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Sanaa (8 January 2013):
Freedom Foundation (FF) for media freedoms, rights and development in Yemen denounced the campaign of fierce incitement launched by the Yemeni ministry of defense
against its president the journalist Khaled al-Hammadi, a correspondent of the London based ban Arab newspaper (Al Quds Alarabi) in Yemen, on the background of his publishing an article in this newspaper last Monday on (fears of politicians regarding transferring power in Yemen to a family rule).
FF confirmed that these inflammatory campaign of fierce incitement put his life in danger and in serous threatening and put him in the crossfire of whom wanting to take revenge on him from any party, despite he is a well-known professional journalist and he holds the International Award for Press Freedom in 2011 from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).
FF condemns this campaign led by the Ministry of Defense through its publication and a statement against al-Hammadi, which includes bad language of enticement, and repeated his name 12 times in this statement to create strong agitation against him which never happened before, since the Yemeni unification in 1990.
It explained that this campaign against al-Hammadi revealed the subversive intentions of the ruling regime towards media freedom, which threats the future of the press freedoms in Yemen if the situation continues like this, of violations against journalists, which portends serious threats by the ministry of defense to the media freedoms and freedom of expression in the country.
FF is declaring its refusal to such acts inflammatory that affect the lives of journalists and shackle media freedoms in Yemen, and it declares it's aiming to file a lawsuit against the ministry of defense and it bears her the full responsibility if al-Hammadi or any of his family members faced an attack or danger.
FF called upon the local and international organizations concerned to media freedom and human rights to solidarity with al-Hammadi and to provide advocacy and support for him to stand in front of this campaign of incitement, which will not affected him personally only but it will insofar affects the future of press freedoms in Yemen, particularly as he is a pioneer activist in media freedom and president of Freedom Foundation in Yemen.
FF demanded president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to reviewing his stands regarding dealing with media freedom and that he should put himself a way from repeating the mistakes of former regime, in which the media freedoms in Yemen witnessed a dramatic situation.
FF stressed the demands that the state-owned media in Yemen should be freed from serving rulers and switching it to serve the community, as this media funded by public money and the past should not be repeated, to avoid using public media as a tool to the (producing dictatorships).
Freedom Foundation called upon the Interior ministry and security agencies to take its responsibility in providing the necessary protection for al-Hammadi to shield him from the likelihood of exposure to risk, as a result of the big campaign of incitement led by the ministry of defense against him.
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