Cairo: Yemeni authorities stormed local
offices of the two leading pan-Arab television networks and
confiscated broadcasting equipment in an apparent response to
their coverage of the country's south, where a protest
movement is pushing to restore the region's independence.
Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera and its rival Saudi-owned
Al-Arabiya today said that security agents stormed their
offices in the capital, San'a, called their staff in for
questioning and seized live broadcasting equipment last night.
Information Minister Hassan al-Lozy said authorities
acted against the stations because they had no license to
operate their live broadcasting equipment, something the
stations dispute.
The networks said they believed the raids were related to
their coverage of the growing tension in the south, which
threatens the impoverished nation's stability along with a
deepening al-Qaida presence and a separate rebel insurgency in
the north.
Amid the turmoil, authorities have routinely pressured
journalists, particularly over coverage of the government's
struggle on these three fronts and the military's performance.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said
in a report in February that Yemen's government is one of the
most media repressive in the Middle East, banning some
newspapers, blocking Websites and setting up a special court
for cases involving media. Some journalists have also gone
missing, the report said.
Al-Jazeera said on its Website that government officials
recently warned the station against covering meetings of
southern opposition parties.
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 12, 2010, 23:39