SANAA, 29 January 2007 — The showing of the Yemeni film, “Aminah,” which won a silver prize at the recent Dubai Film Festival, is still a matter of controversy in Yemen.
The dispute is between the censors, who banned its public release, and the film’s director Khadija Al-Salama who maintains that it does not contain objectionable matter that warrants a ban, the Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
However the censors have not objected to the film being viewed privately on DVDs and video tapes.
“Aminah” is a documentary that tells the story of a young woman jailed nine years ago after having been sentenced to death for murdering her husband. The film points out a serious lapse on the part of the legal machinery since the accused was a minor when she committed the crime and a minor cannot be sentenced to death.
Khadija said she had given a copy of the film to the president of Yemen when they met in France and he had issued an order for the case to be reviewed but to no avail.