Journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani pardoned again

Reporters Without Borders wrote to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh today expressing its relief that a new pardon was issued on 14 March to journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a former editor of the Yemeni newspaper Al-Shoura and contributor to many independent media. The president already pardoned him last September after a court sentenced him in June to six years in prison on a charge of “collaborating with the rebellion in the north.” But a special terrorism court reimposed the sentence on 26 January. Reporters Without Borders also welcomes the news that broadcasting in Yemen is to be opened up to the private sector. The press freedom organisation hopes this announced development will be implemented. ------- 06.02.09: Journalist convicted again six months after being pardoned by president Reporters Without Borders wrote to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and justice minister Ghazi Shaif Al-Aghbari today asking them to suspend the six-year jail sentence which a special terrorism court confirmed on appeal for journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani on 26 January although the president pardoned him in connection with this case in September. The letter also called for the case against Khaiwani to be closed for good. The six-year sentence was passed in June on Khaiwani, a former editor of the newspaper Al-Shoura and a contributor to several independent news media, for his alleged “collaboration with the rebellion in the north.” When the president issued his pardon in September, the justice minister said he considered the case “closed.” “This conviction on appeal contradicts the decision to pardon him and the minister's statements,” Reporters Without Borders said in its letter, adding that “the grounds given by the court for its 26 January decision are extremely vague.” The previous Reporters Without Borders release: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28739