Caught Between Saudi Coalition and Houthi Rebels, Yemeni Journalists Face Challenges on All Sides

#FreeAbductedJournalists

Afef Abrougui from Global Voices published a lengthy report last week on the deteriorating bloody condition of Yemeni media and she interviewed me for the report last May for my take on the violations against Yemeni press following my analysis piece on the subject published by the Atlantic Council Centre published last May as well. The following is the Q&A interview I did with Afef :-

Afef Abrougui (AA): Reporters Without Borders describes the situation for journalists in Yemen as “disastrous”. Can you elaborate more on the types of violations journalists and media are facing in Yemen?

Me: The war has devastated almost every institution and sector in Yemen, including media group. However, in light of the war, journalists have been targeted deliberately and systematically because of their work. There is a massive violence against journalists by different armed groups; Houthis’ forces, Saleh’s forces and extremist groups like al Qaeda, ISIS and Salafis. The types of violations range between death threats, assassination attempts, unlawful killings, kidnappings, unlawful arrests, detentions without trials, forcibly disappearance, being used as civilian shields during armed fights, media offices being stormed in and forcefully shut down, new websites being blocked, among many other violations. The most shocking violation was the prosecution of a journalist and being sentenced to death.


AA: From the research that I have so far been doing online, it seems that Houthi rebels represent the main party responsible for these violations, what about the Saudi-led coalition? In addition to the airstrikes that killed journalists, have the coalition and those supporting Hadi been responsible for silencing journalists and media on the ground (at least in areas under their control)?

Me: Yes, both the Saudis and Hadi’s leadership share equally the reasons of why there is a blackout on Yemen war in media. As the war began in Yemen in early 2015, WikiLeaks released thousands of diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry, which included documents showing how Saudi Arabia is buying media silence, Arabic media in specific. Plus, reports have shown how the Saudis are hiring PR companies to polish its image in media and "whitewash” its record on human rights; especially on KSA’s war crimes in Yemen. On the other hand, Hadi’s government have blocked several independent foreign journalists from accessing the country; as their reporting challenges Hadi’s folks’ narrative of the situation in Yemen.


AA: How do you think these attacks/violations are impacting coverage of the war in Yemen, a war that is already under-reported? How does this affect independent media?

Me: Media coverage of Yemen war has become like a battle zone; those who have the money and power manage to use media as a weapon of war in promoting their side of the story only and shaping how Yemen war appears on mainstream media. Each side in the war portraits only its “truth” while it’s totally incomplete picture of the situation. As a result, you find a great deal of war propaganda. No middle ground for any other type of media; local independent press suffers a great deal and it has collapsed. The only remaining Yemeni independent media are the Yemeni freelance journalists or citizen journalists who turned into social media disseminating updates on the situation in Yemen.


AA: What can international organisations that work to promote press and media freedoms do to support Yemeni journalists who are on the ground?

Me: It’s very important to give these journalists the attention while they are alive not when they are killed or arrested; meaning it’s important to reach out to journalists inside Yemen and find ways to meet their needs. Very often, a local Yemeni journalist who is covering the war inside the country would his name grab international media’s headlines when he’s sentenced to death or killed or etc. The attention that these local journalists could get while they are alive could really give them a sort of protection from such violations. More importantly, as Yemen’s economy is collapsing, it’s crucial to financially support these local journalists working on the ground. This could happen through mutual cooperation or allocating assignments for these journalists. In simple words, it’s crucial to support Yemeni journalists or media groups morally and financially.


AA: When Houthi rebels first took control of the capital, they resorted to blocking a number of news websites and blogs, do they still engage in such tactics? Have you recently heard about websites or blogs getting blocked in the country?

Me: Yes, they still use such tactics. Several new websites are blocked in Yemen; such as this one - as Hodeidah is under the Houthis’ control and the website is critical to their behaviour in the city. Blogs are not very popular in Yemen but Facebook represents the equivalent of blogs. There are Facebook celebrities in Yemen who are very active in posting on FB and are critical to the Houthis. These celebrities’ FB accounts have been hacked and sometimes more than once. It seems that’s the Houthis’ tactic to censor.

Words with High Price

UPDATE May 27, 2017:

"Today I spoke like 30 good min with هاني الجنيد Hani Aljunid {check post below} on the phone. I would have liked to publish a long piece on his talk to me about who arrested/released him, how he was tortured & where is he hiding now but it will all risk his life.

All we can say now is that the danger is still on, but Hani appreciates all the solidarity he got. The noise you guys make, truly, makes a big difference. At least in Hani's case. Very unfortunately, today 3 Yemeni journalists were killed in Taiz by Houthis' bullets & no noise could save their lives. Nor these journalists' names will get the headlines, no hashtags for their names will trend worldwide. No nothing for Taiz or Yemeni journalists at the battlefield covering atrocities. Nothing. Just like that, another death in Yemen & another loss for local Yemeni voices speaking up for the butchered ones. And We can't afford to lose Hani. Hani still needs your solidarity like Yemen does. For the truth & humanity. For the love of love."
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His name is Hani Aljunid. He’s for many one of Yemen’s best journalists, who has so much integrity. But for me, he’s the second most important person I have in Yemen after my family. I call him, comrade and he does so too. Did I mention that he’s also an active member at the socialist political party in Yemen? Well, he is, and still many don’t find any problem with his journalism and his political affiliation, except powerful corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, Al Qaeda and ISIS members.

Hani has only his words against all this evil. And that evil, embodied by some extremists arrested Hani along two other journalists, Majed al-Shoa’aibi and Hossam Radman on Tuesday, 16 May. The arrest was at the funeral of Amjed Mohammed, a social activist who was gunned down at an internet cafe in Aden, 2 days before Hani’s arrest. Basically, Amjed was a victim of unlawful killing, which seems to be the new norm in Aden under Saudi Arabia’s president Hadi rule. Hani and the other two journalists went to the funeral and were arrested, tortured and released. It’s still not clear who’s behind the arrest but several FB posts by siblings of Hani, Majed and Hossam say that they all were arrested on blasphemy charges.

Hani, known to be super active in posting on FB, he has not written a word yet. His brother wrote that Hani refuses to say anything for now and he was transferred to the hands of the Saudi-led coalition's forces. No updates so far on Hani’s situation.

It makes me sick thinking what could be happening to Hani now. My comrade. I know Hani since Yemen’s 2011 uprising. Hani has always written & advocated for social justice, equal citizenship for all, anti-militarism and he was a great believer in Yemen’s 2011 uprising. In 2012, Hani was deliberately targeted and physically assaulted during Gen. Ali Muhsen’s rule of Sana’a University. When the Houthis stormed into Sana’a on September 2014, Hani was one of the main dissident voices against Houthis’ atrocities. He has received numberless death threats from pro-Houthi groups. Along the beginning of the Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, he had to flee to Taiz. Then, some armed groups in Taiz targeted him as he was also critical in his writings to these groups’ behaviour in the city. Again, following several death threats, Hani had to flee to Aden.

In 2012, Hani was deliberately 

targeted and physically assaulted

during Gen. Ali Muhsen’s rule of 

Sana’a University. 

Throughout all these events, I kept a very close touch with Hani. I used to tell him, ‘don’t get killed, comrade!’ ‘I won’t let them kill me. I need to see you first, comrade!” Hani’s answer. The harshest calls were when I used to call Hani and he would tell me how he was surviving his day by having only one meal. Hani was financially struggling, like everything in the country. Though Hani had to pay a huge price for his writings but he thinks it’s nothing comparing to what his comrades had to sacrifice with. Several of his friends were killed in protests or/and deliberately targeted.


I can’t pretend to be strong at this moment. I can only pray for Hani and Yemen.

The Yemen War, Media, and Propaganda

#SaveYemeniJournalistss

*Yemeni media is one of the most affected aspects in the raging war in Yemen. In an unprecedented case, a Houthi-controlled court issued a death sentence earlier in April, against journalist Yahya al-Joubayhy, for being a “Saudi spy,” reflecting a glimpse of the risks Yemeni media workers endure.


The war in Yemen has negatively impacted media in multiple-levels. In 2016, in a televised speech, the leader of Houthi rebels, Abdelmalek al-Houthi, warned “The media workers are more dangerous to our country than the nationalist and warring mercenaries,” shows the hostility of militant groups toward the media. This hostility hinders the media’s ability to deliver news and stories about Yemen’s war, leaving Yemeni news audiences ignorant, dependent on military groups’ own media, and easy prey to war propaganda.

War on the Media

Yemen’s media has suffered a decline and retreated as it comes under increased pressure during the ongoing conflict. According to Yemen’s National Information Center, before the Houthis’ takeover of Yemen’s capital city Sanaa in September 2014, Yemen used to enjoy about 295 publications, four official state-owned TV channels, and fourteen privately-owned TV channels. Despite this media landscape, Freedom House ranked Yemen’s freedom of the press status amongst the worst in the world, and it has since declined.

Controlling the local and international narrative is crucial for the Houthis. When Houthi forces took over Sanaa in 2014, they shelled the Yemen state TV station, and soon after they replaced media professionals with Houthi-affiliated media groups. While this was happening in Houthi-controlled areas, newspapers and broadcasts in the north and south were suspended, such as the formerly state-owned Althawra and 14October newspapers. Instead, the Houthi's captured Althawra and turned it into a pro-Houthi outlet circulated only in the north, and 14October had a similar experience under the southern coalition. In Houthi-controlled areas, there has been a crackdown on media groups, the Yemeni internet service provider, Yemennet, which has blocked certain anti-Houthi websites, and the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Information accused media outlets of “inciting treason.” Controlling the media became even more prevalent in 2015 after the Saudis started their air campaign.

Today, in Houthi-controlled areas, there are ten Houthi-owned print publications, two Houthi-owned TV channels and one TV channel owned by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. In the south, a handful of TV channels and newspapers are currently working, the most notable are owned separately by Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar. There are also three independent media groups.

The deadliest violation against press in Yemen was the death of two Yemeni journalists who reportedly were used as human shields by Houthi forces to protect a military installation. In another instance, blogger and investigative journalist Mohammed al-Absi, known for reporting on a number of Houthi-related-corruption stories, was poisoned. While many believe Houthis are responsible, the investigation is still undergoing. The large-scale abuses against press in Yemen has not only made Yemen one of the most dangerous places to work as a journalist, but also has ranked the Houthis as the second worst abuser of press freedom in the world—only the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) surpasses them.

Meanwhile, Hadi and his government have begun focusing on using social media as the sole tool for dissemination of information starting from the day he escaped Sanaa to Aden in February 2015. Hadi was able to escape with the help of former Information Minister Nadia al-Saqqaf, who was tweeting about his alleged ‘critical health’ under Houthi imposed siege. Other Yemeni officials are also ordered to join and be active on Twitter, according to a Yemeni official who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons. Hadi’s leadership has given more focus on using the internet as means to disseminate information in a country where only a quarter of its population has access to the internet, which is mainly the elite. The exiled government seems more concerned about addressing the international community than Yemenis.

Flawed Media Representation

As a result of the hindered and biased media landscape, both the international community and more particularly the Yemeni public receive a distorted picture of the Yemen war. This turmoil in the media landscape has undermined any relatively comprehensive media representation of the Yemen war. Each side of the media coverage focuses on its opponent’s atrocities, deliberately overlooking its own wrongdoings, to cast the other as the only perpetrator. More importantly, each side of the media may not necessarily instigate sectarianism, but it does instigate regionalism, antagonism, and violence by humanising one side and dehumanising the other. For instance, each side depicts the other as mercenaries for the Saudis or the Iranians, respectively, and depicts their dead as the only ones worthy of being called victims.

The polarized media outlets also characterize the beginning of the war differently. For pro-Houthi and Saleh media, it began when the Saudi-led coalition began its campaign, while for pro-exiled government media outlets, there is an emphasis on the Houthis’ coup d’etat. For Yemenis, it is impossible to get a full picture of the conflict. In the north, people not politically affiliated tend to gradually become Houthi supporters as most media outlets are affiliated with the Houthis, and vice versa in the south. As each understanding of the conflict becomes more biased, it becomes harder to reach national and local level reconciliation deals.

The international media, and specifically Arab media, coverage suffers from a different set of problems. A quick look at major news organizations shows a lack of coverage of Yemen in comparison to other global events, and rarely features Yemen articles in the headlines. There are three main reasons for this: first, Houthi forces either forcibly disappear or put behind bars non-propagandist Yemeni journalists; second, Saudi Arabia is buying media silence along with hiring PR companies to polish its image in media; and lastly, independent foreign journalists do not have access to the country.

Yemenis who are critical of both local coverage and international media find themselves disappointed and frustrated. Incomplete information coupled with frustration is something that armed groups, including the belligerent parties and extremist groups such as ISIS, prey on to attract recruits.

Most Yemeni journalists interviewed for this article expressed that they had no work because they had been forced to move back to their villages to escape the Houthi crackdown. One journalist pointed out that, “polarization in Yemeni media has never been this high. The problem is that there is no room for a middle ground. On one hand, Houthis allow press only if it is biased in favor of them, as does the Yemeni exiled-government. All that you have in Yemen now is propaganda and each side can support you, only if you abide by their propaganda.”

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*This article was originally written for and published at The Atlantic Council organization on the 3rd of May 2017. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Yemen War

A graffiti work by Yemeni artists, Murad Subay, commemorating 15 children killed in 

Bani Hawwat area, in Sana’a, by an airstrike. May 18, 2015.

"Time to go back to blogging"

A dear friend and blogger from Syria, Razan Ghazzawi wrote a few days ago on her FB wall. Despite that the heartbreaking brutal war in Syria is on the news all the time, she's noticing that people know little about the situation in Syria. When I read her FB post, I thought: been there, done that. In international conferences I give talks about Yemen, I also often meet an audience who doesn't know much about the situation in Yemen, and doesn't know who to follow or read on Yemen. 

Murad's work was one of the topics I discussed at the "Arab Spring Generation" talk run by
Amnesty at Gothenburg's book fair, yesterday.

Inspired by Ghazzawi's call and by my participation in Gothenburg's Book Fair yesterday, where I took part in three talks about women's rights in patriarchal societies, journalism from exile, and Arab Spring generation, inspired by all that, I list below some of the most frequently asked questions about Yemen and the ongoing war, and my answer to them. 

* * * * * * 

Q1. Why don't we hear much about the war in Yemen in the media? is it because Yemen war is overshadowed by Syria war? 

From your question, I understand that you at least know more about the war in Syria but not in Yemen. Which is good. Better than not knowing about the two wars at all. From your question, I understand as well that you care about Syria and want to care as well about Yemen. Which is awesome. At this point, I appreciate your desire in trying to know about Yemen war. 

Now, answering your question, I think you don't hear much about the war in Yemen for three main reasons among many other: 

A. Yemenis are stranded and can't escape the war to Europe. Embassies in Yemen have shut down a long time ago. People can only apply for a visa to travel abroad from Jordan, Egypt or Ethiopia. To get to these countries by itself can be impossible with their extremely arbitrary and constantly changing rules. Even for those who have the patience in following the rules, they might run out of money in the course of traveling to Jordan, then coming back to Yemen and then traveling again to take the passport. And when you could afford the agony of traveling, there is a 99% chance that your visa application is rejected. Mind you that Yemen's main airport in Sana'a has been bombed several times by the Saudi-led coalition and only hidden diligent airport workers work in repairing what's repairable. Only one single airline can operate in Yemen and that is Yemenia, Yemen's airlines. 

Moreover, Yemen's geographical location makes it much harder for people to flee. Most of Yemen's neighbouring countries are taking part in the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen. When Yemenis are desperate enough to take the boats to neighbouring countries, the destination is typically towards Somalia and Djibouti. Despite that these countries are one of the world's poorest countries, they represent Yemenis' tiny window to escape. Once they arrive in Somalia & Djibouti, they have uncertain future. Having said that, you may measure the implications. You won't see Yemenis speaking in international conferences. And you were only able to see and talk to me because I live in Europe. 

B. Unlike the war in Syria, the Saudis are a direct actor in Yemen war and this tremendously impacts the lack of reporting or the non-reporting about Yemen war. Last year, Wikileaks released thousands of diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minstry, which includes documents showing how Saudi Arabia is buying media silence. Understandably, the oil-rich country, one of the world's top economic powers, Saudi Arabia has cash that can buy anything and anyone. The problem is, Saudi is at war with not any country but the POOREST Arab country, Yemen - which gives you an idea about the inequality in power in this war. 

C. The misconception that the war in Yemen is based on sectarian lines, as some reporters speak of Iran's role in Yemen war and how the war in Yemen is a proxy war and all that.. then, one reduces the bloodshed in Yemen to a mere Sunnis killing Shi'ites rhetorics. Whoever made you believe that is only doing a lazy journalism. Sectarianism is not the key driver of Yemen war, a super complicated political and economic power struggle is what drove this war to break out from the very beginning. There are many different internal and external actors in Yemen war with many different political agendas - some actors can find a cross-match point where secterian and politica motives meet. 

Q2. How is the press freedom in Yemen today? 

The press in Yemen is in crisis, as everything else is in crisis in the country. The humanitarian crisis could be the worst humanitarian tragedy in the world today, even beyond Syria. Nearly half of Yemen's population, over 14 MILLION people inside Yemen lack food, water, medicine and other basic human needs. No doubt among these millions of people are journalists and writers who are struggling to stay alive. Then, you have that the Houthis have forcibly disappeared and detained many local journalists who tried to expose Houthis-made human rights violations or even simply who want to report about what’s on the ground. Only those journalists who are, or sound like, pro-Houthis and abide by Houthis’ narrative can practice their work safely. It’s important to note that many journalists or commentators try to sound like a pro-Houthis, while not identifying oneself as a pro-Houthis. That’s done because they are scared of Houthis’ oppressive and barbaric rule. So, there is much self-censorship. 

Plus, as the war prolongs, journalists are discarding journalism and turning into armed fighters at frontlines, each motivated by his political affiliation to this or that armed group. 

For international journalists, it's almost impossible to get in Yemen. For more details into this, please check the following tweets: 

Why is Yemen too dangerous to report on? @Nawalf answers  📻  https://t.co/qsa18cjQSf

— Afrah Nasser (@Afrahnasser) September 13, 2016

"A jurno must apply 4 a flight ticket 2 Yemen, then, get permission frm Saudis & Houthis. A fight that often takes 7 hrs now takes +24 hrs"

— Afrah Nasser (@Afrahnasser) September 13, 2016

And I also co-spoke yesterday at the Book Fair about several aspects of media and Yemen war:

Q3. How is the situation for women's rights in Yemen today? 

Horrible. So far 10 thousand people have been killed in Yemen war, which includes women and children as they are the most vulnerable victims in this war. In light of the horrific humanitarian situation, million of mothers are suffering from malnutrition and therefore can't breastfeed their little babies and therefore both million of mothers and babies are suffering from hunger, which has extremely damaging consequences to their health. Despite that women are directly affected by the war, peace advocate Yemeni women had little, if nothing at all, say in Yemen's previous peace talks. 

Nonetheless, Yemeni women activists are still doing what they can do to end the war. To be a women rights advocate in Yemen today means you are an anti-war activist, an anti-arm-sales activist, among many other forms of activism.

Q4. Has the Arab Spring achieved anything for Yemen?

Both yes and no. As the war rages on in Yemen, it seems foolish to say that Yemen harvested any merits from Yemen's 2011 uprising. It actually did. It started a movement, a process, which calls for civil rights for all Yemenis. This can't be finalized in 2 or 5 years. This will take generations. But on the other hand, Yemenis need the world's solidarity. Yemen can't get back on its feet again, while governments in London and Washington DC are an ally to unjust and oppressive regimes which shape Yemen's politics, and here I can name Saudi Arabia. For a more current example, UK was accused of blocking UN inquiry into claim of war crimes in Yemen. However, there are still ongoing efforts by the Netherlands pushing a UN draft resolution in establishing that independent international committee. 

Yemen war: The conflict everyone wants to forget

A graffiti work by Yemeni artists, Murad Subay, commemorating the 15 children killed in Bani Hawwat area, in Sana’a, where air strikes destroyed more than seven houses, another 27 civilians were killed as well. May 18, 2015.

*Things are bad in Yemen; even worse than bad. Nine months since the Yemen war began and the impact of the violence does not only continue to rip the country apart but it has also sent the majority of the population into destitution.

While the return of President Hadi and his prime minister to Aden gives the illusion that there will be an end to the current unresolved multi-front fighting in other parts of the country, the suffering of Yemenis continues to be incomprehensible.

The human cost of the war so far is immense, as the Saudi-led coalition air strikes and the Houthi-Saleh alliance’s aggression have in inflicted horrendous atrocities across the country. The ongoing conflict has resulted in over 32,000 casualties, with 5,700 people killed, including 830 women and children, alongside a sharp rise in human rights violations, according to the latest UN report.

Even more tragic is the civilian deaths, or what the Saudi-led coalition likes to call collateral damage, during wedding parties. More than 160 people including women and children were killed in air strikes that hit at least two separate wedding parties. Despite the fact that nowhere has been safe in Yemen, over 2.3 million have tried to escape the escalating violence and have become internally displaced since late March of this year.

In a country like Yemen that imports 90 percent of its food, fuel, medicine and other vital goods from foreign suppliers, food has been used as a war weapon. It’s not only that the coalition’s naval blockade of Yemen’s main ports has been leaving 80 percent of Yemen’s population facing a humanitarian disaster, but the Saudis have also made sure that whatever relief operation are carried in Yemen need to be barred from delivery to Houthi-controlled areas, according to a UN reporter. With such tactics, the ongoing war is devastating Yemen; 82 percent of the population, that’s 21.2 million people, are in need of some kind of humanitarian assistance.

Amidst the worsening humanitarian catastrophe earlier this month, two rare cyclones made a landfall on Yemen's southern coast killing 26 people and affecting thousands of families. In light of the severity of needs, a black market in all rare commodities is flourishing; only those who can afford the skyrocketing prices can shop there. Using donkey carts for transportation and solar energy to compensate electricity scarcity have become the new norm in Yemen, as the people are trapped in an escalating conflict and navigating alternative methods of survival.

With that said, one would expect the world and the international community to rally to help Yemenis in their ordeal, and yet Yemenis’ cries fall on deaf ears. I realised this when a Yemeni friend called me once she arrived to Jordan after she escaped the violence in Yemen. She shared her shock with me in realising that nobody cares about the situation in Yemen. “When I was in Yemen and isolated from the rest of the world because of the fighting, I thought that the world was doing something to rescue us, but when I managed to get out of the country and see outsiders’ reactions to the Yemen war, I saw how nobody cares about us,” she said.

There are two main reasons behind the general indifference towards the war in Yemen. One is how the media coverage is highly dominated by the two main warring parties’ mouthpieces - whether the Saudi-affiliated or the Iranian-affiliated media, giving a false impression that the Yemen war is primarily sectarian.

The relatively independent local press inside the country is under fire and mostly silenced. Thus, the dominant media narrative about the Yemen war has a sectarian language that does not reflect the major political dispute. This influences the international public understanding about the Yemen war and greatly dehumanises Yemenis.

The other reason is the Yemen war has become a lucrative business for great powers and ordinary countries alike. Saudi Arabia is the UK’s largest foreign customer of weapons and the US State Department recently announced its approval of a new $1.29 billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia.

Soldiers from several countries such as Colombia and Sudan have found opportunity for recruitment in Yemen war. Many seem to benefit from the war in Yemen, and it’s of their great interest that this war continues. Of course, that is at the expense of Yemeni lives.

Yemenis’ ordeal is summed up in Thucydides’ saying: “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” With global apathy toward the war in Yemen, Yemenis know that they are alone in facing a double-faced evil. One of the world’s poorest nations stands helplessly against the Saudis’ power-machine and the Saleh-Houthi alliance’s aggression.

The world’s apathy over the atrocities in Yemen makes its people feel abandoned and, more painfully, makes them realise how Yemenis’ blood counts for nothing. It’s difficult to comprehend how the world can fail to acknowledge that this situation is beyond a tragedy; it is a shame on humanity.

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*I originally wrote this piece for the Middleesteye.net, published on Nov. 25, 2015