Opposition journalist freed after getting presidential pardon

Reporters Without Borders today welcomed President Ali Abdallah Saleh's decision to pardon newspaper editor Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani yesterday, a day after a court upheld his one-year prison sentence. Al-Khaiwani, the editor of the opposition weekly Al-Shura, was freed today. "We are very relieved and we hope that the happy outcome to this case will open the way to greater tolerance for Yemeni journalists," the press freedom organization said, adding that, "legislative reform would really benefit press freedom in Yemen by preventing other journalists from being sentenced to prison terms." --------------------- 22 March 2005 - Appeal court upholds one-year prison sentence for newspaper editor Reporters Without Borders voiced shock at the decision today of an appeal court in Sanaa to uphold the one-year prison sentence imposed last September on Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, the editor of the opposition weekly Al-Shura. "This prison sentence proves to what degree press freedom is in danger in Yemen," the press freedom organization said, calling on the supreme court to quash the ruling. Reporters Without Borders also voiced concern that the appeal court president ordered the interrogation of Abdallah Ali Sabri, the editor of a new weekly newspaper, Saout Al-Shura, which has appeared in the place of Al-Shura, as well as the interrogation of six well-known figures who used to wrote for Al-Shura "The journalists with Saout Al-Shura should be able to work in peace and the former contributors to Al-Shura should not be harassed in this fashion," Reporters Without Borders said. Banned for six months last September, Al-Shura itself did not reappear when the period of the ban expired. "We call on President Abdallah Saleh to stop the authorities in his country from resorting to repression and systematically throwing journalists in prison," the organization added. Al-Khaiwani, who has been detained since 5 September, is alleged to have used his newspaper to support Shiite leader Badr Eddin al-Hawthi's revolt against the authorities in Sanaa and to defame President Saleh. --------------------------- 4 March 2005 - Call for release of editor after six months in prison Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of a newspaper editor who has been in jail for six months and for the lifting of a ban on his weekly paper, Al-Shura. Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, was sentenced to one year in prison on 5 September 2004 and his newspaper was banned for six months. "We strongly condemn the use of imprisonment in cases of defamation and we can on the Yemeni authorities to reform the criminal code so that prison terms are abolished for press offences. In the case of Al-Khaiwani, such a heavy sentence and the issuing of a committal order appear to us to be completely disproportionate to the charge against him," the organisation said. The organisation also objected to the fact that he had to wait six months to make an appeal. Since the six-month ban on the newspaper had now expired, it also called on the government to authorise its reappearance. After six months in prison, on 2 March, Al-Khaiwani had his first hearing before the appeal court in Sanaa. Several journalists and defence lawyers travelled to support him but the case was transferred to a small courtroom to limit the demonstration of support. The judge had several people forcibly removed, including one of the journalist's main lawyers. The verdict was postponed until 22 March. The journalists' and lawyers' union are organising a rally in the editor's support and to protest at what they call a violation of the press code and the Constitution in this case. It will be held on 5 March at the offices of the Yemeni journalists' union. Al-Khaiwani was sentenced by a court in Sanaa on 5 September on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Yemeni Information Ministry. He was found guilty of supporting, through his newspaper, the Shiite leader Badr Eddin al-Hawthi's revolt against the authorities in Sanaa and of defaming President Saleh. A committal order was made against him at the end of the trial even though his lawyer, Jamal al-Goabi, immediately told the judge that he would be lodging an appeal.