By Joel CampagnaRoyal succession and rubber-stamp elections set the tone for a year in which Middle Eastern and North African governments continued to restrict press freedoms through a combination of censorship, intimidation, and media monopoly. Ballots in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen produced few surprises as longtime rulers stayed in power and maintained formidable obstacles…
During the heady days following the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen in 1990, there was a remarkable proliferation of private newspapers and a new vigor in public discourse. In recent years, however, the Yemeni government has been following the repressive example of its regional neighbors. Although Yemen still boasts one of the freest…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in YEMEN. New York, April 3, 2000 —The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urges U.S. president Bill Clinton to put press freedom high on the agenda for his meeting with Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Washington tomorrow. Since the end of Yemen’s 1994 civil war,…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about continuing state restrictions on the press in Yemen. We are particularly dismayed by the authorities’ ongoing harassment of the thrice-weekly newspaper Al-Ayyamand the closure of the opposition weekly Al-Shoura.We call on Your Excellency to assume a leadership role to help reverse state restrictions on the press and to guarantee the right of journalists to practice their profession freely.
AUGUST 4, 1999 His Excellency Prime Minister Abdel Karim al-Iryani c/o His Excellency Ambassador Abdul Wahab al-Hajjri Embassy of the Republic of Yemen 2600 Virginia Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about the convictions handed down this morning by the Seera…
Sanaa’, Yemen, July 15, 1999 — In a meeting today with press freedom advocate Terry Anderson, Yemen’s prime minister said harassment and threats against journalists are “abhorrent to our laws and ideals” and should be condemned. He promised to investigate any cases that are reported to him. Anderson, vice chairman of the New York-based Committee…
1999 April 28, 1999 Taoufik Ben Brik, La Croix HARASSED Ben Brik, a correspondent for the Paris-based daily La Croix, was prevented by Tunisian authorities from leaving the country for a planned trip to Switzerland after police at Tunis-Carthage Airport confiscated his passport, claiming that the document was missing a page and therefore Ben Brik could…