Yemeni Journalist Facing Death Penalty

My friend and Jawa co-blogger Jane Novak, one the world's leading experts on Yemen and an unflinching advocate for the struggling pro-democracy movement in that country, has launched a fresh campaign to save the life of Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, a prominant dissident journalist. Via Armies of Liberation:

While the USS Cole bombers are all free in Yemen, my friend the Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani will be sentenced May 21 in a bogus trial and likely will get the death penalty or a long prison term. He is charged with insulting the president and demoralizing the military with an article about the Sa’ada war. He is an internationally renowned journalist and one of Yemen’s most prominent and outspoken democracy advocates

This is the guy I made the online petition for in March 2005 and the bloggers all helped and he got amnesty. Since then he and I have become good friends. He loves democracy and hates al-Qaeda as much as I do. And he’s paid the price for it. Since he was released in 2005, Al-Khaiwani has been beaten, kidnapped, censored and imprisoned. His paper was cloned, his website blocked and his children threatened.

Al-Khaiwani was badly beaten during his arrest in June 2007. His daughter, six year old Ebba, was slapped by police so hard that she fell unconscious. After Al-Khaiwani’s arrest and release on bail, he was kidnapped and badly beaten again. The US State Department issued a statement from DC noting his abduction pointed to, “disturbing trend of intimidation and harassment of Yemen’s journalist community.”

Al-Khaiwani was charged on July 4 with aiding the rebel movement by publishing war news. As you may know, the war in Sa’ada has been called a state sponsored genocide with strong parallels to the Sudan. I published photos of the damage in Sa’ada caused by indiscriminate (or deliberate) government bombing. I interviewed rebel spokesman Yahya al-Houthi, and posted it. (My website is now banned in Yemen.) By the standard of “demoralizing the military”, I’d also be subject to the death penalty if I was in Yemen. So would half of the bloggers here in the US.

As al-Khawiani’s sentencing approaches on May 21, fear is growing in Yemen and internationally that a guilty verdict in his case will open the door for a brutal crackdown on Yemen’s already endangered journalistic community.

Here is a link to sign a letter condemning Yemen's prosecution of Mr. al-Khaiwani.

Jane has also set up a website where you can send a message of support to Mr. al-Khaiwani and other persecuted journalists in Yemen. You can leave a comment in English and Jane will have it translated to Arabic.

During one of his imprisonments, Mr. al-Khaiwani wrote to Jane:

“Democracy and freedom are not granted by a leader or a regime, it is a world wide human achievement of all the free people on earth. [. . .] I believe in democracy, freedom, equality and rights and am willing to suffer for their sake simply because I do not wish my children to suffer dictatorship and I will strive to provide them a better future.”

This man deserves our support and prayers. Please click on the links above to help out, and please keep him and his family in your prayers, especially in the next two weeks as his sentencing date approaches.