Published on 23 January 2008
19 January 2010 - Journalist imprisoned for ’falsification’ of the Koran
18 January 2010 - Woman journalist sentenced to three months in prison and banned from working
8 January 2010 - Arrest of editor in chief of al-Ayyam
Reporters Without Borders condemns the action of the authorities in blocking access to the independent new website YemenPortal (www.yemenportal.net) since 19 January. Access to at least seven other websites have been blocked since October.
“President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government is having to deal with growing social unrest and a Zaidi uprising but that is no reason to target the media and websites,” the press freedom organisation said. “As it is unable to influence what they post, the government has decided to block independent news websites in order to suppress their criticisms.”
Access to YemenPortal from within Yemen was blocked two days after Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar and other government officials accused the press on 17 January of “jeopardising the country’s national interest” and “promoting incitement to secession.”
YemenPortal editor Walid Al-Saqaf told Reporters Without Borders he founded the site with the aim of “giving a voice to all of the country’s political tendencies and providing objective and independent news reports.”
The news websites to which the Yemeni authorities have blocked access since October include www.yamenhurr.net, www.hnto.net, www.hdrmut.com, www.al-teef.com, www.al-yemen.org, www.adenpress.com and www.soutalgnoub.com.
Adel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, better known by the pen name Kareem Amer, was arrested on 6 November 2006, for articles published on his blog .
