Yemen

Yemeni journalist Fouad Rashid has been arbitrarily arrested in Al-Mukalla, a city 500 km east of Sanaa that is the capital of Hadramaut provinceaccording to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The editor of the Arabic-language news website Al-Mukalla Press, Rashid was arrested on the street on the morning of January 10 and was taken to the headquarters of the city’s...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has denounced the Yemeni political security organisation (intelligence) for preventing the distribution of elThowry newspaper, a publication of the Yemeni opposition socialist party in Aden, southern Yemen. The newspaper had reported on recent arrests in Aden. A number of citizens were detained as they were celebrating Independence Day which...

When the fourth hearing in imprisoned journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae’s trial was held before a special state security court in Sanaa Wednesday, prosecutors submitted the contents of his computer as evidence. His lawyer, however, accused them of deception, pointing out that they had produced the computer seized when he was briefly arrested on July 11, not the one seized when he was arrested a...

A Yemeni terrorism court haccused freelance journalist and Al-Qaeda analyst Abdulelah Shai on Tuesday of working with Al-Qaeda, according to news reports. Shai, who is on trial along with his assistant Abdul Karim Daoud al-Shami, has been accused of “belonging to an illegal network” and “supporting the al-Qaeda network” from 2008 to 2010, AFP reported. The journalist’s arrest comes after Al...

On the first day of his trial Monday before a state security court, journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae challenged the court’s legality and said those responsible for his abduction and forced disappearance should also be on trial, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). His lawyers, Abdel Rahman Barman and Khaled Al-Anssi, attended the hearing as observers and...

Preposterous charges have been brought against the Sabaa news agency reporter Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae, whose trial before a special state security court is due to start Monday, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). A specialist in covering Al-Qaeda, Shae has been charged by the attorney-general with inciting the murder of the president and his son, “belonging...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has urged the authorities to immediately free cartoonist Kamal Sharaf, who is still being held despite a ruling by a special state security court on September 22 ordering his release. The press freedom organisation also calls for the release of reporter Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae although the same state security court ruled that he should...

The arbitrary detention of Yemeni journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae was extended Wednesday by a special court responsible for trying cases of endangering state security, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. The court ordered he remain a further 30 days in custody officially in response to the requirements of the police investigation. The journalist was arrested at...

More than two weeks have gone by without any news of reporter Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae and cartoonist Kamal Sharaf since their arrests in Sanaa on August 16 and 17, which have been followed by an increase in cases of violence against journalists. An Al-Qaeda specialist who works for the Saba new agency, Shae was arrested at his home at the end of the daily Ramadan fast on the evening of August 16...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has demanded the immediate release of two Yemeni journalists who have been held without charge since August 16 and accused the Yemeni government of broken promises for backtracking on pledges to allow journalists in the country to work freely. Abdelelaah Shaie, a reporter working for the official Yemeni News Agency (SABA), and Kmal Sharaf, a...