Since the start of the war in Yemen over seven years ago, journalists have suffered numerous violations of their rights.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) has announced that in 2022 it recorded 92 separate violations against its members, including two murders.
In its annual report on media freedoms in the country, the YJS writes that it “recorded 92 violations against media workers, journalists, and photographers, and their property, between 1 January to 31 December 31, 2022.”
The report details 17 cases of assault on journalists and other media workers, 15 different prosecutions, 14 cases of detention, and 12 instances of threats or incitement.
It also mentions 13 cases of journalists being tortured and 9 cases of media groups having their broadcasting disrupted. Several cases of property damage and non-payment were reported.
The report also details the killing of two journalists.
According to the YJS report, the “Houthi forces committed 37 of the total number of violations, whilst the legitimate government, across all of its agencies, committed 35 violations.”
Unidentified persons were responsible for 12 violations. The Southern Transitional Council, an ally of the internationally-recognised government, committed 6 violations.
In 2021, Reporters Without Borders ranked Yemen 169 out of 180 countries in its world classification table of media freedoms.
For more than seven years, Yemen has suffered a war that has killed more than 233,000 people.
80 percent of the population, or 30 million people, now depend on aid to survive what is, according to the UN, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
