Yemen / Middle East & North Africa

  

Journalist Adel al-Hasani held by Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council since September

New York, February 8, 2021 – Yemen’s breakaway Southern Transitional Council should release journalist Adel al-Hasani immediately and stop arbitrarily detaining and harassing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 17, 2020, at a checkpoint between the southern cities of Aden and Abyan, security forces with the Southern Transitional…

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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…

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Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Yezidi faces charges, arrest attempts in Hadramout; goes into hiding

Authorities in Hadramout Governorate, Yemen, in late September 2020 threatened to file a number of charges against Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Yezidi, and he went into hiding after unknown individuals twice tried to abduct or detain him, al-Yezidi told CPJ via messaging app. Authorities in Hadramout—who are aligned with the Yemeni government—repeatedly attempted to arrest al-Yezidi,…

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UN human rights organs should press for investigations into missing journalists

CPJ writes the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking it to call on governments, particularly in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, to investigate the cases of missing journalists.

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Yemeni journalist Nabil al-Quaety killed outside his home in Aden

New York, June 3, 2020 — Yemeni authorities should conduct a thorough investigation into the killing of journalist Nabil Hasan al-Quaety and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday morning, a group of men in military uniforms attempted to hit al-Quaety with their car as he exited his home…

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Tribesmen loyal to the Houthi rebel group raise their weapons as they chant slogans during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen, on February 25, 2020. The Houthis sentenced four journalists in their custody to death on April 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

CPJ calls on Houthis to reverse death sentence against Yemeni journalists, release them from custody

New York, April 11, 2020 – The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm at a decision by the Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, to sentence Abdulkhaleq Amran, Akram al-Waleedi, Hareth Hameed, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri to death, and urged the Houthis to release them and all other journalists in their custody.

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A man reads a newspaper at a stall near the Medina of Rabat, Morocco, on March 16, 2017. Morocco, Yemen, Oman, and Jordan recently ordered newspapers to cease production, citing fears of spreading the COVID-19 virus. (AP/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Jordan, Oman, Morocco, and Yemen suspend newspaper production, citing COVID-19 fears

Beginning on March 17, 2020, authorities in Jordan, Oman, Morocco, and Yemen issued decrees suspending newspaper printing and distribution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to news reports and government statements.

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A police officer is seen in Hodeidah, Yemen, on February 13, 2019. Military police recently arrested and released three journalists in Taiz. (Reuters/Abduljabbar Zeyad)

Yemeni authorities arrest, release 3 journalists

New York, August 23, 2019 — Yemeni authorities should cease arresting journalists and making the dangerous work of Yemen’s press even more difficult, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Houthi fighters ride on trucks mounted with weapons during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for the rebel movement in Sanaa, Yemen, on August 1, 2019. (AP/Hani Mohammed)

In Yemen, gunmen abduct former journalist Abdel Hafiz al-Samadi

Gunmen in civilian clothing abducted Abdel Hafiz al-Samadi from his house in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on July 27, 2019, according to a statement from the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and the Saudi network Al-Arabiya.

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Yemeni police officers are seen in Taez on July 2, 2018. Yemeni security forces recently arrested freelance journalist Yahya al-Sawari. (AFP/Ahmad al-Basha)

Yemeni journalist Yahya al-Sawari arrested, held without charge in unknown location

New York, July 15, 2019 — Yemeni and Saudi authorities must disclose freelance journalist Yahya al-Sawari’s whereabouts and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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