The Annual Report of the Press Violations Committed by the Saudi-Led Coalition in Yemen
YemenExtra
M.A.
After the Saudi-led coalition first waged its war on March 26 of 2015 on the impoverished country of Yemen, various Yemeni journalists took responsibility of documenting any violations of humanitarian law by the coalition against their country.
The Yemeni Media Union launched in the capital Sana’a its second annual report, regarding the crimes and violations perpetrated by the coalition and its allies against journalism and its employees in Yemen.
The report recorded the Saudi assaults on the Yemeni media in the second year of war; it was released at a press conference held this morning at the headquarters of the Union in the capital Sana’a, where it recorded the killing of 50 members working in the “Military Media”. It also included the death of a number of colleagues such as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Abdullah Al-Moayad, and the journalist Ali Hanesh. Multiple Yemeni journalists fell as victims of the Saudi war carrying out their media tasks.
The most highlighted indirect violations were mentioned by the report, which have influenced the Yemeni media capabilities in reporting news to the rest of the world, including the war crimes the Saudi regime has been accused of committing every now and then. Speaking of violations of humanitarian law, towers of communication, Internet and electricity have been targets for the coalition warplanes. Moreover, the deteriorating security situation due to the war highly affected the aspect of journalism, in addition to the sea, air and land blockade, which played a role in preventing the media institutions from gaining access to spare parts for maintenance of equipment.
The suspension of salaries, which exacerbated the difficult economic conditions experienced by the Yemeni media, and the propagation of the journalists to arrest list, published by the coalition, stating a number of Yemeni journalists to capture at international airports, making their travel risky.
The report also monitored the statistics for two years of war, including at least 133 cases of direct violation, of which at least 60 were deliberate killings, 60 killed, 90 wounded, 4 cases of cloning, 12 cases of destruction of facilities, 7 cases of suspension of Arabsat broadcasting, 8 cases of suspension of Nilesat broadcasting, 5 cases of shutting down famous accounts on Facebook.
The Yemeni Media Union called for the formation of an international commission of inquiry to consider the war crimes committed by the coalition against the media and the workers in Yemen.
On the other hand, international organizations also demanded the continuous support of Yemeni media confronting the massive power of Saudi media, and urged various media institutions to document the crimes and violations that have been exposed in order to present them to the world.