Influence «Silences» Journalists and Activists in Hadramout

The December, "Hadramout News" newspaper editor-in-chief, Imad al-Diny, was harassed by Hadramout TV, for his post on his Facebook page in which he criticized the channel.

The channel's administration filed a complaint against the religious journalist, through the head of the Mukalla Appeal Prosecution, Judge Shaker Bennish - who was referred to the Judicial Inspection authority by the Public Prosecutor - and sent a summons through the Mukalla Police to al-Diny.

According to the Morakipon (Observers) Press Foundation, the channel's administration resorted to filing a judicial complaint in its name before a non-specialized prosecution in Mukalla against al-Diny.

In a statement, they considered that the Public Prosecution's acceptance of that complaint was “a shocking matter” and included an attempt at what it called “an unacceptable confusion and an unacceptable jump” on the jurisdiction of the judicial system, stressing that this is a grave violation of the effective Press and Publications Law No. 25 of 1990. ⁽²⁾

In the absence of the role of the Press and Publications Prosecution in Hadramout, the Public Prosecution in Mukalla summoned journalists after they exposed corruption information in educational institutions, and demanded that they be held accountable; Although they are not qualified to do so according to the Yemeni Press and Publications Law of 1990.

The head of the Public Prosecution Office of the Hadramout Appeal, Judge Shaker Bennish told "South24", that the Public Prosecution is "the responsible one, and it has the authority and the mandate to investigate and file a criminal case...whether with the politician or the journalist." "The Traffic Prosecution, the Public Funds Prosecution, or the Press and Publications Prosecution, all of which are within the framework of the Public Prosecution," he said.

Bennish explained that the Specialized Criminal Prosecution is the only one specialized in "crimes of terrorism and crimes of trafficking and selling drugs only, and other than that, it follows the Public Prosecution."

Journalist Majed Al-Daari, head of the Morakipon Press Foundation, told "South24" that "the Public Prosecution does not differentiate between a journalist" and a "Facebook influencer" and does not bother to summon even for a Facebook post and to pursue them by security, and to extract illegal pledges from them to not return to writing.

Al-Daari attributed this to the absence of justice, misinterpretation of the law, and the prosecution's attempt to use an authoritative “repressive tool” to silence and prevent them from expressing their opinions and criticizing corruption in society, as a right guaranteed to them by the constitution.

In his interview with "South24", Judge Bennish said that "the prosecution is investigating in accordance with the Press and Publications Law, but what some publish on their personal pages including Facebook" is not considered a journalist's work.

According to Judge Bennish, "the Press and Publications Law is concerned with paper journalism only so far" and does not include, as he says, "electronic journalism." But "however, if the press website is licensed, the law will treat it as a newspaper."

For its part, the Public Funds Prosecution in Mukalla claimed that a journalist has no right to publish what it described as "offensive news" even if evidence is available.

A source in the prosecution told "South24", "the journalist must file a complaint with the Public Prosecution if he has evidence that condemns certain parties or individuals," considering that anything below that is considered "defamation."

Journalists and activists in Hadramout consider their freedoms of expression to be "restricted", especially since it comes without judicial orders; This prompts many of them to not criticize the reality around them and to avoid going into it in order to avoid any prosecutions.