Two more journalists killed in Saleh regime violence

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns cameraman Abdel Hakim Al-Nour’s death during a military offensive last night in Taiz province and reporter Abdel Majid Al-Samawi’s death in a Sanaa hospital on 3 October from the gunshot wound he received more than a week ago. Their deaths bring to five the number of journalists who have been killed since February, when protests calling for President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s departure began. A cameraman and producer for the Mas production company Al-Nour was killed during a bombardment of the city Taiz that caused many causalities. He was also the person responsible for media at the Hayel Saeed Anam Association. Al-Samawi died in Sanaa Technological Hospital from the neck injury he received when a sniper shot him on 25 September. Born in 1956 in a village in Damar province, he leaves a wife and six children. The three other journalists killed since the start of the protests are Hassan Al-Wadhaf, a cameraman with Al-Hurra TV, Mohamed Yahia Al-Malayia, a correspondent for the Al-Salam newspaper, and Jamal Al-Sharabi, a photographer for the independent daily Al-Masdar. Al-Wadhaf died on 23 September from the injuries he received while covering violence against demonstrators in Sanaa five days earlier. Al-Malayia and Al-Sharabi were among the many fatalities when snipers opened fire on demonstrators in Sanaa on 18 March. Reporters Without Borders offers its condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the two latest victims, and holds the Yemeni authorities responsible for their deaths. The press freedom organization is very disturbed by the increase in violence against civilians since President Saleh’s return on 3 October from Saudi Arabia, where he spent four months recovering from the injuries he received in an attack on the presidential compound.