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Interior Ministry expels armed men surrounding state newspaper
[Yemen Post] Forces of the Interior Ministry expelled on Saturday gunnies surrounding the major state newspaper, Al-Thawra, for more than a month.The gunnies who are loyal to the ousted President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... had banned some journalists from entering the newspaper after an image of Saleh was removed from the newspaper's front page. The Yemeni Journalist Syndicate called on Saturday all journalists to return to their newspaper after the expelling of the gunnies. Media sources said that new President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi ordered the Interior Ministry to force out the thugs, pointing out that they tried to resist the soldiers, but they were forced to depart. The Information Ministry had accused political and security authorities of standing behind those thugs, affirming that they misused the newspaper and published articles that contradicted the government's policies. Journalists and employees of Al-Thawra had appealed to Hadi and Interior Minister to drive back the thugs, citing that they prevented some pro-revolution journalists from entering to the newspaper. The Federation of Arab Journalist had condemned the "brutal attack" against the state-run Al-Thawra and its staff, considered this event as serious. It asked the Yemeni concerned authorities to immediately end the siege and arrest the gangs. For its part, the International Federation of Journalists called the Yemeni government to act decisively to stop the diehard supporters of Saleh from perpetuating control over public media. "This is a serious incident which also represents a test of the interim leadership's commitment to genuine change, including respect for press freedom," said IFJ President, Jim Boumelha. Posted by: Fred 2012-03-04 |
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