Journalism getting more dangerous in Yemen

Read in Arabic (بالعربية) Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the growing number of threats and physical attacks against journalists in Yemen, a concern that an international TV channel representative said he shared during a phone call today. Under deposed president Ali Abdallah Saleh, the authorities were the main sources of threats and violence against news media, but now the various insurrectional movements developing throughout the country are an additional source of danger, the representative said. An Al-Jazeera crew suddenly found themselves surrounded by dozens of people in Aden while filming a demonstration marking the 19th anniversary of the civil war between north and south on 27 April. The demonstrators insulted the journalists and their TV station. Al-Jazeera cameraman Samir Al-Nemri and Al-Jazeera Net reporter Yasser Hassan were badly beaten members of a South Yemen secessionist movement. Nemir suffered multiple bruising and Hassan had to be hospitalized with facial fractures. Reporter Safa Karman managed to run away. Men brandishing knives also threatened journalists with Sky News Arabia. Several murder attempts have also recently been reported. Mansoor Noor, a correspondent for the 26 September newspaper, was attacked and shot by three gunmen while he was going to work in Aden on 17 April and had to have a leg with a bullet wound amputated. Al-Ahali journalist Nasser Ali sustained a gunshot injury while covering clashes between government forces and tribal groups in the southwestern city of Rada. Other journalists are constantly subjected to threats and harassment. Mohamed Aysh, the editor of the daily Al-Ula, received more than 30 phone messages at the start of the month threatening him with execution or having his hand cut off and his tongue cut out. The members of journalists’ families are sometimes attacked or threatened. Reporter Mohamed Al-Hudhaifi’s 13-year-old son eluded a kidnap attempt in the southwestern city of Taiz on 21 April. After failing to seize him, his assailants chased him and ran him down with car. He was hospitalized with serious head and leg injuries.