Yemen labelled among 20 worst press freedom countries [Archives:2006/994/Front Page]
SANA'A, Oct. 28 ) Yemen ranked 149 of 168 countries and one of the 20 worst countries in the world, according to a report released by Paris-based media organization Reporters Without Borders.
Yemen drops in the ladder of press freedoms falling behind countries such as Russia and Tunisia, said Reporters Without Borders. However, the organization released a report in 2002 with Yemen ranking 103 of 139 countries where freedom of the press was assessed.
The report, issued last Wednesday, said freedom of the press in the Arabian Peninsula with the exception of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
In its 2006 annual report, Reporters Without Borders said Yemen is at the edge of falling to the rank of “Enemies of the Press,” which includes 15 countries: North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Russia, China, Syria, Tunisia, Cuba, Vietnam, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Uzbekistan.
They said the most recent harassments and attacks the Yemeni authorities practice against journalists, coupled with the closure of some newspapers for republishing the prophet cartoons constitute the primary reasons behind Yemen's falling ranking. Yemen is only one rank ahead to be labelled an enemy.
Publishing the prophet cartoons made Denmark drop to the rank No. 19 in press freedom for the first time in the country's history, as the authors of the cartoons faced serious threats.
The organization recorded arbitrary practices and obstacles posed to journalists in Algeria, Jordan, Indonesia and India. It considered Kuwait the best Arab country in press freedom, as it ranked 73 internationally, followed by U.A.E. and Qatar.
Somalia is only one rank ahead of Yemen, according to the report, which covered the time period from September 2005 to September 2006. Yemen dropped four ranks from the previous ranks.
Many journalists expressed their concern about the press in Yemen, pointing out Yemen needs political will to stop such deterioration in press freedom.
“Over the last few years, freedom of the press in Yemen terribly deteriorated due to harassment, imprisonment and intimidation of journalists, in addition to the closure and cloning of newspapers, and monitoring papers before going to the press,” commented a number of journalists who gathered in the late journalist Hamid Shuhra funeral on Saturday, who died in a car accident on Wednesday Oct. 25.
Members of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate agreed that the procedures taken by the Ministry of Information against press institutions and journalists are the primary factors behind deterioration of the press in Yemen.
“All these harassments and attacks against journalists and newspapers targeted partial freedoms and not all the freedoms because Yemen has other visual and auditory media means,” said the journalists.
These journalists called on Yemeni Journalists Syndicate to confront such violations of the press rules so that the situation of the press in the country can improve.
“The Ministry of Information is not only the party involved in the issue, but there are other parties that commit such crimes against journalists and journalism,” Said Thabet deputy chairperson of the Syndicate said.
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