Yemeni government threatens to sue news websites
Walid Al-Saqaf, the administrator of YemenPortal.net which has been blocked in Yemen since January of this year, has just sent this very alarming news to his friends and colleagues:
This week, the government’s Minister of Information threatened to file lawsuits against news websites on the justification of ‘inciting hatred’ or ‘harming national interests’ and the other usual excused they often use to prosecute journalists. The threat is even more severe for websites because the government would use the penal code instead of the press law. This means that website owners could get up to death penalties.
Report in Arabic:
وحذر مصدر مسؤول في المركز من خطورة مثل التصريحات التي توحي بتوجه رسمي لزج الصحافيين والمخالفين بالرأي إلى السجون وتشديد الخناق عليهم بتطبيق قانون العقوبات الذي يحتوي على عقوبات قد تصل حد الإعدام
(Source)
Walid adds:
Nonetheless, websites are challenging those threats and many have expressed their support to the portal, which is leading a nationwide campaign against website censorship. We have recently set up our own online SSL web-based proxy that is confined to websites banned for political content only. The move, I was told, infuriated the the Minister of Communication, which have quickly blocked our alternative domain (yemenportal.org).
Hence, I resorted to activating http://yemenportal.info and the SSL port of the site to have some access it on https://yemenportal.net. But this struggle is far from over and your unwavering support will be greatly appreciated.
Furthermore, attached you will find a press release about the new blog that we set up to help campaign for the unblocking of the website. The blog is at http://freeyemenportal.org
You can help out by signing the petition located here.
You can read the most recent press release concerning Yemen Portal’s ban here.
This is more important than you think and if we don’t take action fast enough, it can result in human rights abuses against journalists, site administrators and bloggers worse than you have ever seen in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and wherever else that such abuse have taken place within the past few years due to online activities.
Please take action now by signing the petition and spreading the word. Defend free speech and civil rights in Yemen.
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