SANA'A: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned Yemen's government and more specifically the Press and Publication court for continuing its “charade” of justice against two al-Jazeera journalists who were arrested last year while covering the uprising. In a written statement, the CPJ also demanded the Cabinet not to revive a restrictive Audio-Visual and Electronic Media bill that has been pending in Parliament since 2010. Two Sana'a-based Al-Jazeera correspondents, Ahmed al-Shalafi and Hamdi al-Bukari, were summoned Monday to appear before the special Press and Publications Court on May 21 for “operating outside the bounds of the law,” said local news reports. The government of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh-who stepped down in February following popular protests-filed a case against the two journalists in June 2011, claiming they broke the law by broadcasting news of the uprising after the government pulled Al-Jazeera's accreditation. Despite the Ministry of Information having withdrawn the charges, the Press and Publications Court has chosen to revive the case, news reports said. A 2010 CPJ report found that the court is politicized and arbitrary and fails to accord journalists the minimal legal protections. Many local lawyers described it as unconstitutional. Saeed Thabit, la-Jazeera's Yemen bureau chief told the CPJ that the move was political; accusing the government of trying to get rid of the TC Channel for it was Qatari-based. While covering 2011 uprising, the bureau was attacked by the Central Security on several occasions and its staff harassed. “The court's revival of a politicized case from the Saleh era sends a clear message to all journalists in Yemen that nothing has changed for the press,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “As if hauling journalists in front of an extraordinary tribunal on trumped up charges were not enough, the authorities are now also reviving a media law that was so restrictive, it could not even pass during Saleh's near-absolute grip on power,” Abdel Dayem said.
