Hisham Bashraheel

One opinion was relayed to me repeatedly by numerous journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders during the week I just spent in Yemen: The crackdown against independent and opposition media in the country has not been this concerted at any time since the unification of the southern and northern halves of the country in 1990.

We issued the following statement after learning that Hisham Bashraheel, editor of the daily Al-Ayyam, who has been in custody since January 6, was released today for what colleagues described as “health reasons.” The release comes one week after CPJ called on President Saleh of Yemen to release a number of journalists who are in custody but have not been charged with a crime. At least three other journalists remain in government custody...

Top Developments
• Government censors newspapers, establishes new press court.
• Two journalists jailed without charge; one missing after being abducted.

Ministers and officials representing some 20 Western and Arab governments and international financial institutions declared themselves “friends of Yemen” during last week’s closed-door meeting in London to address threats posed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, according to news reports. Participants, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, offered assurances that the international community, in addition to providing military cooperation, would work with the Yemeni government to promote human rights and build democratic institutions. But skeptics fear this publicized “friendship” will also provide an opportunity for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to intensify his attacks on political dissent and independent journalism.

New York, January 6, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest today of the editor-in-chief and managing editor of the independent daily Al-Ayyam on the third day of a government siege of the compound that houses the paper’s offices in Aden.

New York, January 4, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to instruct authorities to peacefully end a siege of an independent daily that is now in its second day in Aden.

New York, May 13, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns a raid today by Yemeni security forces on the Aden compound of the country's most popular independent newspaper. One passerby was killed. 

New York, May 8, 2009--Amid an increasing crackdown on the media in Yemen, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the Yemeni authorities to disclose the whereabouts of a journalist who has been held incommunicado since May 4 after he was arrested in southern Yemen. CPJ also called on the authorities to drop a series of lawsuits against an independent critical newspaper.