http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35958
MEDIA: Cartoons Cast a Long Shadow in Yemen Nabil Sultan SANA'A, Dec. 23 (IPS) - Long after the cartoons controversy died down in Denmark and around the world, it continues to hover above media in Yemen. Journalists are fighting the government over prison sentences handed down to editors who republished the cartoons in some form. The chief editor of the English language Yemen Observer, Mohammed al-Asadi, was fined 500,000 Yemeni rials (2,525 dollars) earlier this month. The court ordered his detention until the fine was paid. He had published the cartoons with a large cross across them to show his opposition to the cartoons - while letting readers know what he was talking about. "We did not abuse the Prophet, and the verdict is baseless," he said in a statement from prison. "I reject the verdict completely, and I will appeal against it." Al-Asadi's lawyers Mohammad Naji Allaw and Khalid al-Anisi have launched an appeal against the "illegal and risky" verdict. "The verdict is so dangerous," Allaw told reporters. "Al-Asadi's life is at risk, any fanatic can kill him for the Prophet's sake because the court said he was guilty. Fanatics may feel he received too light a punishment, and take it upon themselves to kill him." Taha Khalid, counsel for cleric Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, has said he will file an appeal for a stiffer sentence. "It's not an appropriate verdict," he said. "The punishment in law is a minimum of five years. The judge is free to choose between maximum and minimum, but not to give him no prison sentence." In his order, Judge Sahl Hamzah ruled: "According to the law, al-Asadi has committed a crime. His intention to condemn the cartoons does not excuse him. There is nothing in law to defend him, even if he republished the cartoons with good purpose." But he did not impose a sentence, saying that although al-Asadi had committed a crime, it did not make him a heretic. Last month a court convicted Kamal al-Olufi, editor of the newspaper Al-Ri al-Aam of republishing the cartoons, and insulting Prophet Muhammad. He was sentenced to a year in jail, banned from writing for 18 months, and his paper ordered closed for six months. Pending an appeal, the prosecutor released Olufi from custody. But soon after, the prosecutor ordered sealing of the offices of the newspaper, and ordered the arrest of Olufi, who is now in hiding. "What does this mean?" said Olufi in a letter to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. "It means I cannot appeal against my case while I am free and the paper is coming out. It means that there is no safe environment for media and journalists to operate in." Members of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate have been holding protests against the sentences. "It is wrong to use our Prophet for political wrangling and to settle accounts," Ali al-Jaradi from the syndicate told IPS. The papers did not insult the Prophet, but defended him against blasphemy in the Danish and other newspapers, the Syndicate said. "We have been embarrassed to hear the sentences against Al-Rai Al-Aam and Yemen Observer, and chasing al-Olufi to put him in jail and preventing him from writing for 18 months," the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said in a petition to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "We have been more embarrassed when the authorities started to implement a primary verdict by closing the paper and pursuing its editor like a criminal." The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the jail sentence against Olufi. "We are deeply troubled by this harsh sentence," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said. "Journalists should never be imprisoned for what they publish. While we recognise these cartoons may have caused offence, there can be no justification for jailing a journalist because of what he published." The Sana'a Appeals Court last Monday ordered suspension of the prison sentence on Olufi, but the appeal proceedings are pending. Last week Akram Sabra, managing editor of the weekly al-Huriya, the third paper that republished the cartoons, and Yahya al-Abdel, a reporter for the paper, were banned from writing for a month. A court held them guilty of denigrating Islam by reprinting the cartoons. "We will appeal the verdict despite it being the most lenient handed out in this case," said lawyer Khaled al-Ansi. (END/2006
