Presidents gesture to the press [Archives:2002/30/Front Page]

In an unprecedented gesture of its kind, President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave orders last week to call off all the trials of all journalists in Yemen. Official sources said last Thursday that President Saleh ordered the Minister of Justice and the General Prosecutor to stop all measures and cases filed against journalists who are standing before prosecution. The presidents amnesty came on the occasion of the twenty fourth anniversary of his assumption of power in Yemen, on July 17, 2002. The orders said that journalists should avoid reporting what goes against law, established national norms or national unity. They stressed that the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) should make journalists aware of the press and publication law and by-law.
The amnesty of the president came after an appeal letter sent to him by the Chairman of the YJS to stop the hassling campaign the authorities have recently launched against the press. The YJS letter pointed out that the attack on press went to the extreme without any legal warrant. It said this distorted the image of Yemen as a democratic country.
In a response to this attack, the Arab Journalists Union (AJU) decided to abolish its meeting that was scheduled to be held in Sanaa late September as a signal of protest against the attack on press.
In a letter by AJU chairman Salah Elddin Hafidh to the YJS chairman Mahboob Ali, he said the AJU is following with great concern the situation of the press in Yemen and the harassment journalists are going through. He condemned any sort of throttling or harassment against the press, indicating that this harassment tarnished the image of Yemen abroad.
A number of journalists were standing trial, mainly Abbulraheem Mohsen and Ibraheem Hussein. They were tried on charges of inciting sectarianism and insulting national unity in their writings. Another three correspondents were being interrogated by the prosecution. A few other correspondents were summoned by the Ministry of Interior. A number of journalists told Yemen Times that they felt happy that President Salehs calling off of all procedures against the press.
But, they said what they need is respect of the law rather than tolerance of rulers as such measures might happen again with them. They call upon the president to hold such people who abuse the press accountable for their actions.


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