IFJ Campaign for Justice for Yemeni Journalist Abdelkarim Al Khaiwani
Winner of Amnesty International's "Sepcial Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat"
Dear Colleagues,
On June 9th, Abdul Karim Al Khaiwani, former editor of Yemen’s political weekly Al-Shura, was jailed for six years by a state security court.
Mr Al Khaiwani was on trial with 13 other defendants and appears to have been convicted as a result of his professional work as a journalist, in particular his coverage of armed clashes between government and rebel forces in the northern province of Sa’da. Al Khaiwani has been a strong critic of government policy in this region, exposing the impact of this war on thousands of civilians.
The preliminary evidence unveiled in court against him included pictures of rebel fighting in Sa’da, an interview with and contact details of a rebel leader and news articles criticising government action.
Al Khaiwani has been targeted for many years for his writings. He was sentenced to one year in jail in 2004 as editor of Al-Shura, a website and former print weekly, for incitement, insulting the president, publishing false news and causing tribal and sectarian discrimination. Since then, he has been suffering years of harassment, death threats, beating and arbitrary detention.
The decision by Amnesty International to award him its most coveted prize “The Special Award for Human Rights Journalism under Threat” on June 17th has created a huge stir in Yemen and our affiliate, the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate is at the forefront of the protest. Accordi
ng to reports, dozens of journalists, members of Parliament, human rights activists and civil society organizations staged a sit-in in front of the public prosecutor office in Sanaa, demanding the immediate release of al-Khaiwani.
It is therefore crucial that IFJ unions give them immediate support.
I urge you to send the attached model letter to Yemen’s President Ali Abdellah Saleh via the Yemeni embassy in your country. You can either fax or e-mail it or arrange for a delegation from your union to deliver it to the ambassador. Also please don't forget our colleague Al Khaiwani who is languishing in jail and is in need of morale boosting. Please send him a personal message at the IFJ. We will post these messages online and send them to Al Khaiwani directly.
Thank you,
Jim Boumelha
President
International Federation of Journalists
For more information contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 2207
The IFJ represents over 600,00 journalists in 122 countries worldwide