Al-Thawry [Archives:2008/1130/Press Review]
Thursday, February 13
Top Stories
– NDI trains YSP youths on how to integrate in politics
– Five government employees kidnapped in Khawlan begin hunger strike
– Thousands of citizens mark Southern Martyers' Day
– American Writer: Saleh's reign represents the gold age for tribe's dominance over governance
– Yemeni Journalist Syndicates sues senior police officer for ordering soldiers to assault journalists in Hodeida
– Al-Ayyam editor seeks asylum abroad as gunmen attack his home
Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ayyam daily Hisham Basharahil is seeking political asylum abroad for the family following a savage attack in which tribesmen fired on his home on Tuesday, the weekly quoted local sources including the editor's son as saying.
The son Basharahil Basharahil told Reuters at daily Al-Ayyam's head-office in the southern city of Aden that his father Hisham Bashrahil, 62, had instructed him to close the newspaper and seek political asylum abroad for the family. 'I don't think we can continue as free journalists under such violent attacks,' said Bashrahil, the paper's general manager. 'We know that some very influential government people are behind the problems we have been facing. It has all culminated in this savage attack against us.'
A government official, who asked not to be named, denied the shootout had any connection with Al-Ayyam or its editorial line. 'This is a criminal incident and the prosecutor's office is investigating with all parties concerned. Those involved on both sides have been arrested. The matter is in the hands of the judicial authorities,' he said to Reuters.
Al-Ayyam, which has angered the authorities with its reporting of a series of anti-government protests in Aden in recent months, says it is the top-circulation paper in Yemen, with a print run of 64,000 copies. The younger Bashrahil said the attack on his father's house in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, by a tribal family claiming ownership of the land, was politically motivated. He added that the authorities were pressing his family to hand over one of its members in what he said was effectively a demand for a 'hostage'.
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[archive-e:1130-v:15-y:2008-d:2008-02-18-p:press]
