Sanaa police beat up Al-Arabiya cameraman

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the beating which Moujib Soueileh, a cameraman with the Arabic-language satellite TV news station Al-Arabiya, received from police in Sanaa on 20 October while filming a demonstration by textile factory workers demanding payment of wage arrears. “This case serves as a reminder that it is still hard to work freely as a journalist in Yemen,” the press freedom organisation said. “We urge the interior ministry to carry out a thorough investigation to identify and punish the police officers responsible for this disgraceful attack.” After being insulted and clubbed several times, Soueileh was taken together with Najib Al-Charaabi, a correspondent for the Saudi TV station El-Ikhbariyah, to a police station where they were held for several hours. Soueileh was finally hospitalised in a serious condition. Doctors said he had internal bleeding, three broken ribs and bruising to one leg. The Al-Arabiya bureau chief in Sanaa, Hamoud Mounser, said there was a campaign to stir up hostility towards journalists, especially those working for foreign news media, who were often the target of unfair criticism in governmental newspapers. He added that Al-Arabiya would bring a complaint against the interior ministry for “unjustified violence” against Soueileh. The Yemeni journalists' union also condemned the attack and voiced concern about press freedom violations in Yemen since the start of the year.