Trial of newspapers on cartoon offence continues [Archives:2006/930/Local News]
Yasser Al-Mayasi
SANA'A, March 19 – The West Capital Court held a session Saturday, March 18 to try Al-Ray Al-A'am newspaper and its Editor-in-Chief Kamal Al-Olofi, accused of republishing caricatures offending the prophet Mohammed (pbuh).
The newspaper's lawyer, Khalid Al-Anisi, demanded his client be acquitted, saying the pictures Al-Ray Al-A'am published could not pose any significant insult because they were very small and hid the features. The newspaper even defended the prophet in articles published in the same issue.
Al-Anisi submitted defense's reply to Prosecution, asserting that the accusation against his client does not fulfill criminal requirements. However, Press and Publications Prosecution rejected defense's argument. Attorney Mohamed Sahl said Prosecution cleared the crime's basis in a memorandum, adding that the publications themselves were material proof of evidence.
Twelve lawyers presented claims against the newspaper. The court continued its session to next Saturday.
The Ministry of Information cancelled the licenses of the English Yemen Observer and Al-Hurriya newspaper and their three chief editors were detained. In its first session, Prosecution accused these three papers of insulting the prophet Mohammed (pbuh) by republishing caricatures that were published in Danish and European papers. The three newspapers remain suspended while others are being tried on other accusations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently issued a detailed report on journalist assaults entitled, “The press situation in Yemen: assaults, sponsorship and dirty tricks.” The report confirmed that government and state agents were involved in several recent attacks against journalists. The attacks were not investigated properly, while others were not investigated at all. However, they created a sense of fear among journalists.
The CPJ report affirmed that at least seven newspapers were closed by governmental and judicial commands in 2005. It also pointed to cloning of other newspapers, whereby the cloned newspapers coincide with the original ones in name and design. They only differ in editorial content, which is pro-government.
The report revealed that some journalists were attacked because they disclosed corruption of some officials, narrating details of abductions such as journalist Jamal Amir, chief editor of Al-Wasat and Al-Jihafi, Al-Nahar managing editor and several other journalists.
The CPJ report confirmed that the latest threat to Yemeni journalists is the effort to approve a new press law imposing firm media restrictions. Journalists fear the law will be used to stifle criticism, especially in the period leading up to September's presidential election. At the end of its report, the CPJ called on President Saleh and Yemen's government to adopt a number of the following recommendations:
-Encourage journalists to undertake independent press coverage, including coverage that criticizes the government.
-Guarantee that authorities will not punish journalists, either directly or indirectly, due their career activities.
-Publicly denounce violent abuses and actions aimed at terrorizing journalists.
-Denounce other crimes against the press and guarantee comprehensive and transparent investigations, whose findings are published publicly.
-Halting all government interference in journalist affairs, which undermines press activity.
The CPJ report also called for canceling Yemeni legal provisions such as the present draft press law and the penal law which abuse internationally recognized rights. The report also called for establishing independent Yemeni broadcasting means and encouraging them to provide independent news and opinions, suggesting that these could include criticizing the state.
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