Human rights report documents 5 cases of violations against journalists in government areas during October

The Media Freedom Observatory said on Sunday that it had documented 5 cases of violations committed against Yemeni journalists in areas controlled by the legitimate government, due to their media activity during the past month.

The Observatory's monthly report stated that "it monitored 6 violations against journalists during last October, including 5 violations attributed to the Yemeni government and parties present in areas under its control, and one case against unknown persons."

He pointed out that "the violations committed against Yemeni journalists were distributed between two cases of arrest, one case of detention, two cases of interrogation and trial of journalists on the basis of their media activity, and one case of threat."

According to the report, the security authorities in Aden Governorate (the temporary capital of Yemen) arrested journalist “Mohammed Al-Yazidi” for 15 days without trial, based on a complaint filed by Presidential Leadership Council member “Faraj Al-Bahsani.”

The report explained that “Al-Yazidi” had “left Hadhramaut Governorate for Aden to continue his work, fearing for his life after being subjected to a campaign of threats and persecution by the security forces in Hadhramaut during Al-Bahsani’s rule as governor.”

The observatory added that “8 journalists are still under arrest: Wahid Al-Sufi, Muhammad Al-Maqri, Naseh Shaker, Nabil Al-Sadawi, Ahmed Maher, Fahd Al-Arhabi, Muhammad Al-Mayah, and Muhammad Al-Hattami.” Some of them have been behind bars for more than nine years, while three of them have been forcibly disappeared.

On October 15, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said that it had monitored 30 cases of violations against media freedoms in Yemen from the beginning of July to September 30 of this year.