Yemen: Demonstration in support of the arrested journalist Abd al-Ilah Haidar Shaie on the anniversary of his arrest

Alkarama, in coordination with the Yemeni National Institution for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms (HOOD) and the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate (YJS) organised a demonstration on Wednesday 25 July in support of the arrested journalist: Abd al-Ilah Haidar Shaie who now enters his third year of detention in the Political Security Prison. He is detained as a result of an investigation he had done into the US bombardment of a village in the south of Yemen toward the end of 2009 under the pretext of fighting terrorism, which revealed that the strikes killed scores of civilians.

A number of journalists and human rights activists participated in the demonstration which was held in front of the home of the transitional president, Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi, in the capital Sana'a. The journalists and activists raised placards that demanded a halt to US interference in the journalist's case and in the activities of the Yemeni government and judiciary. The demonstrators also held a communal breaking of the fast and an evening prayer, as a way of showing solidarity with and recognising the suffering of the detained journalist and his family.

This 6th day of Ramadan is the second anniversary of the arrest of Mr Shaie. On 16 August 2010, security forces officers who raided his home in Sana'a, arresting him and taking him to one of the secret prisons that belong to the National Security Intelligence Services. He was cut off from having any contact with the outside world for one month, during which he was subjected to torture and mistreatment. Mr Shaie was then transferred to the Political Security Prison, and tried before a special court which sentenced him to five years in prison following a trial which lacked the minimum standards of a fair trial.

Though a presidential pardon was issued for the release of Mr Shaie by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was removed from power following widespread protests last year, American interference stopped the pardon coming into effect, and Mr Shaie remained in detention.