(NewsYemen) Dec 25, Sanaa A Yemeni journalist said yesterday that he was intimidated and threatened by the manager of a criminal investigation department in the province of Hajja.
In a memo sent to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, Managing Editor of Annas private Weekly Abdulbassit Al-Qaedi said he was threatened after he published a report on human rights violations committed by security forces in the district of Al-Shahil in Hajja. The report also provided details about attacks against alleged supporters of Al-Houthi supporters in the region.
Al-Qaedi told NewsYemen that upon calling the security officials to get more information about the violations, they refused to provide any details and threatened to cause him harm if he is to publish a report on this issue.
But after he did publish the report in a recent issue, he received calls from the Manager of the Criminal Investigation Department of Al-Shahil district and was threatened of being beaten.
"They called me an al-Houthi associate and accused me of acting against the regime and the state, which is the same accusation used by security officials in the area against any citizen rejecting their brutal and illegal actions," he said.
He added, "other calls were made by those officials to my relatives asking about my home in Sanaa and where I go." He said he fears retaliation by the police, who could attack his family living in the Al-Shahil district because of what he has written in the report.
Al-Qaedi’s appeal to the syndicate demanded protection for himself and his family and for investigating the threats by those officials, whose actions according to him- have caused insecurity more than any time in the past. This comes after a wave of attacks against the press have somewhat subsided in the last week.
Cases of attacks and threats and intimidation against other journalists remained without investigation and none of the governmental officials involved in those incidents was interrogated or punished.
