Media Helping Media

Amnesty International is highlighting the case of Egyptian blogger Karim Amer who has spent a year behind bars after being sentenced to four years imprisonment for publishing material on the internet critical of Islam and President Mubarak. The organisation has set up a petition calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the man Amnesty describes as a 'prisoner of conscience'.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Yemeni authorities to detail the terrorism accusations it has levelled against an opposition newspaper editor,  Abdelkarim al-Khaiwani, who has been detained by government forces at his home in the capital, Sana’a. Al-Khaiwani is the editor of the online newspaper Al-Shoura. Mohammed Al-Asaadi has forwarded this report from the CPJ.

Six months ago the editor-in-chief of the Yemen Observer was jailed after republishing three Danish cartoons which the court ruled insulted the prophet Mohammed. After 12 days behind bars, Mohammed Al-Asaadi was released. He says the experience gave him a fresh perspective on media freedom in Yemen which he says needs support and training in professional and moral ethics in order to function properly.