PM orders reopening of three newspapers closed for reprinting Mohammed cartoons

Reporters Without Borders today welcomed the reopening of three privately-owned, liberal newspapers - the Yemen Observer, Al-Rai Al Am and Al-Huriya - on 2 May on the orders of Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bajammal. Closed in March for reprinting the controversial Mohammed cartoons, the newspapers were prosecuted under a Yemeni law banning the publication of “anything that harms the Islamic faith, and denigrates a monotheistic religion or humanitarian belief.” Editors and journalists with the three newspapers are currently being tried on charges of “offending Islam.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13.02.2006 Cartoons controversy: “Absurd and dangerous” measures continue in the Arab world Reporters Without Borders expressed dismay at the arrest, on 10 February 2006, of Abdel Halim Akram Sabra, editor of the independent weekly Al-Hurriya, journalist Yahya Al Aabed and editor of the Yemen Observer Mohammed Al Asaadi, for publishing the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Al Hurriya and two other newspapers that published the cartoons, the Yemen Observer and the Al Raî Al Aam have been closed. "We express our solidarity with Abdel Halim Sabra, Yahya Al Abed and Mohammed Al Asaadi and urge their immediate release,” said Reporters Without Borders. “They have only done their job in choosing to publish the controversial cartoons, as have dozens of other media worldwide.” “It cannot be justified for them to pay for an editorial decision with their freedom, all the more so since they did it with a desire to inform and not in a provocative manner,” the organisation added. “We appeal to the prosecutor who launched this action against them to demonstrative understanding and openness by withdrawing the complaints. The three newspapers should also be quickly allowed to resume publishing”, it concluded. The prosecutor in Sanaa has also ordered the arrest of the editor of Al Rai Al Aam, Kamal el Aloufi. Al-Hurriya, Yemen Observer and Al Raî Al Aam are privately-owned liberal newspapers which are facing legal action under a clause in the Yemeni press law which “bans publication of anything that harms the Islamic faith, denigrates a mono-theistic religion or a humanitarian belief”. The journalists' union, which at first reacted against the publication of the cartoons and announced the “suspension” of Abdel Halim Sabra, a member of the union, has now retracted and said it is troubled by these unfair arrests. Al Huriya, Al Rai Al Aam and the Yemen Observer had published the cartoons, in the context of reporting on the reactions they had unleashed around the world. Elsewhere, Jihad Momani and Hicham al Khalidi, editors of two Jordanian newspapers who were arrested, released and then rearrested for publishing the cartoons, were freed on bail on 12 February. A verdict is expected in the week of 20 February. Both journalists have pleaded not guilty. In Algeria, Kamel Bousaad and Berkane Bouderbala, respectively editors of the Arab-language weeklies Errisala and Essafir were arrested, on 8 and 11 February 2006, for reprinting the Mohammed cartoons. Both publications have been closed.