Links
Protest in Yemen against harassment of journalists
Dozens of Yemeni journalists, civil-society activists and members of parliament protested yesterday in front of the attorney general's office in Sana'a against increasing harassment of journalists.
The protesters demanded the release of Mohammed al Makaleh, an opposition journalist and political activist who was kidnapped on September 17. The authorities first said they were not holding al Makaleh in prison, but last month admitted he was in custody.
The protest came after it was reported last week that state security had begun interrogating al Makaleh, who was said to have been tortured brutally.
Marwan Damaj, secretary general of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, a non-governmental organization, attended the interrogation and described the condition of the journalist as terrible. "When I saw him, he was pale and seems to suffer some psychological and physical problems. He said he was tortured and he went through faked executions several times."
Damaj said that al Makaleh, the editor of al Eshteraki, the news website of the opposition Socialist Party, told him he was kidnapped by more than 20 armed people and was beaten. "He told me he was kept in an old house thought to be outside the capital where guns were pointed at his head for 20 days. He went on a hunger strike for 16 days in protest against his torture," Damaj said.