Foreign journalist's fixer wrongly held in custody

Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of Ali Nasser Kaid al-Bokheiti, arrested more than two months ago after working with a foreign journalist but still not brought before a court. His cousin, Mohammed Ahmed Hassan al-Bokheiti, arrested at the same time while they were accompanying British freelance journalist, Willem Marx, was released on 12 September 2008. “It is unacceptable for this foreign press fixer to have his detention extended in this way without access to a lawyer or knowing what the charges against him are”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “We urge the authorities to free Ali Nasser Kaid al-Bokheiti as soon as possible,” it added. Both men, Ali Nasser Kaid, 34, and Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, 24, were imprisoned in the political security jail in Sanaa on 21 July 2008 and were separated to be questioned about the reasons for their trip to the north of the country. “I was interrogated twice during my first month in detention”, Mohammed Ahmed Hassan al-Bokheiti told Reporters Without Borders. “They wanted to know how I knew Willem Marx. I think that they were expecting us at the security barrier. The intelligence services had apparently intercepted some of our telephone conversations,” he added. He told the organisation that his prison conditions were very harsh. “I shared a first very cramped cell with two other prisoners. The guards frequently stopped us from sleeping at night by banging on the bars”, he said. The cousins were reunited in a collective cell after a month in custody. But while Mohammed Ahmed Hassan was released on 12 September, his cousin, Ali Nasser Kaid, remained in detention without charge. Willem Marx was expelled from the country on the same day he was arrested.