US embassy cable - 05SANAA2820

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 002820 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2015 
TAGS: OIIP, KMDR, PHUM, PTER, KISL, YM, DOMESTIC POLITICS 
SUBJECT: DCM HOSTS SMALL GROUP OF YEMENI JOURNALISTS TO 
DISCUSS RECENT VIOLENT INCIDENTS INVOLVING MEMBERS OF THE 
PRESS CORPS, 
 
Classified By: AMB Thomas C. Krajeski for reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Ambassador met on September 20 with seven 
journalists, the DCM, two emboffs, and representatives of 
three European donor states at the home of the DCM to listen 
to members of the Yemeni press corps give voice to concerns 
in the wake of the recent incidents involving kidnapping, 
beating, and harassment of Yemeni journalists.  The open 
discussion centered on journalists' perception that, where 
once they might find themselves in courts or prison for 
articles about corruption or criticism of the government, now 
their limits are less clear.  They feel increasingly 
susceptible to an unpredictable fate at the hands of groups 
and individuals whose allegiance is unclear.  The media 
representatives present invited donor states to increase 
pressure on the ROYG to safeguard press freedom and regretted 
that too often governments stress cooperation on 
counterterrorism over democratization and freedom of 
expression. 
 
 2.  (C) Ambassador expressed his concern about recent 
incidents involving journalists and opened an off-the-record 
discussion by saying he was there to listen.  Said Thabet, 
first deputy chairman of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate 
summarized concerns saying that the increase in violence 
against the press corps comes from both state-funded 
organizations and the government.  Khaled al Hamadi, 
correspondent for the vitriolic London-based Al Quds Al Arabi 
and himself a recent victim of a serious thrashing at the 
hands of at-large thugs, said that the latter demanded to 
know how much he was being paid to write and accused him of 
being an agent.  (Note:  This incident followed closely on 
the heels of his article about a military helicopter crash 
which charted a history of inadequate maintenance of Yemeni 
military equipment. End note)  Mohamed Al Ghubari, who writes 
for several papers, noted that the current version of Yemen's 
draft press law is simply a rewrite, with minor revisions, of 
a 1990 law, which, all agreed, was so vague as to leave the 
door open to any interpretation.  Al Ghubari speculated that 
a parliamentary review of the current draft offers the only 
chance for improvement in the bill and the Majlis Al Shurra 
seems capable only of outdated views of senior officials 
focused on the past. 
 
3.  (C) Jamal Amer, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly 
Al Wasat, who was also victimized recently after a critical 
article about corruption, invited donor states to increase 
pressure on the ROYG.  Amer also asked for outside help on 
the draft press law and on investigation of violations of 
journalists' rights.  He further urged the USG to raise these 
issues during President Saleh's planned November visit to 
Washington.  Ambassador remarked that this concern is among 
the top three on an agenda which includes counterterrorism, 
economic reform, and democratic reform including press 
freedom.  Nabil Al Sofi, editor-in-chief of the News Yemen 
website, felt that ROYG attention to media was excessive and 
out of proportion with the media's effectiveness.  The DCM 
noted that professionalism among the press corps is uneven 
and needs overall improvement. 
 
4.  (C) Mohamed Jasser, editor-in-chief of the Ra'ay website 
recalled "a recent outage of forty-five websites for 6 to 10 
hours" and noted that no reason had been offered for this 
interruption other than that it could be attributed to 
technical difficulties with a provider's site; however, 
several noted that the outages appeared to target only 
particular news websites.  The British press officer Philip 
Boyle and the German cultural officer Henrick Selle added 
words of support; the presence of Dutch representative 
Stephania Bork highlighted the long-standing efforts of the 
Dutch to improve the caliber of Yememi reporting. 
 
5.  (SBU) Comment:  The frank discussion closed with media 
representatives calling upon donor states to actively support 
freedom of the press in Yemen and to offer more training to 
the local press corps. 
Krajeski