Press Harassment in Yemen  Concerned Americans [Archives:1999/44/Local News]

In a letter to President Saleh, two members of the American Congress expressed their concern with regard to freedom of the press conditions, especially what the Shora and Al-Haq have been exposed to recently. “We write to express our concern about reports that the authorities in the Republic of Yemen have yet again ordered the indefinite closure of the al-Shora newspaper. It is even more troubling that another newspaper, al-Haq, has also been closed under similar circumstances.”, they stated. The letter also includes some of the problems that Yemen is suffering from including weapons proliferation, crimes, economic problems, etc. The speaker of the congress asserted “The government’s repeated crackdown on press freedoms will only serve to ostracize Yemen from the community of nations.” Besides, this will jeopardize the international support to Yemen. The President was urged to overturn the suspension of these two newspapers. 
At another level, some Americans academics, scholars, lawyers and journalists wrote another letter to the President urging him to “take immediate steps to ensure that the ban on Al-Shora is lifted and that all coercive measures against the press are discouraged and renounced.”
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