Despite assaultsRahma and Hafid will not stop defending rights & freedoms [Archives:2005/846/Front Page]
May 30 2005
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Tension rose over the publication of an imprudent article against journalist Rahma Hujairah and her husband on the first issue of “al-Bilad Newspaper” last Tuesday.
The indecent article targeted Rahma Jujairah, Chairwoman of Women Journalists Forum and her husband Hafid al-Bukari, Secretary-General of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS). This conduct has been strongly denounced by media and civil society organisations.
The article published last week irritated Yemeni journalists from different newspapers who in turn expressed solidarity with Rahma and her husband at the head-office of the YJS. They issued many statements that denounced assaults of journalists and called on all Yemeni journalists to stand up to those who want to degrade the status of journalism and disgrace reputation of journalists.
The YJS decided to freeze the YSS-membership of al-Bilad Chief Editor Abdulmalik al-Faishani and the newspaper's Managing Editor Abdullah Bushr for publishing such bad articles and incorrectly fabricated stories. The Yemeni journalists collectively decided to stage a sit-in at the court and file a lawsuit against al-Bilad Newspaper.
Journalists Hafid and Rahma appointed three lawyers, namely, Nabil al-Mohammadi, Nasser al-Bukhaiti and Jamal al-Ja'abi to represent them before the court.
Hafid al-Bukari and Rahma Hujairah said in a statement to the Yemen Times that, “we perceive the size of challenge facing us when we work for defending freedoms and human rights. During our activities, we have been subjected to several harassments but we never expected such conducts that target the morality of journalists.”
“Such practices will never make media personnel silent and the solidarity declared by journalists encouraged us to defend our rights and freedoms of the press and democracy,” Hafid and Rahma added.
“We are waiting for justice to take the legal procedures and punish the wrongdoers, and therefore we expect to encounter some difficulties in obtaining our rights as we are fully acquainted with the situation of journalism in the country.”
They added, “We hope to find the state of law and the constitution we are still dreaming of and we usually work for its sake. What happened is considered as desperate attempts to thwart the dream and despoil the human principles and values as well as to kill the soul, which advocates for making a change to the situation we experience as citizens. The rights of Yemeni citizens are often violated here and there but we have enough confidence to score victory at the end.”
The majority of Yemeni newspapers strongly denounced such illegal practices against the profession of journalism.
That misconduct was denounced by several non-governmental organizations including Women Journalists without Borders, which confirmed in a statement that what Rahma Hujairah was subjected to was a kind of real terror against the female journalists. Such practices aim to eradicate the participation of women in the political life and targeting Rahma Hujairah was thought of as a humiliation of all journalists.
In addition, the Yemeni Lawyers Syndicate (YLS) affirmed in a statement it would stand by journalists Rahmah Hujairah and her husband Hafid al-Bukari, General Secretary of the YJS.
In its statement, the YLS urged the government to take legal action against the offenders and their conducts, as a kind of moral bankruptcy and deterioration of the profession.
Several international organizations condemned the practices aimed to harm reputation of Rahma Hujairah and her husband, and International Journalists Union (IJU) condemned the assault against Hafid and Rahma.
The IJU, which includes around half a million members from across the world, expressed full solidarity with the two-targeted journalists who have been subject to attack.
The General Secretary of the IJU noted such crafty attack against prominent journalists who defend freedoms of the press and rights of citizens raises concern. He confirmed a newspaper that was suddenly issued a few days after both journalists Hafid and Rahma criticized the government and its policies made such an attack.
The IJU called on the Yemeni authorities to respect the freedom of expression for guaranteeing a constructive environment that can develop journalism in Yemen.
There are many organizations and personalities who have stood by journalists Hafid al-Bukari and Rahma Hujairah but the report will not be enough to include all of them.
Some political analysts and people interested in the situation of journalism attributed the attack against the two prominent journalists to their views that oppose policies of the government and their strong will to defend rights of journalists.
Those observers hold the view that articles published by Rahma Hujairah, the last of which was published in al-Thawri weekly on Thursday May 19 under the title “President's war on media and multi-party existence” were the main reasons behind such immoral conducts against her.
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[archive-e:846-v:13-y:2005-d:2005-05-30-p:front]
