US embassy cable - 05SANAA3187

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 003187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, KMPI, KMCA, YM, DOMESTIC POLITICS 
SUBJECT: ASSAULT ON TWO JOURNALISTS: NEWEST CASE IN SPATE 
OF ATTACKS ON PRESS 
 
REF: SANAA 696 
 
Classified By: DCM Nabeel Khoury for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (U) Summary: On October 29, Moujeeb Sweileh, a cameraman 
with the "Al-Arabiya" news channel, and Najib Al-Sharai, from 
"Al-Akhbariya," were assaulted by ROYG security forces while 
attempting to cover a strike at a textile factory in Sanaa. 
The attack is just one of a long string of physical and 
psychological attacks against journalists in a year marred by 
increased harassment of the press.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Incidents: No Sign of Letting Up 
-------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) On October 29, soldiers severely assaulted journalists 
Moujeeb Sweileh, of the Dubai-based "Al-Arabiya" network, and 
Najib Al-Sharai, from the Saudi government-affiliated 
"Al-Akhbariya" network, as the two attempted to cover a 
textile factory workers' strike in Sanaa.  Hammoud Munasar, 
chief correspondent for the "Al-Arabiya" news channel and 
Sanaa manager of the Middle East News office, told poloff 
that police on the scene refused the two journalists 
permission to film the strike.  Soldiers next reportedly 
confiscated their equipment, and then beat and arrested them 
both. 
 
3. (C) Although Al-Sharai's injuries were minor, Sweileh 
remains hospitalized with broken ribs and internal bleeding. 
The Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate (YJS), describing the 
situation as a "mobilization campaign against journalists," 
condemned the latest attacks.  Minister of Human Rights Amat 
Alim As-Soswa promised Munasar to support an investigation of 
the attack.  Munasar also suggested that Middle East News 
might pursue a claim against the perpetrators of the attack 
in civil court. 
 
4. (U) The assault was just one in a string of physical 
attacks against journalists in the past year.  As of 
September 27, the Sanaa-based Center for Training and 
Journalists' Freedoms had recorded 98 incidents of 
harassment, abuse, arrests, or threats against journalists, 
mostly attributed to the ROYG.  In late October, Yemen's 
standing dropped in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled 
by the Paris-based NGO Reporters Without Borders, from 135 to 
136 out of 167 countries. 
 
5. (U) In mid-September, the websites of four significant 
opposition media outlets were reportedly blocked, although 
one editor reported to poloff that access to his website 
outside of Yemen was unhindered.  The Ministry of 
Telecommunications (MOT) denied responsibility for blocking 
the websites, blaming the service disruption on web hosting 
companies.  Earlier in the month, ROYG Security Forces 
detained Waheeb An-Nasari, of the independent weekly 
"Al-Fursan," for photographing women demonstrating against 
prison fines in front of the presidential compound. 
 
6. (U) On August 29, Khaled Al-Hammadi, the Sanaa 
correspondent of the influential London-based daily "Al-Quds 
Al-Arabi," was arrested by air force personnel for reporting 
the crash of a Yemeni military aircraft.  Following 36 hours 
of detention, Hammadi was released, after he pledged in 
writing not to report military news without permission.  The 
same week, a government-run printer refused to print the 
latest issue of "Al-Usbu," an independent weekly, after the 
Press and Publications Prosecutor suspended "Al-Usbu's" 
editor for writing about the Minister of Interior. 
 
7. (C) The incident that attracted the most national and 
international attention was the August 23 kidnapping of Jamal 
Amer, editor-in-chief of the independent "Al-Wasat," by 
unidentified persons reportedly linked to security forces. 
Amer claimed that he was kidnapped in front of his home and 
taken to a cliff at the edge of Sanaa.  For the next six 
hours, he was beaten, urinated upon, shot at, held over the 
edge of the cliff by one hand, and extensively interrogated 
about his contacts with the Embassy.  The attack came after 
"Al-Wasat" published an article on how Ministry of Oil public 
scholarships were being routed to children of government and 
military officials. 
 
-------------------------- 
Who Is Behind the Attacks? 
-------------------------- 
 
8. (C) To date, no one has been investigated or arrested for 
the attacks.  Marwan Damaj of the YJS Executive Committee 
told poloff that journalists overwhelmingly attribute most 
attacks to the ROYG security apparatus, particularly the 
newly formed National Security Bureau (NSB), the military, 
and some tribal elements.  Abdul Karim Khaiwani, editor in 
chief of the "As-Shura" newspaper, who was released from 
prison in March after serving 6 months for "publishing 
reports damaging to the public interest" (reftel), reported 
to the YJS that while in prison, he was twice taken to the 
NSB headquarters and questioned by persons he knew to be NSB 
officers.  The NSB has denied this. 
 
9. (C) Damaj also reported that several journalists who are 
"very afraid" to come forward told him that the NSB was 
trying to recruit them to spy on other journalists.  A 
high-ranking PSO official assured AP correspondent Ahmad 
al-Haj, whose aide was kidnapped and questioned by 
unidentified persons on August 10, that his office was not 
responsible for the recent attacks.  Damaj believes this, and 
speculates that the NSB is now responsible for press matters, 
as the more experienced PSO would have operated "very 
differently." 
 
10. (C) "Al-Wasat"'s Jamal Amer asserts that military and 
tribal elements are also perpetrating attacks.  Amer claims 
that MinInt Rashad al-Alimi privately promised to investigate 
this matter, saying that he "suspected" that members of the 
Republican Guard might be involved.  Amer also reported that 
the car which took him had a Republican Guard license plate. 
Military sources have publicly denied involvement.  The YJS 
attributes other attacks, such the July 17 letter bomb that 
injured the editor of a local weekly, to tribal elements. 
"The truth is," observed Sami Ghalib of the YJS Executive 
Bureau, "that all of our cases are unresolved -- everyone has 
been asked and everyone has denied involvement." 
 
11. (C) Comment:  These incidents confirm a disturbing 
pattern of attacks on press freedom in Yemen.  This campaign 
is most likely attributable to the ROYG's heightened 
sensitivity after its hard-won success in quashing -- for the 
moment -- a serious rebellion in Saada earlier this year as 
well as to the 2006 presidential election.  It is difficult 
to pinpoint who is behind the recent spate of physical 
attacks, but the probable culprits, as the YJS speculates, 
come from all three power centers in Yemen:  security, 
military, and the tribes.  A more disturbing but realistic 
conclusion is that Saleh, ever thin-skinned about any 
criticism, has become further isolated from his reform-minded 
counselors and is giving more free rein to those who 
instinctively favor the suppression of free speech.  Post has 
and will continue aggressively to push to reverse Yemen's 
poor performance on press freedoms at meetings with ROYG 
interlocutors and civil society.  End Comment. 
Krajeski