Section 1: The Press
Yemen was one of the deadliest places for journalists in 2018.[1] Journalists and media workers have been subjected to various forms of attacks, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, assault, humiliation, and the raiding and burning of media institutions. Reporters Without Borders ranked Yemen 167 out of 180 countries in the world on its annual world press freedom index in 2018.[2]
Journalists have been a regular target of violence and free expression routinely oppressed by the parties to the conflict in Yemen over the past four years. The space Yemenis had for expression, opposition, and voicing critical opinions has been all but closed. Any voices that remain critical of the warring parties in control of the area often pay a heavy price for voicing their opinions.
Mwatana documented eight incidents of violations against 27 journalists and media organizations in 2018. The armed group Ansar Allah (Houthis) was responsible for five, including detaining 3 journalists and disappearing two, while three incidents occurred in areas under President Hadi’s authority.
One of these incidents was the arrest and detention of 21 journalists and media figures who were holding a conference on dealing with hateful rhetoric. This conference was being conducted in partnership with UNESCO on 25 October 2018, and the journalists were then later released after they had been taken to the headquarters of the Political Security Organization and interrogated there. Seven of the journalists were forced to sign pledges to not conduct any activities without informing the relevant authorities.
In addition to the specific incidents documented in 2018, Ansar Allah (Houthis) brought 11 journalists who had previously been subjected to a range of violations, including disappearance, torture and other forms of mistreatment, over the past three years to the specialized public prosecutor’s office. The fate of journalist Waheed Al Sufi remains unknown since he disappeared in Sana’a in June 2015.[3] Ansar Allah (Houthis) also continued to block a number of news and media sites through their control of the internet service provider YemenNet.
Legal Framework
Under international humanitarian law, journalists are civilians and may not be targets of attack unless directly participating in hostilities. International human rights law also protects the right to free expression. While some limitations may be imposed on media work during times of armed conflict, these limitations must be strictly required by the exigences of the situation, and journalists may not be arrested, detained or otherwise punished or retaliated against for doing their work as journalists.
The Yemeni Constitution reiterates the commitment of the state to work in accordance with the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international principles. The Constitution specifically protects the right of every citizen “to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country. The state shall guarantee freedom of thought and expression of opinion in speech, writing and photography within the limits of the law.”[4]
Case Studies
- In the early morning of Thursday, 1 March 2018, three armed, masked men in military uniforms raided the offices of Al Shomo’a Media Organization in the city of Aden.
Nasri Saeed (38 years old), an employee in the public relations department, said: “The warehouse that we were in was raided … they were pointing their rifles at us. They ordered us to leave the site after taking our phones away from us, and they took us to the outside fence of the building, where there was a white Nissan military vehicle. Around 30 meters away from this vehicle, there was another military vehicle, that was beige and also had armed men on it. One of them was manning a mounted machine gun. One of the armed men brought a tank of gasoline that was in their vehicle, and he took it into the warehouse that the printing press was in. He poured the gasoline on the printing press and the newspapers that were being printed at the time, and he set it on fire. The armed men then left the scene immediately after that.” Ibrahim Abous (39 years old), the Deputy General Manager, said: “The whole printing press was destroyed, and around 200 employees and workers lost their jobs. These were their only sources of income. Our colleague, Walled Al Sharabi, suffered from dangerous injuries to his spine and his legs when he tried to escape the warehouse out of fear from the fire, and he had to jump from a height of around 5 meters.” Al Shumo’a published two daily newspapers and two weekly newspapers, one of which was in English, as well as a monthly newspaper. Al Shumo’a for Journalism and Media was subjected to three consecutive attacks; the raid on 1 March forced the owner to close the organization and leave Aden.
- In the morning on Wednesday, 6 November 2018, five armed men and a woman from Ansar Allah (Houthis) raided two photographers’ apartment in a residential neighborhood in the capital, Sana’a.
The Ansar Allah forces raided the apartment of journalist, Fuad Al Khidhr (45 years old), a photographer for Al Arabiya Satellite Channel, and Muhammad Aydhah (35 years old), a photographer for Al Hurra Channel. The apartment was on Al Qahirah Street.
“Hamoud” (34 years old, pseudonym), who lived in the same building, said: “I heard, at around 6:30 am, a loud knocking on the doors and the sound of things breaking and a lot of movement. I heard people going up the stairs and going back down. They broke down the door to Muhammad Aydhah’s apartment. His wife had left the house to take their children to school. They searched the home, but they did not find Muhammad. They found his brother and his son, who was less than two years old at the time. They took Muhammad’s brother outside the building after they had taken the children to a neighbor’s house.”[5] Hamoud added: “As for Al Khidhr’s apartment, it was on the third floor, and the armed men knocked the door. Al Khidhr’s wife opened the door for them, and they went straight to the bedroom and took Al Khidhr out of the apartment. When his wife stopped the armed men from searching the house, the woman who was with them searched it. The building remained surrounded by four vehicles with armed men on them until 11:00 am, and they did not allow us to leave the building until that time. We had to remain prisoners in our own homes.”
The group attacked Al Khidhr and Aydhah and stole some of their personal belongings and property. The photographers were forcibly disappeared, and then released about two weeks after their initial detention.
[1] Reporters Without Borders, WORLDWIDE ROUND-UP of journalists killed, detained, held hostage, or missing in 2018, pg. 9, December 2018, https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/worldwilde_round-up.pdf
[2] Reporters Without Borders, RSF Index 2018: Hatred of journalism threatens democracies, https://rsf.org/en/rsf-index-2018-hatred-journalism-threatens-democracies
[3] Ibid., pg. 21
[4] The Constitution of the Republic of Yemen, 10 January 1994, PART TWO: THE BASIC RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS, Article 42
[5] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with an eyewitness, 8 November 2018