Minister of Information Hasan Ahmad al-Lawzi
C/o Permanent Representative to UN
Email: yemen@un.int

28 March 2006

Dear Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the abduction and assault of journalist Qaed al-Tairi.

According to reports, Mr al-Tairi, a journalist for the Socialist Party weekly Al-Thawri, was abducted at around 9am on 11 March by several men who placed a hood over his head, bundled him into a vehicle and beat him. Mr al-Tairi, who also works for the Ministry of Information in Sana’a, was driven to Wadi Thaqba, where his attackers electrocuted him and attempted to break the fingers of his writing hand.

Throughout his ordeal, Mr al-Tairi was threatened with further violence and warned that members of his family would be kidnapped. The attackers told Mr al-Tairi that his column about local politics had crossed "red lines" and that he risked death by continuing to write such articles. Although several witnesses reportedly saw the licence plate of the vehicle used in the abduction, neither the car nor the perpetrators have been found.

We are concerned that Mr al-Tairi may have been attacked for offending government officials and Islamists by comments he made at conferences on 26 February and 8 March that advocated the right of women to run in Yemeni elections.

The attack on Mr al-Tairi is part of a much wider pattern of intimidation and persecution of the independent press. Over the last two years, at least two dozen Yemeni journalists have been victims of assault, imprisonment or spurious criminal lawsuits, while others have faced intimidation by security agents and smears in the state-controlled press. In the last year alone, at least seven newspapers have been closed by government or court order. At the same time, parliament is debating a new press law that sets out harsh restrictions on the media. We are concerned that the law could be used to silence critical voices in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for September.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that a thorough and transparent investigation is conducted into the attack on Mr al-Tairi and to take all necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice. We urge you to do everything possible to halt the government’s campaign of harassment of the independent press and to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

cc : Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.