It almost sounds like a joke. The latest journalist hauled into court by the Yemeni regime's extended crackdown on the independent press is... the editor of a government-backed newspaper, the Yemen 
Observer. Muhammad Al-Asaadi now finds himself in a prison cell with 15 other reporters because he dared to re-print the infamous Danish cartoons, albeit with a big X over each one.
The unusual twist was evidently wacky enough to interest the international media. Newsweek magazine this week runs an interview with Al-Asaadi from jail. Evidently someone passed him a cell phone so the Newsweek reporter could interview him. It's worth reading the whole article, but here's an excerpt:
How are the accommodations?
I'm in a temporary prison, awaiting a hearing, so it's not so bad. It's a basement, and we have to buy everything we need, even bottled water. There are 15 of us sharing one big room and one toilet, but the others aren't common criminals. A couple are journalists, because it's the prison of the prosecutor for press and publications.You mean to say the government has a prosecutor dedicated to the press, and that prosecutor has a dedicated jail?
That is one of the characteristics of the Yemeni government, putting journalists in jail to stop us from telling the truth to the public.This is a different sort of case though. Tell us how it came about.
When we ran our article on the Danish cartoons, it was all about how the Prophet should be honored, with quotations from famous people about what an important figure he was, and a news story on Yemeni protests. We reprinted the cartoons but blacked them out. Unfortunately by an innocent mistake in the production process, a thumbnail of the cartoons appeared on the front page—only 1.5cm [0.6 of an inch] by 2cm [0.8 of an inch], you could hardly read it....Your newspaper has been closely identified with the government, so is this the result of some sort of factional dispute within it?
The Yemen Observer has an independent line, and while it's true that our CEO is close to the government, when he hired me he granted me complete editorial independence. He had no say over what I published.
Do you regret now the decision to run the cartoons, however censored, given the climate? There are plenty of religious fanatics in Yemen, even if they're a minority.
We had a meeting to discuss this before we published them, so it wasn't an accident. And we felt that these cartoons had already been shown on Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya [satellite TV] and millions of Muslims had seen them. And I personally believe these cartoons should be published. If we make it unlawful to look at them, we give them an importance they don't deserve, as if there's something holy or special about them. We should be able to discuss them openly, which is what we did....The article as a whole discussed Islam and particularly the Prophet in reverential tones. So why the government reaction?
Most of these extremists don't read English, they just saw the pictures. And the article was accompanied by an editorial, saying the cartoons were terrible, but we should accept the apologies of the newspaper that published them and move on, not continue running through the streets...How have you adjusted to imprisonment? How's your family taking it?
I've been very encouraged by all the support I've had from my colleagues, in Yemen and elsewhere, as well. I have tens of visitors a day, so the jailers are very respectful. It's boring, it's still a prison, but there's a lot of time to read and write, so that's good. I asked my wife not to come, it would just be too upsetting for her. And she's told my [three] daughters that I'm just on a trip, that I'll be home soon. The oldest is only 5; it would be hard for them to understand why their father is in jail.
Kudos to Newsweek for profiling Al-Asaadi, an act that may in and of itself guarantee his release, as the Yemeni regime does not like this kind of a spotlight shone on its abuses. Now let's see more profiles of arrested journalists and reformers in jail across the region. International attention is their lifeline.
He's the one that called Jane Novak of Armies of Liberation a hedgehog. Guess truckling to the thugs didn't do him any good
Posted by: beautifulatrocities | February 26, 2006 at 01:05 PM