5 journalists who were kidnapped last Wednesday by armed tribesmen in Serwah district, in the province of Mareb.
It also condemned the threat and attack on the crew of (Al Jazeera Mubasher) TV and cameraman of (Yemen Shabab) TV by policemen in the capital Sana’a, as well as the attack on the house of the news director of Aden Radio.
Freedom Foundation has informed that 5 journalists were kidnapped last Wednesday evening, in Serwah district, in the province of Mareb, as they were heading through it toward Mahrah province in a journalistic mission, 2 of them were freed on Friday.
They cannot be reached through their mobile phones, as tribesmen shifting them from a place to another, between time to another.
Journalists who were kidnapped are: Yassin Alzikri, Ibrahim al-Ashmori, Ahmed al-Shamiri, Noman al-Asbahi (freed) and TV cameraman, Mohammed al-Shamiri (freed). They were taken by tribal kidnappers to an unknown location in Serwah district as hostages for pushing the government to implementing the tribesmen demands.
As well as , The TV cameraman of (Yemen Shabab), Yusuf al-Qarah has been beaten on Monday (5/13/2013) by Central Security soldiers while covering the incident of military jet crashed in the 50-street in Beit Baus area, south of the capital Sana’a.
In a report to Freedom Foundation, al-Qarah confirmed that as he was filming the wreckages of crashed military aircraft (sukhoi-22 ) in Beit Baus area south of the capital Sana’a, one of security soldiers has beaten him with sticks on his right hand and thigh, and he prevented him to continue filming and expelled him from the site of the incident.
As well as, the transmitter engineer of (Al Jazeera Mubasher TV) ,Ali Muharram has been subjected to the attack, pointing the gun at his face and cutting transmitter cables by central security soldiers .The broadcasting (SNG) vehicle was also sprayed with water from one of the fire trucks as well as TV cameramen Ahmed al-Khadher and Ali Mansour, as well as Al Jazeera News TV cameraman, Mujib Sowaileh have been beaten during their media coverage of the incident of crashed military jet, the soldiers shot in the air to force them to get out of the scene.
As well as, the house of Adel Muhsen Ali al-Dhalei, the political programs and news director in Aden Radio, was attacked and shot in Khor Maksar area, in the city of Aden.
Al-Dhalei confirmed that masked soldiers riding a military vehicle, with civilian clothes, had early Wednesday (May 8 2013) attacked his house, broken doors and shot at him, causing a state of terror and fear in his family and neighbors. They also kidnapped a neighbor who’s tried to intervene to stop this action.
Freedom Foundation is demanding rapid release of the three-kidnapped journalists in Mareb and appeals local authorities, concerned parties and tribal leaders in the governorate of Mareb to do their best and intervene to release the journalists.
Freedom Foundation is also demanding to deter attackers of journalists and violators of media freedom, and to put an end for the phenomenon of violation on media, which is getting wider recently. It also demands to hold the perpetrators of these violations accountable and bring justice for the victims. It urges to secure the safety of journalists and to address the root reasons behind the phenomenon of impunity.
Finally, Freedom Foundation expresses its solidarity with the kidnapped journalists and with all journalists and media workers who have been subjected to attacks and threats while performing their professional duty under these unsafe conditions in Yemen.
