Yemen’s Deteriorating Political Atmosphere UNDER SIEGE [Archives:1999/10/Front Page]

There are eight newspapers which are haunted by cases in court today. These include the Yemen Times, Al-Ayyam, Al-Haq, Al-Shoura, Al-Thawri, Al-Rai Al-Aam, Ray, among others. There are several journalists and columnists who are in prison.
On Saturday, February 6th, Abdul-Latif Al-Kutbi, Chief Editor of Al-Haq, was released following a four-day ordeal in prison.
Haitham Al-Ghareeb, Lawyer and columnist, still languishes in prison in Aden.
Noman Kaied Saif, had been released from prison a week ago after 3 days in prison.
Four weeks ago, Mohammed S. Al-Hadhiri’s brother was mistakenly beat up in place of his journalist brother.
Al-Ayyam’s chief editor was summoned for interrogation on what his paper had published. Yemen Times’ chief editor was summoned for interrogation on what his paper had published.
Two newspapers – Al-Shoura and Al-Rai Al-Aam are blocked from circulation.
The Political Security Organization (PSO) sends armed bands to arrest opinion leaders and journalists, mostly at night.
Yemen’s political climate has soured up tremendously over the last few weeks. It seems that the rulers of Yemen want to turn the clock backwards – to the days of authoritarianism. They will not succeed, of course. But they will succeed in inflicting more suffering on the Yemeni people, and bring more instability to the nation.
Pro-democracy activists held an urgnt meeting on this matter. More on Local News

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