Yemeni newspapers closed [Archives:2006/919/Front Page]
By: Hamdan Dammag
SANA'A, Feb 8. – The government gave instructions yesterday to cancel the license of the Yemen Observer after it allegedly republished Danish illustrations depicting the Prophet Mohammed. This came just days after similar government action against Al-Hourriah (The Freedom) newspaper.
In this regard, Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) sources said it will hold an emergency meeting in the next two days to discuss the situation. The YJS also denied suspending Al-Hourriah Editor-in-Chief, Abdul Karim Sabrah. In a statement, Marwan Dammaj, head of the YJS human rights committee, confirmed that “the Syndicate did not discuss this matter in its meeting Monday, Feb. 6.”
Yemen's Saba News Agency reported Feb. 6 that the YJS issued a press release confirming suspension of Sabrah's membership for deliberately not adhering to journalism's code of conduct by republishing offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh). Private newspaper Al-Hourriah republished some of the controversial illustrations Feb. 2 as part of a campaign against Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. According to NewsYemen, Al-Hourriah then confirmed in a press release that although done in good faith, publishing the illustrations was a mistake.
The Yemen Observer claims it published a full page on the developments from the Danish cartoons in Yemen, wherein fragments of the illustrations were assembled with huge, thick black X marks over the drawings to protest their existence. However, as many readers stated, not all images were covered this way.
Yemen Observer Editor-in-Chief, Mohammed Al-Asadi, said the action against it resulted from blackmail efforts by private newspaper Al-Shomoa publisher, Saif Al-Hadhiri, “to inflame the angry public against the newspaper.”
Ali Al-Jaradi, head of the YJS media committee, claims Muslim journalists would not republish such illustrations with ill intentions. He said if Yemeni journalists did republish the illustrations, then it was only to show their denouncement of offending the prophet.
In this regard, Marwan Dammaj stated that the government is exploiting the public's current feelings of disgrace by unlawfully suspending the newspapers, indicating, “According to law, such actions should only be taken by the court.”
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