Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani tells us about the war currently being waged on journalists in Yemen by the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. This is a country where elections are never transparent or fair and where the judiciary is completely controlled by the president. Al-Khaiwani explains that in his country the democratic experiment has failed - the only remains of democracy are the slogans that the government uses to fool foreign aid donors, and he warns us against the picture that certain journalists have painted of Yemen after going on trips sponsored by the government.

About

Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani is an internationally-renowned Yemeni journalist, former editor-in-chief of the pro-democracy online newspaper Al-Shoura, and an advocate for the right to freedom of expression. In June of 2008, after years of harassment, kidnappings, beatings, and death threats – all for criticizing the government in his articles – Al-Khaiwani was sentenced to six years in prison for purportedly conspiring with the leader of an anti-government terrorist cell. The allegations were fabricated and, after suffering from unspeakable abuse during his incarceration, he was released by a presidential pardon in September of 2008. Al-Khaiwani received Amnesty International UK’s Special Award for Human Rights Journalism under Threat in 2008.

The Yemeni government considers its journalists to be more dangerous than terrorists. And yet, independent journalism is the only light in an otherwise dark tunnel for Yemenis today. Without the press, its citizens would be completely hopeless. Al-Khaiwani thusly urges the international community to show solidarity with Yemeni journalists and lend them its strongest support -- they are the ones leading the non-violent struggle for democracy, and they are ones who can fight terrorism with transparency and free expression.

In Yemen, any journalist who disagrees with President Saleh runs the risk of being declared a traitor. They might be censored, shut down, imprisoned, kidnapped, or worse. The country's press freedom was ranked 167th in the world by Reporters without Borders in its 2009 report. Right now in Yemen there are hundreds of journalists on trial and several editors who are facing charges that could lead to execution. Al-Khaiwani warns us against the picture that certain Western journalists have painted of Yemen after going on trips to the country sponsored by the government. He singles out Thomas Friedman as promoting a dangerously false impression of Yemen after failing to get out into the street to talk to independent journalists on his trip.