(NewsYemen) Nov 26, Sanaa The Western Capital Secretary Court forwarded today the case filed against Al-Thowri opposition newspaper and its columnist Mohamed Al-Maqaleh to the appeals court of Sanaa.
The appeals court is expected to rule on the objection of Al-Thowri and Al-Maqaleh’s lawyer, who said the Western Court does not fall into the geographical zone of the defendants. The defendants’ lawyer Bassim Al-Sharjabi said that the court that should have dealt with the case is the South Western Capital Secretary Court, which is already handling 13 cases against the same newspaper.
Al-Sharjabi said that such lawsuits, which are mostly filed by the government, are merely a means to pressurize and harass journalists and clamp down on the freedom of expression, and such action constitutes a blatant violation of democracy’.
He added, "Many of the cases filed against journalists and newspapers have nothing to do with published articles, but are related to greater issues with a political agenda." he said.
"They are filed to silence journalists."
It is worth noting that the case of Al-Thowri and Al-Maqaleh is related to an opinion piece written by Al-Maqaleh, who requested President Saleh to give away some of his authority rather than surrounding all his powers by not running again for presidency.
