Thursday, January 07, 2010

Obama saves Yemen

"The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest today of the editor-in-chief and managing editor of the independent daily Al-Ayyam on the third day of a government siege of the compound that houses the paper’s offices in Aden. Security forces entered Al-Ayyam’s offices and took into custody both Editor Hisham Bashraheel and his son, Hani Bashraheel, managing editor, according to local newsreports and Samia al-Aghraby, chairwoman of the Freedoms Committee of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate. The prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest, the same sources reported, although the charges have not been made public or been told to the editors’ family. According to Mohammed al-Amrawi, lawyer for Al-Ayyam, both journalists were flown to the capital, Sana’a. Another of Hisham Bashraheel’s sons, Mohamed Bashraheel, has been in custody since Monday and was also flown to the capital, according to al-Amrawi. It was not clear why the government was persecuting the Bashraheels specifically." (thanks Lilia)