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The Sana’a Appeals Court suspended on Monday the prison sentence of a local journalist and the closure of his newspaper, pending the appeal proceedings. Kamal Al-Olufi, editor-in-chief of Al-Rai Al-A’am weekly, was relieved that Judge Hamoud al-Herdi of the Appeals Court set him free. He has been in hiding for almost 17 days, fearing a one-year prison sentence. The Public Prosecutor had closed down his newspaper and issued instructions for his immediate arrest.
The Sana’a Appeals Court suspended on Monday the prison sentence of a local journalist and the closure of his newspaper, pending the appeal proceedings.
Kamal Al-Olufi, editor-in-chief of Al-Rai Al-A’am weekly, was relieved that Judge Hamoud al-Herdi of the Appeals Court set him free. He has been in hiding for almost 17 days, fearing a one-year prison sentence.
The Public Prosecutor had closed down his newspaper and issued instructions for his immediate arrest.
Al-Olufi and his paper were convicted on November 25 in a case stemming from the publishing of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
He was sentenced to one year’s jail time, the closure of the paper for six months, and he was barred from writing for 18 months.
The prosecutor then released the editor from custody pending his appeal, but he changed his mind one week later. Although wary, al-Olufi says he expected such a decision from the appeal judge.
“We also expect the innocence verdict by the appeal court. We are not criminals and trust that we will eventually be proven innocent.”
Some private prosecutors, commissioned by Sheikh Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani, president of Al-Iman University, appealed the original ruling against the Al-Rai Al-A’am because they didn’t think the punishment was harsh enough, and because they were kicked out of court by the judge in the primary verdict, who rejected their interference in the trial.
A Sana’a primary court on Wednesday, December 13, convicted two local journalists of insulting the Islamic religion and ridiculing Prophet Mohammed by republishing some of the Danish cartoons back in February.
Judge Mohammed Rubaid of the South East Sana’a Court delivered guilty verdicts against Akram Sabra, managing editor of Al-Hurriyah weekly, and his assistant, Yehya al-Abed.
The two journalists received suspended sentences that include four months of jail time, the closure of the paper for one month, and a one-month ban on writing for both men.
Suspending the sentences means that no part of the verdict will be enacted, though it will go on record. However, the judge did order the editors to publish the court’s decision in all official newspapers, at their own expense, as soon as possible.
The Yemen Observer and its editor were convicted on Wednesday, December 6, and fined YR 500,000 (U.S. $2,530) by Judge Sahl Hamza of the South West Sana’a Court. The paper was allowed to remain open, and the editor received no prison sentence.
The Yemen Journalists Syndicate earlier appealed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh to intervene and put a stop to the ongoing harassment of local journalists, in light of the closure of a newspaper and the conviction of editors.
The syndicate sent a letter to Saleh, in his constitutional capacity as president of the country, requesting him to give instructions to drop all charges against the Yemen Observer, Al-Rai Al-A’am, and Al-Hurriyah newspapers for republishing images of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. He has not yet responded.
A group of journalists, government officials, and human rights activists met Thursday, December 14 to discuss freedom of the press in Yemen. In heated four-hour discussions, the optimists, mainly from government and ruling party, maintained that press freedom is a reality and is getting better and better.
The pessimists, mainly from the opposition, countered that it is a margin, getting narrower and narrower. Between these two different trends, there was a mediating voice, from all stakeholders, which said that the freedom of the press is improving, but with more difficulties that must be overcome by all.
Al-Olufi thanked the Yemeni Journalists syndicate and the Allaow Law firm for their solidarity and show of support throughout the ordeal. |
