Front door of Al Ayyam newspaper in Aden, which is now closed. Photo: IMS

For years, tension has been growing between the Yemeni government and one of Yemen’s oldest independent newspapers, Al Ayyam based in Aden in southern Yemen. Al Ayyam insisted on trying to uncover cases of alleged rampant corruption and mismanagement of state affairs, but in January security forces opened fire on the newspaper’s office and hundreds of demonstrators in January to silence the voice of dissent

The paper's confrontation with the government peaked in May 2009 when the newspaper reported on the unrest in Lahij. On 5 May, Al-Ayyam and seven other newspapers were banned on charges of reporting on anti-government protests in southern Yemen and were prohibited from distributing their daily issue as well as prevented from further publishing by order of the Ministry of Information.

Following years of separation, North and South Yemen were reunified in 1991 and governed from Sanaa in the northern Yemen. In recent years, social unrest due to rising prices, lack of pension and salaries for people in southern Yemen, has resulted in demonstrations being staged in southern Yemen. The government of Yemen has branded demonstrations and civic unrest in southern Yemen as separatist movement actions and taken action in accordance with national anti-terror acts. Lately, the government is alleged to have stepped up its activities to silence any source of opposition.

Harassment

The specific action targeting Al-Ayyam included stopping their delivery vans at governorate border and the stock of newspapers were confiscated.  All company cars were stopped by security forces and checked for any remaining newspapers. Also the website of Al-Ayyam was blocked from functioning in Yemen (outside Yemen you can still see the last issue on their website). Security forces also established a checkpoint outside the printing plant stopping every new issue when leaving the printing facility. The Al Ayyam management soon concluded that it was useless to try to continue publishing the newspaper.

Next attack on the newspaper was more serious as it directly targeted the Al-Ayyam office in Aden.  A journalist working in the office in the centre of Aden described the events in the following manner:

-        On 13 May security forces surrounded the building of Al-Ayyam. They entered neighbouring buildings and were shooting from there at the building. I was hiding with a colleague of mine nearby and I could hear the shooting. But I could not see what happened. They used tear gas to be able to enter the building but could not do that. The whole event took only an hour, he said under the condition of anonymity.

One person got killed during the shooting and both sides are now accusing each other of being responsible for the tragic event. According to the journalist the fatal shooting took place some 200 meters away from the building suggesting that the security forces killed the man because he was covering his face to protect himself from teargas.

Haunted by the past

But this is not the end of the story. The crisis of Al Ayyam peaked again in January this year when authorities again attempted to arrest the son of Editor-in-Chief Hisham Bashraheel, Hani, accusing him of being involved in killing a man in Sana’a. The accusations take their departure in an event, which happened a couple of years ago and is connected to Bashraheel’s house in Sana’a.

A man was claiming that the house belonged to him and came with his men to claim the building. After an argument they wrote a message on the outer walls of the house claiming the ownership of the building. Bashraheel’s men went outside to cover the writing, and then the man’s entourage started shooting at them. The men inside the building responded by firing at the men outside killing one of them. Hani Bashraheel was allegedly present in the building during this incident.

Latest blow to Al Ayyam

The conflict culminated between 4-6 January 2010, when more than 200 people answered a call from several Yemeni human rights organisations to hold a peaceful ‘sit-in’ outside Al Ayyam’s office in Aden to protest against the forced closure of the newspaper. Around 4 pm in the afternoon on Monday 4 January, Yemeni security forces arrived at the scene and soldiers opened fire at the demonstrators and the Al Ayyam office to disperse the crowds. According to media reports, the shooting lasted 30 minutes in which one or two persons were killed and more were injured.

A journalist from Al Ayyam describes the events to IMS:

-        Silent demonstrations were taking place in front of Al-Ayyam office regularly to protest the closing down of the newspaper. We knew that that was going to take place also on 4^th of January and I wanted to leave early to avoid getting stuck in the building. After walking some tens of meters I heard shooting nearby. Allegedly the shooting took place between central security forces and local police forces. The head of Crater Police Station was wounded in the shooting and one soldier died. Also one security officer was wounded.

As far as the journalist could gather the reason of shooting was an argument where the local police was telling to security forces not to interfere in the peaceful demonstration in front of Al-Ayyam.

The journalist continued to walk away from the Al-Ayyam building towards the nearby Aden Mall when a bulldozer drove by heading in the direction of Al Ayyam.

- Security forces closed all the roads around the area and at 7pm more security forces arrived. A wedding party was told to pack up forcing the guests to leave by foot

The journalist continues:

- Streets were closed in a wide area round the newspaper. Between 10.30- 11 pm a car drove through the sealed-off area and over loudspeakers told everybody living in the nearby buildings facing Al-Ayyam building to leave their homes. Security forces then transported people out of the area.  At 2.45 AM in the night of 5^th of January, my friend living near the newspaper called me telling that shooting had started around the newspaper.

By 5 o’clock the shooting was so loud and continuous that people living in that part of Aden could not sleep. At 6 am everything calmed down. The journalist was able to call the Bashraheel family and was told that Hisham’s son Mohammed as well as some of their guards had surrendered to security officials. Later the same day Hisham’s other son, Hani, and some demonstrators that had escaped the shooting to Al-Ayyam building also gave themselves up to security officials. Security entered the building and arrested the Editor-in-Chief Hisham Bashraheel and removed computer hard disks and laptops from the office.

Later in a press conference, the General Director of Aden Security claimed that they had arrested a gang of 40 people and found a huge amount of arms in the Al-Ayyam office. 

According to the Al Ayyam journalist, IMS has spoken with, Al-Ayyam had altogether around 20 guards. All guards in the Al Ayyam building had guns to protect the newspapers printing house, office and a new building under construction as a natural consequence of their job. However, allegedly most of the people arrested were not guards but in fact demonstrators and people working in the newspaper.

Waiting for clarity on charges

According to media reports, Hisham Bashraheel is not in jail but under arrest in the criminal investigation department building. He is allowed to stay there because he is in poor health having diabetes and heart problems.  His sons Mohammed and Hani are behind bars. Some part of the prosecution material is not yet ready and the date of the court hearing has not been set yet.

It is not clear for what Hisham Bashraheel and Mohammed are accused of. The situation could have been solved peacefully because local authorities and Bashraheel family were negotiating before the last confrontation took place.

The international community has condemned the actions taken against al Ayyam on several occasions, but until now it is unclear, if it has had any impact.