In Middle East and North Africa, a drop in attacks on journalists belies dire state of press freedom
The Middle East and North Africa region has long been especially dangerous for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists’ research has found that one out of every three reporters killed worldwide in retaliation for their work since 1992 — 477 out of 1,422, or 33.5% – were located in the region. That proportion rose to…
Yemen’s non-state judicial systems spell death, torture for journalists
On December 1, four journalists were on death row in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, for the crime of spreading false news. Before they were detained in 2015, Abdulkhaleq Amran, Akram al-Waleedi, Hareth Hameed, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri worked for various outlets, including the independent Al-Masdar newspaper and outlets associated with al-Islah, one of the parties in…
A ‘slow death’ for Yemen’s media: the country’s journalists report through displacement and exile
March 2018 was a low point for Akhbar al-Youm, an independent daily newspaper in Yemen. Three weeks after the newspaper’s Aden office was set ablaze by unidentified arsonists, seven of its employees were abducted for a month by forces under the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, which controls the southern port city. The attacks forced the publication to relocate from Aden to…
Ten years after the Arab Spring, the region’s media faces grave threats. Here are the top press freedom trends
In early February 2011, Alaa Abdelfattah was in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, documenting and participating in the nascent pro-democracy uprising that would topple the government and transform the country and the region. Today, he is in prison on anti-state and false news charges, which his family believes are partly retaliatory for his work. Abdelfattah is one of…
Journalists in Yemen under attack from all sides as rival forces crack down on critics
In its report released late last month, the U.N. Human Rights Council found that all groups involved in the Yemen conflict–from the government-controlled south, with its militias propped up by the UAE-led coalition and loyal to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, and areas held by the rebel Ansar Allah or Houthi movement–were responsible for widespread…
In Houthi-controlled Yemen, silence, exile, or detention; at least 13 journalists held
Torture. Denial of medical care. Repeated interrogations and accusations of collaborating with enemies: Yemeni journalist Youssef Ajlan’s story of his detention, which lasted over a year, hews closely to those of many journalists imprisoned for their work.
Press at risk as EU-based companies export surveillance software to hostile regimes
In August, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told the daily newspaper Information that the government had authorized sales of online surveillance software to several Middle Eastern countries. While acknowledging the potential for human rights violations that could result from the use of these tools, the minister said that Denmark has an interest in the fight…
Collapse of state institutions leaves Yemeni journalists vulnerable
A journalist dies mysteriously in Yemen after receiving threats because of his work, and the resulting autopsy raises more questions than answers. A columnist in the same country is sentenced to death on espionage charges in an opaque trial.
Yemeni journalists: ‘Our mouths are gagged’
In March 2014, Sana’a University media student Hisham al-Yousifi stood next to Dar al-Hajar, a royal palace built on the precipice of a rock formation just outside the capital, and announced to the video camera, “Here, there are a lot of tourists!” But there were no tourists, just his friends barely failing to hold back…