By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen  – On May 7, 2009 dozens of journalists gathered in front of the press syndicate in Sana’a in a staged sit-in to protest the Yemeni governments decision to suspend more than eight newspapers for their coverage of unrest in southern Yemen.  An additional protest was held in the city of Aden.

On May 4, the Ministry of Information ordered the suspension of several privately owned newspapers including Al-Masdar, Al-Wattani, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqila, Al-Nida, Al-Ayyam and Al-Share, due to their recent coverage of clashes between residents and government security forces in southern Yemen.  The government has followed its decree by taking active measures to forcibly halt the sale of these publications, including seizing the production plant of one of the newspapers in order to prevent distribution.  Security forces were directed to confiscate these publications from kiosks and stores throughout Sana’a.

Yemeni Ministor of Information Hassan Ahmed al-Luzi claimed that the decision to ban the sale of these publications was necessary as the journalists had violated Yemen’s press law “by publishing articles against national unity and the country’s highest interests and they incited to violate law and order and spread hatred and enmity among the united people of Yemen.”

Following the government’s order to ban the publication and distribution of these newspapers, security forces arrested Fuad Rashif, the Editor-in-Chief of the Mukalla Press Web site.  The Web site had been covering the recent violence between residents and security forces in the south, as well as the government’s marginalization of southern Yemen.  Rashid has been held incommunicado since his arrest on May 8.

According to Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, “we are concerned about the ongoing ban on independent newspapers and call on authorities to immediately end this censorship…Covering the ongoing conflict in the south is an essential journalistic function, and for authorities to ban this coverage is to criminalize journalism itself.”

Saeed Thabit, spokesman for the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate has organized the recent demonstrations of journalists in Sana’a and Aden, claiming that the government’s recent crackdown on the media is tantamount to restricting free speech, which according to Thabit is “one of the pillars of national unity and democracy.”  Thabit is seeking to unite Yemeni journalists to oppose the recent government ban.  The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on the Yemeni government to end its ban on the media and to disclose the location of a Rashid.

For more information, please see:

Committee to Protect Journalists – Yemeni Editor Held Incommunicado, Critical Newspaper Sued – 8 May 2009

AFP – Yemen Reporters Protest at Closure of Papers – 7 May 2009

Arab Monitor – Yemeni Government Confiscates Seven Newspapers – 7 May 2009

Committee to Protect Journalists – CPJ Alarmed by Yemen Government’s Newspaper Censorship – 7 May 2009

Yemen Times – Ministry of Information Prevents Seven Newspapers from Distribution – 6 May 2009