Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "Journalists Under Attack"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 14, June 19-July 02, 2009

Journalists under Attack

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end censorship of independent newspapers and to identify and prosecute those who assaulted Al-Jazeera journalists on two occasions in the south of the country. Yemen's popular daily, Al-Ayyam, the weeklies Al-Nida and Al-Watani, as well as five other independent newspapers, were banned by the government in early May.

Sami Ghaleb, editor of Al-Nida, told CPJ that government officials had promised to instruct the state-owned Al-Thawra printing house to print his weekly, but that printing has not happened thus far. Even those newspapers that have resumed publication, he said, have faced sporadic confiscation.

"We condemn the continued harassment of independent journalism and the criminal assaults on Fadel Mubarak and other Al-Jazeera personnel. All independent papers should be allowed to resume publication, and the individuals who attacked Mubarak must be brought to justice," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator.

The Freedoms Committee of the Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate said it has documented dozens of attacks against the press since May.

In other news, Reporters Without Borders condemns the erasure of Al-Jazeera video footage by Palestinian Authority security officials at the outskirts of the West Bank city of Hebron on 15 June 2009, reports Menassat.

"Journalists must be able to work freely," Reporters Without Borders said. "The erasure of this video footage proves that the Palestinian security forces try to cover up their human rights violations. This incident should be the subject of an enquiry by the Palestinian Authority."

"We were the only ones to investigate this case and we did it despite strong pressure from the Palestinian Authority," said Walid Omari, the head of the Qatar-based satellite TV station's operations in the West Bank.

Al Jazeera's Hebron correspondent went with a cameraman to the deceased detainee's home in the village of Dura, where they interviewed the family and filmed the body. On their way back to the vehicle, the Palestinian Authority security forces confiscated the video footage and erased it.

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