Yemen

A month after seizing the capital, Sanaa, and despite having signed a peace accord under UN aegis, Yemen’s Houthi rebels are continuing to advance on the centre and south of the country, occupying the headquarters of news media on the way and arresting or kidnapping journalists. In one recent instance, five gunmen claiming to be members of the Houthi movement stormed into the premises of...

The Al Yemen El Yawm TV station, based in Yemen’s capital city Sanaa, has now been closed for over three months. The Yemeni government closed the station in June accusing it of inciting rebellion against it. Members of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s Presidential Guard stormed the television station which is affiliated to Abdullah Saleh, looting the building and confiscating equipment. The...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed its deep shock following disturbing reports of an ongoing bombardment by militants from the Houthi group on the offices of Yemen state TV station Al Yemen. IFJ has demanded an immediate halt to the attack and called for those responsible to be held to account. According to IFJ affiliate, Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS), the Al...

There has been a string of attacks on Yemeni journalists working for state-run outlets in the past week. At least one journalist has been killed and another survived an assassination attempt, according to the Ministry of Information and news reports. Abdul Rahman Hamid al-Din, a director and producer for the state-run Sanaa Radio, succumbed to his wounds in a hospital on August 16 after being shot...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has issued a renewed appeal for authorities in Yemen to immediately increase protection for media workers in the country following an escalation in attacks over the last few days, including the murder of a senior journalist. According to IFJ affiliate, the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) Abdulrahman Hameed Aldin, who worked for Sana’a Radio...

Yemeni authorities should immediately return the broadcasting equipment of the private TV station Yemen Today and permit it to resume broadcasting. Military forces raided the station, owned by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, on June 11, 2014, following its coverage of protests in the streets of Sanaa, the capital. “Media freedom means covering the news, including presenting diverse views...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has demanded that authorities in Yemen respect press freedom and law in the country following reports that a TV station has been forced to close. According to reports, on Wednesday 11 June presidential guard forces stormed the headquarters of the private satellite channel, Yemen Today TV, which is owned by the Yemen Today Establishment and located...

Security forces surrounded the home of Akhbar Al-Youm reporter Mohammed Al-Louzi for three hours on April 25 because of his coverage of current events in Yemen. Members of the Republican Guard stopped Abdel Aziz Al-Majidi, the editor of the newspaper Al-Shahid, at a checkpoint the same day, preventing him from entering Taiz province. Copies of his newspaper were seized at the same checkpoint the...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) continues to be very concerned about the repression to which journalists have been exposed in Yemen since the start of a wave of street protests. In the past few days, journalists have been arrested, media have been attacked and newspapers have been confiscated. Journalist Ali Salah Ahmed was arrested Tuesday evening at Sana'a airport...

Yemeni authorities on Thursday ordered Al-Jazeera's offices shut and its journalists stripped of accreditation, escalating a week-long series of reprisals against the station that has included beatings, expulsions, raids, and death threats. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the government's decision to shut Al-Jazeera and urged authorities to reverse the...