Pressmen still on trial for republishing prophet caricatures [Archives:2006/922/Front Page]
SANA'A, Feb. 18 ) On Saturday, the capital's Southeast Court began the trial of Al-Hurriya newspaper's managing editor and one of its reporters for republishing the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh) drawings. The caricatures, disgracing Muslims and their prophet, originally were published by a Danish newspaper and subsequently republished by many European and Arab newspapers.
During the trial of Al-Hurriya, Prosecution convicted Managing Editor Akram Sabrah, 35, and news reporter Yahya Hussein Al-Abed, 37. The indictment revealed the caricatures scorning Islam and the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh) were republished on the front, third and last pages of Al-Hurriya issue No. 520.
Suspects denied all that was included in Prosecution's indictment, explaining to the court that their main intention was to defend Islam and the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh).
Defense advocates for the suspects confirmed that the republished caricatures were crossed out and covered by black ink by the newspaper's advisory panel. By republishing the drawings, the paper intended to defend Muslims and their prophet, publishing articles denouncing the behavior of those who disgraced the status of the Islamic prophet.
After a heated debate between Prosecution and the defense team, the court adjourned until next Wednesday, the same trial date of English language newspaper The Yemen Observer. The court allowed defense advocates to photocopy the case file and present their evidence next week.
In press interviews published by Al-Nas weekly, numerous Islamic scholars unanimously agreed that republishing the prophet caricatures, crossed out and covered by black ink, was meant to scorn those who disgraced the Islamic prophet, but said the newspapers were wrong in their method.
The scholars said the Prophet Mohamed caricatures should not have been republished, even though such was meant to deplore the Danish media. According to the scholars, republishing the caricatures was not a crime deserving punishment, but rather, the newspapers should have been reprimanded and blamed for their actions.
The Islamic scholars called on journalists to visit the Yemeni Scholars Society to discuss the issue. They agreed that a fatwa should not be issued on anyone publishing or writing anything intending to defend the Prophet Mohamed until the appropriate court rules on the matter.
Reaction on Al-Zindani's address
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) has expressed concern over an instigative address by Sheikh Al-Zindani against the Yemeni press, alleging it disgraced the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh).
A YJS source expressed curiosity that Al-Zindani would speak about the judiciary, after it incited thousands of protestors in Al-Tahrir Square last Thursday to denounce the acts of Yemeni journalists.
The same source ascertained that speaking about the judiciary – by one issuing a fatwa in a public platform under the guise of religion – is out of context.
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