Yemeni journalists are living in extremely difficult conditions as a result of the violations committed by the parties to the conflict against them over the past seven years of war.

Yemen has become one of the worst places in the world in terms of press freedoms, as dozens of journalists have been killed since the war began, while hundreds have lost their jobs, according to human rights reports.

Yemen is ranked 169 (out of 180 countries) in the world press freedom rankings, which was published by Reporters Without Borders, an organization that defends the freedoms of journalists, earlier this year.

On August 19, the same organization (based in Paris) announced that the Houthi group had recently detained journalists Fahd Al-Arhabi and Younis Abdel Salam.

And it said in a statement that "government security forces in the city of Taiz surrounded, at dawn on August 17, the home of journalist Nayef Al-Wafi, who managed to escape and hide in an unknown location."

Security also surrounded "the house of journalist Taha Saleh, who happened not to be at home at the time of the raid," according to the organization.

And in early July, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate announced that it had monitored 36 cases of violations since the beginning of this year until the end of June, affecting journalists, photographers and media institutions.

According to the report, the Syndicate documented 12 cases of kidnapping, detention, stalking and harassment, 4 cases of threats and incitement against journalists, and 5 cases of attacks on journalists, media headquarters and private property.

In addition, 18 cases of denial of coverage and confiscation of newspapers, and 7 cases of prosecution and accountability of journalists, were documented.

The syndicate reported that the Houthi group committed 20 cases of violations at a rate of 55 percent, while the legitimate government in its various formations committed 10 cases of violations at a rate of 28 percent, while the Southern Transitional Council committed 6 cases at a rate of 17 percent.

From a previous campaign to release 10 journalists who were detained by the Houthis before releasing some of them (activists)

no freedoms

Haitham Al-Shehab, who was detained by the Houthis for 5 years before being released in a prisoner exchange deal with the Yemeni government in October 2020, says that "press freedom in Yemen has become completely non-existent as a result of the harassment, imprisonment and enforced disappearance of the journalist."

He added: "After years of arbitrary detention and the severe suffering I faced inside Houthi prisons, I became suffering from the harshness of living in exile outside Yemen, and the inability to return home and be reunited with my family after years of enforced absence from them."

Al-Shehab believes that he and his fellow journalists are not safe, "as we suffer from the harshness of the difficult conditions and the absence of a safe environment that guarantees us stability and a free life after those years we spent behind prisons."

He points out that 4 of his fellow journalists are now facing an arbitrary death sentence as a result of their opposition opinions only, and they also face an unknown fate as the Houthis refuse to release them and use them as a blackmail card for the government party, and demand their release in exchange for fighters from the fronts.

And human rights organizations operating in Yemen "have only the ability to issue statements, but they do not constitute the basic protection that they can provide for these journalists to live in safety and express their opinions without restrictions," according to Al-Shehab.

And the Yemeni journalist continues: "We got out of prison and the situation in the country is catastrophic, and we are suffering from a tragic situation that may be more than what we were in prisons."

Journalists in Yemen are working in dire conditions (Reuters)

constant abuse

In turn, journalist Zakaria al-Kamali, head of the Rights and Freedoms Committee of the Journalists Syndicate in Taiz Governorate, the most populous governorate in Yemen, says that "his country has since been a hostile environment for media freedoms, and after the Houthi coup, the press was brutally abused."

Al-Kamali confirms that dozens of newspapers and institutions have been closed down and dozens of journalists have been prosecuted before they find themselves refugees abroad, while 9 others are in prison, 4 of whom are under sentence of death by the Houthi authorities.

On April 11, 2020, the Houthis issued a death sentence for 4 journalists after a kidnapping of nearly 5 years, they are: Abdul-Khaleq Omran, Akram al-Walidy, Harith Hamid, and Tawfiq al-Mansoori. The group accuses them of collaborating with the countries of the Arab coalition, which the journalists deny.

Al-Kamali added: "The Syndicate has documented 1,400 violations since the outbreak of the war until the middle of the current year 2021, but the truth is that all journalists working from inside Yemen or those who left it, have been subjected to violations."

And he added, "There is systematic psychological terrorism practiced by the parties to the conflict against journalists and media professionals, as they only want pens and voices that swim in their orbits and glorify their illusory achievements."

Al-Kamali considers that "the Yemeni journalist needs a comprehensive psychological and physical rehabilitation, as a result of the damage he sustained during the war, as a result of the struggle he has been engaged in since 2015."

Yemen has been witnessing a war for nearly 7 years, which has killed more than 233,000 people, and 80% of its population of about 30 million people has become dependent on support and aid, in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.