. The popular Doha-based channel recently dedicated several segments to discuss the rising tensions between citizens in southern states and the central government led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who last year celebrated thirty years in power.

Increasingly, many southern leaders are calling for ending unity that was established between former South and North Yemen in 1990 and reverting back to the pre-unity status in two independent countries. In their calls for ‘independence from occupation by the Yemen Arab Republic', they sight injustices occurring to the people of the south since a 3-month civil war that erupted in 1994 and that ended with the victory of the Saleh-led army that defeated the army led by Ali Salem Al-Bidh, who, prior to unity, was the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

In 1994, Al-Bidh declared unilaterally the end of the –at the time- four-year old unity due to unfulfilled obligations on the part of President Saleh as per the regulations set forth for unity to be established. He currently lives in the neighboring Sultanate of Oman, where he was accepted for political asylum.

The confiscation of the six newspapers adds to an already bleak record for Yemen's freedom of the press. The Yemeni government had continuously been accused by human rights activists and freedom of expression advocates in Yemen and abroad of constant and worrying patterns of suppression against the press, particularly during times of crises and elections. The authorities have often prosecuted, beaten, kidnapped, and imprisoned journalists. They also closed down newspapers with court orders and sometimes prevented printing of others without court orders. The government also systematically targets online news sources and filters them through the government-operated internet service providing companies. Journalists, news website administrators and bloggers were also occasionally harassed and threatened. Journalists complain that attacks on the press are encouraged by the government's lack of action to prosecute the attackers, which indicates a state of impunity.

Among the many international organizations concerned about the media situation in Yemen is the New York-Based Committee to Protect Journalists, which has steadily and repeatedly called upon the regime to release its grip on freedom of expression in the country. In a recent report on Yemen, the CPJ ‘faulted Yemen for perpetuating a culture of impunity in attacks on the press.’ (See: http://cpj.org/2009/02/attacks-on-the-press-in-2008-yemen.php) CPJ and other organizations continue to call upon the regime in Yemen to respect freedom of expression and the rule of law and stop attacking the press and bring attackers to justice.

So far, the authorities remain unresponsive to such calls.

Yemeni online journalist sends urgent appeal after death threats and hacking of his website

Walid Al-Saqaf — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:24:26 +0000

Mohamed Al-Jabali, the editor of Akhbaralasr news website is the latest casualty in a wave of intimidations targeting bloggers and online journalists in Yemen. In a statement made yesterday, Al-Jabali appealed for protection after receiving death threats in the capital Sanaa from the regime's security apparatus. This comes just after his website was also hacked. The hackers, whom Al-Jabali said are elements of the regime, published a sarcastic entry on the front page with a picture of a monkey and an insult on the owner of the website Al-Jabali.

Photo caption: An entry was placed on the front page of the hacked website entitled “The picture of the monkey Mohamed Al-Jabali”

Al-Jabali said the regime was angered by his online reports on peaceful anti-government political activities in the Tihama region in the West of the country. The website had articles critical of the regime's handling of the economy and a recent article highlighted a call to end the ‘national investment mafias’ in the country.

In an email message, Al-Jabali said he feared for his life after being threatened near Al-Tahrir Square in the city center and accused a senior advisor of the President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh for supporting those activities against him and his website:

I'm writing to you while feeling threatened by imprisonment… I appeal to you to help protect my life as I feel I'm in danger.” Al-Jabali said in an email statement today.

It is worth noting that Al-Jabali's case is not the first of its kind in Yemen. Several other online journalists and bloggers have also been exposed to similar acts of intimidation and the attackers remain at large. The journalist community had often expressed grave concerns about increasing attacks in number and intensity by the country's security apparatus to curb anti-regime writings.

Despite many appeals by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and international advocacy organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Article 19, and others, attacks against journalists including online journalists remained on the rise. It is widely believed that websites that contained content critical of the regime were attacked systematically by individuals paid for by the regime to so as to limit the oppositional voices on the Internet.

Among the frequent methods used to harass online journalists and websites is censorship of websites, physical attacks and death threats by phone or in person.

Yemeni blogger appeals to prevent possible assassination

Walid Al-Saqaf — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:16:25 +0000

As a reminder of a narrowing margin of freedom online

(Sana'a – Yemen) In a rather emotional entry posted on his blog, Nashwan Abdu Ali Ghanim, a Yemeni blogger with blogs on maktoobblogs.com and kitab.com called upon international advocacy groups and the Arab Bloggers Union to come for his rescue upon escaping ‘three failed assassination attempts'. Ghanim believes that his latest blog entry noting the involvement of senior Yemeni officials in the plotting of the attack carried out against the U.S. embassy in Sana'a on September 17, 2008 triggered a new wave of harassments and life-threatening acts.

“They want to kill me… So I urge you to immediately intervene” he said in a blog entry dated Tuesday November 18, 2008.

Support from ANHRI

A day later –Wednesday, November 19, 2008- the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) responded by releasing a strongly worded protest letter criticizing the Yemeni authorities.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounces this cruel campaign, which breaks all international laws and conventions, and even the Yemeni constitution. ANHRI consider this campaign a breach of democratic principles which the regime in Yemen claims to protect and adopt, and calls upon the Yemeni authorities to end the security persecution against Ali Ghanim and guarantee his integrity.” the organization said in its press release released on Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

A controversial article

Ghanim said he was chased by various elements in the country, threatened of being killed, besieged in his home, and exposed to other acts of harassment by government authorities after he had published a controversial article on the website of the Washington, DC-based Al-Hewar Center, which promotes online forum discussions and dialogue on matters of concern to the Arab world.

In his article, Ghanim accused the regime of being behind the attack on the U.S. Embassy which killed ten people and resulted, at the time, in the temporary suspension of the embassy's activities. He claimed that Yahya Al-Arasi, whom he said was the press secretary of the Vice President of Yemen, was directly involved in the attack and blame extremist elements for it in order to exploit the U.S. for financial aid and to achieve several other objectives.

It is worth noting this article was not the first that Ghanim mentioned Al-Arasi by name as he had frequently written in discussion forums and in his blog about Al-Arasi's involvement in various acts of intimidation and threats against him.

Attacks on Yemeni online media on the rise

Attacks against website owners, journalists and bloggers as well as censorship of websites in Yemen have been in a steady rise in recent years. Among the recent cases is the 70-day detention of Loui Al-Moayed, the editor of yemenhurr.net. His website, which was known to contain content critical of the government's handling of the war in Saadah, was also censored months before his arrest, which took place on June 30^th, 2008.

In another case, the director of Hewarye.com online forum was attacked by the guards of the premier office in Sana'a on September 22, 2008, yet the perpetrators were not questioned.

In a third of many other cases, the editor of Mukallapress.com, Salem ba Mudawwikh, had also complained about threats he received due to his website's emphasis on anti-government protests in the south of the country.

Furthermore, censorship of websites for their political content remains one of the most worrisome signs of a shrinking margin of online freedom of expression in Yemen. The authorities had banned or continue to ban dozens of websites containing criticism of state policies or covering activities of groups protesting against the regime.

Among the most renowned cases was the censorship of the news aggregator yemenportal.net on January 19, 2008. Upon its ban and in coordination with other banned websites, Yemen Portal started an anti-censorship campaign against the government in creating a portal containing fetched content from most blocked websites plus circumvention techniques to bypass government ban. The car belonging to the Yemen Portal office in Sana'a was vandalized by unknown men days after the anti-censorship campaign had started. No investigation was carried out to bring the culprits to justice.

Internet's impact growing

It is worth noting that government's actions against websites had contributed in raising awareness of the growing importance of the Internet in Yemen as an alternative means of expression and access of information. Given that the Yemeni regime continues to monopolize broadcast media and imposes various restrictions on print media, the Internet is increasingly appealing to a wider sector of the Yemeni community wishing to learn alterative news and opinion content without government intervention.

Many bloggers and website owners fear that the government may attempt to extend the restrictions imposed on press media to the online media, triggering a potential wave of mass censorship efforts and prosecution of bloggers and other online activists and writers.

Yemen: Loui Has Been Set Free!

Walid Al-Saqaf — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:14:38 +0000

Yemen Hurr website announced yesterday in a press release that its founder and editor-in-chief Loui Al-Moayed has been released from prison yesterday after about more than 70 days in detention. In a press release, the website thanked all those organizations and advocates who fought hard for his release from a detention that was and remains unjustified.

Posted on freeyemenportal.org