On World Press Day
The Information Center calls for a halt to the execution and the release of journalists in Yemen:
Taiz:
The Human Rights Information and Training Center – Hritc called on the United Nations and the international community to work seriously to quickly halt the death sentences announced by the Houthi militia in Sana’a against journalists detained in its prisons, and to release them immediately.
A statement by the center on the World Press Freedom Day, which falls on the third of May, said that press freedom in Yemen is worse than anywhere else in the world.
In its statement, the center described the situation of journalists as the most complicated because of the conditions of the war that have afflicted Yemen since the September 2014 coup, and because of the incursion of uncontrolled militias in all joints of Yemen and the kidnapping of the state.
The Human Rights Information and Training Center – Hritc, a regional organization with consultative status with the United Nations, said that the complex situation in Yemen and the absence of state institutions for a long period exacerbated the bad situation that affected various media institutions, including independent bodies expressing journalists, which almost ended in Yemen. In addition, the suffering of the press begins with the cessation of all sources of livelihood and the cessation of entitlements and ends with the killing, prosecution, and kidnapping of journalists and the issuance of death sentences against them, as is the case with journalists, Akram Al-Walidy, Tawfiq Al-Mansoori, Abdul-Khaleq Omran and Harith Hamid, who has been in the basements of the Houthi intelligence prison for seven years and are awaiting a death sentence.
The center said that the World Press Freedom Index, which ranked Yemen in the 169th place, for this year did not do justice to the field of journalism in Yemen, as the reality is more dangerous, and that the Houthis’ practice in Sana’a included the closure of local radio stations and websites, and every blogger with an opposing viewpoint is pursued with severe repressive measures The center’s statement described the situation of journalists in Yemen in light of the militia’s dominance as an atmosphere of terrorism over the life of the writer and his family, and even horror extends to writers’ friends and acquaintances, a situation that embodies the repressive approach towards any platform for the word.
The Center called on the authorities to make the process of releasing journalists a real priority in the ongoing consultations, and called on the United Nations envoy, Hans Grundberg, to work to stop the death sentences and release journalists and political detainees without subjecting this to any kind of bargaining, as the issue is a human rights issue par excellence.
