SANAA, 26 March 2003 — Three Yemeni journalists were given four-month suspended sentences yesterday for articles deemed harmful to relations between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Ali Al-Saqaf, editor in chief of the opposition Nasserist Unionist party newspaper Al-Wahdawi, and two of his reporters, Ahmad Said Nasser and Abdel Aziz Ismail, were charged after running a series of articles in October and November that allegedly insulted the Saudi royal family.
The Saudi Embassy had complained to Yemeni authorities about the articles.
The presiding judge, Mohammed Mahdi Al-Raimi, found that the articles “harmed relations between the two countries and the higher national interests.” The Al-Wahdawi newspaper said it would appeal the sentence, calling it “unjust” and based on “weak” evidence. The verdict is “politically motivated... aimed at closing the paper and terrorizing its staff,” the statement said.
