Michigan - The American Center for Justice (ACJ) said that the Yemeni government was required to take effective measures and ensure an end to the policy of threats and prosecution against journalists, the most recent of which was the threats of arrest journalist Ali Mohamed Al-Oqabi was subjected to by the Ministry of Defense, against the backdrop of his writings, as he criticized the delay in disbursing salaries to the government armed forces and the government's neglect of the families of the martyrs and the wounded. The center confirmed that this behavior seriously violated the legal rules that guarantee freedom of opinion and expression without prosecution or threat.

(ACJ) indicates that it received a report from journalist Al-Oqabi, who works as a press editor on Al-Thawra.net where he confirmed that he had been subjected to harassment and persecution during the last five days because of his journalistic work, after he criticized the delay in disbursing salaries to the government armed forces and neglect of the families of the martyrs and the wounded. 

Journalist “Al-Oqabi” said during his report, “After I published those questions directed to the Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Mohsen Al-Daari, I received threats from officers in military intelligence and an attempt was made to arrest me from one of the markets in the city of Marib. I knew later that the Minister of Defense was the one who directed that I be arrested because of posting on my social media accounts and sharing the news about the minister’s corruption, which I had quoted from the (Yemen Daily News) website.”

The ACJ stresses that the threats and persecution faced by the journalist “Al-Oqabi” and human rights activists and media professionals, violate what is stipulated in international law in many of its agreements, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which affirmed in Article 19 of them that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression ; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice."

The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls on the Ministry of Defense to immediately stop its policy of persecution and threats against journalists. It also calls on the Yemeni government to open an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the threats received by journalist Al-Oqabi, stressing that the Yemeni government must be the guarantor of individuals’ enjoyment of their stipulated rights instead of the threatening policy followed by some executive authorities in order to silence the voice of media professionals.