On International Press Day, Maat Indicates that No Protection is Provided for Journalists Falling in the Grip of the Houthi Militia and Calls on the International Community to Pressure the Houthis to Release 4 Journalists Facing Execution
Okeil: We recommend the UN experts on Yemen to investigate violations against journalists and to hold perpetrators accountable under international law
Sherif Abdul-Hamid: We call for protecting journalists in Yemen and helping them document violations without fear of prosecution
In conjunction with the World Press Freedom Day, which is annually celebrated on May 3 to evaluate press freedom around the world and defend the media from attacks on their independence, Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights issued a fact paper entitled “The Violent Tactics Used by the Houthi Militia to Suppress Press Freedom”, to document facts about the violations committed by the Houthi militia towards press freedoms from May 2021 until the end of April 2022, with the aim of drawing the attention of the international community to the need to act to protect press freedoms and rights from the oppression of the Houthi militia.
According to the paper, more than 920 violations of press freedom have been documented by the Houthi group since their control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2015 until the end of April 2022, in addition to nearly 53 violations from May 2021 until the end of April 2022. As to preventing media professionals and journalists from carrying out their work; in September 2021, the militia prevented photographer Abdul Rahman al-Ghabri and his crew from filming in the old Sana’a, in addition to confiscating their cameras and private phones, despite obtaining a permit from the Ministry of Culture of the Houthi militia.
Maat also confirmed that journalists who try to cross the red line and question the Houthi militia are putting their lives in danger, and their inevitable punishment will be assassination. According to Maat’s human rights estimates, the Houthi militia has been involved in the killing of 47 journalists and photographers since the beginning of the conflict until its end in April 2022. This involvement will not be limited to assassinations, but also targeting journalists with fire while carrying out their work documenting human rights violations resulting from the armed conflict. Finally, Maat called on the international community to pressure the Houthis to release the 4 journalists who are on death row.
In this context, the international human rights expert and president of Maat, Ayman Okeil stressed that the situation of journalists and media professionals in Yemen is still precarious and subject to deterioration, in addition to the unjustified restrictions imposed on their basic rights, especially their right to freedom of expression. Such incidents of arresting and torturing inmates and closing the media headquarters in which they work, force journalists to remain silent and practice self-censorship for fear of being subjected to assassination or physical liquidation.
On World Press Day, Okeil recommended the United Nations Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen to open investigations into violations committed against journalists, work to hold perpetrators accountable under international law, ensure the protection of journalists and enable them to carry out their work in Yemen. Okeil also stressed the need to put pressure on the Houthi militia to stop targeting press freedom by threatening and killing journalists and called for the immediate release of 9 journalists, as well as the squash of the death sentences wrongly issued against four other journalists.
Meanwhile, Sherif Abdul-Hamid, director of the Research and Studies Unit at Maat, confirmed that the human rights testimonies given by journalists and media professionals to Maat indicate that they have received ongoing threats of death and kidnapping by the Houthis. Such threats forced some of them to stop their journalistic work. In December 2021, journalist Ali Muhammad Al-Uqabi, editor of the Al-Thawra Net website, was threatened with physical liquidation by one of the supervisors of the Houthi militia in Al-Mahwit Governorate, due to his human rights views against the militia. In April 2022, journalist Wiam Al-Sufi, correspondent of the September 26 newspaper was threatened with kidnapping by armed persons affiliated with the Houthi militia in Taiz governorate, and her husband and brother were not spared the continuous incitement by the militia, in order to force her to stop her journalistic work.
Finally, Abdul-Hamid demanded the necessity of imposing sanctions on members of the Houthi militia who target freedom of the press and the opening of serious investigations to detect and punish the perpetrators of violations in addition to the importance of protecting journalists in Yemen and helping them document violations without fear of prosecution by the Houthi militia.
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