Yemeni singer and poet sentenced to 1.5 years in prison and slapped with a fine!
July 9th, 2008Friend and administrator of YemenPortal.net (which is blocked in Yemen), Walid Al-Saqaf, notifies us of this horrible news:
I’m afraid I am bringing you another sad development from Yemen. Fahd Al-Qarani, a popular singer and poet who was famous for his songs and activities promoting public awareness and involvement in the political process and for his efforts to combat corruption through poetry and songs, he has been sentenced to a year and half imprisonment today plus a fine of YR 500,000 (about $2,500) of which most would be paid to the ruling party.
This is a serious addition to a countless number of indicators that the regime’s brutality against freedom of expression has gone without limits and unrestrained -the latest being the 6 year jail with hard labor sentence against journalist Al-Khaiwani- especially as Western countries have been praising the government’s so called commitment for democracy. It is unfortunate that donor countries and many international organizations have had an extremely passive position when it comes to the successive attacks against freedom in Yemen.
Frankly I am not surprised, but still speechless. I am unsure what the Yemeni authorities hope to achieve by committing such despicable crimes. Please do what you can to help and spread the word.
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