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| WAN protests to Yemeni president over jail sentences for journalists | ||||
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His Excellency President Ali Abdullah Saleh President of Yemen Sana'a, Yemen 5 November 2009 Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at the alleged torture of a journalist in prison and the sentencing to jail of two others. According to reports, journalist and human rights activist Salah Al Saqladi, who has been detained since 18 June 2009, has been subjected to beatings and torture in prison, including being left hanging from the ceiling of his cell for four days. Mr Al Saqladi was arrested for writing articles criticising the authorities and reporting on human rights violations, particularly in southern Yemen. On 31 October, a special press tribunal sentenced Mounir al-Marawi, a contributor to the independent weekly Al-Masdar, to two years in prison and Samir Jibrane, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, to a one-year suspended sentence for libelling the president. The tribunal also banned Mr al-Marawi from practising journalism for life, while Mr Jibrane was banned for one year. Mr al-Marawi, who lives in the U.S., was sentenced in absentia. The charges arose from articles written by Mr al-Marawi criticising the conduct of the war against a Shi'ite rebellion in the north of the country. The sentencing also followed a refusal by the state-run Al-Thawra Printing House to print one October issue of the newspaper that it deemed to be critical of the authorities. We respectfully remind you that imprisoning journalists for writing and publishing critical comments constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers." Furthermore, we believe that a civil award of reasonable damages is adequate and appropriate relief in all proven cases of libel. Questioning government policies is part of the proper function of an independent press and such criticism should be expected by senior political figures. We call on you to ensure that Mr Al Saqladi is immediately released from prison and that the jail sentences and banning orders handed out to Mr al-Marawi and Mr Jibrane are overturned. We ask that you take all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Yours sincerely, Gavin O'Reilly President World Association of Newspapers Xavier Vidal-Folch President World Editors Forum WAN-IFRA is the global organization for the world's newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. cc Justice Minister Ghazi Shaif al-Aghbari |
