Free press advocates call for demonstration in Freedom Square tomorrow [Archives:2007/1056/Front Page]

archive
June 4 2007

Nadia Al-Sakkaf
SANA'A, June 3 ) For the first time in Yemen, freedom advocates have designated a location in Sana'a as “Freedom Square.” It is in front of the Yemeni Cabinet, where many press freedom demonstrations have taken place recently. It's also the location of the next sit-in to demand releasing all types of media, particularly SMS news services.

While journalists at Aleshteraki.net, Al-Ummah.net and Al-Shoura.net breathed a sigh of relief at the release of their web sites, other media outlets providing news services via SMS cursed their luck. The Yemeni Cabinet yielded to demands by journalists and press freedom advocates to unblock the web sites.

Prime Minister Ali Mujawar met with representatives of the protestors yesterday and agreed to unblock the web sites, but banned all SMS services except Saba Mobile Services by the official Saba News Agency, Yemen's only and official news agency. This means even international mobile news services, such as Al-Jazeera and Reuters, now are banned in Yemen. Mujawar's decision both partially solved the problem and aggravated it.

Reactions

Tawakul Karman, a prominent leader of press freedom demonstrations, commented that the Yemeni government is in a state of panic due to the popularity of SMS news media. Karman led many demonstrations due to the government's refusal to grant her organization, Women Journalists Without Chains, a license to publish a newspaper and banning the group's SMS news service.

“The majority of Yemenis are illiterate or have no access to newspapers, so the only source they have to receive news about local issues is official television and radio broadcasting.

With the availability of SMS news coming from an independent source, the state panicked, knowing that this is how Yemenis will become more educated about their local issues,” she said.

Commenting that this is “a clear methodical violation of freedom of press,” Yemeni Journalists Syndicate Secretary-General Sa'eed Thabet wondered, “Such services have been operating for two years, so why are they just now realizing that they're against the law?”

The Yemeni state defended its actions as a means of protecting media from abuse and adopting disciplinary measures on new forms of media, “lest [they be] used irresponsibly by those wanting to harm Yemen's stability and cause a threat to national security,” as official media reported.

Parliamentarians

Representatives of opposition parties in Parliament indicated their resentment at the situation. At a sit-in last Tuesday, Joint Meeting Parties spokesman Mohammed Al-Sabri urged members of Parliament to question the government about dangerous discrimination between state-run and party media. He also lashed out at the Yemeni government for violating press freedoms.
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