Yemeni journalist jailed for Facebook posts

A Yemeni court on Monday sentenced journalist Majed Karoot to one year in prison and fined him YR 200,000 for criticising local government officials on the popular social networking site Facebook. The director of corporate communications for the Al-Baida governorate, Mohammed Al-Karfoshi and his deputy, Kamal Al-Najar filed the complaint against posts made by the journalist on the site last year. The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) called the verdict a “threat to freedom of the press and freedom of expression”.

Yemen: journalist attacked in Sana’a

Prominent Yemeni journalist Muhammad al-Maqaleh was assaulted by armed men affiliated with a tribal group while visiting a government official’s house

Al-Maqaleh, editor of the news website Aleshteraki for the Yemeni Socialist Party, visited Defense Minister Mohamed Nasser Ahmed’s residence on Saturday [14 April] in the capital, Sana’a, to inquire about the presence of armed men dressed in military uniforms in the neighborhood, he told CPJ. When the journalist began speaking to the men outside the house–who were aligned with Yemen’s most influential tribal group, the al-Ahmar family — they began attacking him with their rifle butts and threatened him repeatedly, news reports said.

The journalist did not sustain any injuries, but the group broke the windshield of his car.

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