Journalists in Yemen attacked ‘from all quarters,’ UN rights chief says
Since the beginning of April, the United Nations has documented an abduction, a killing and a number of physical attacks and threats against journalists operating in war-torn Yemen.
The United Nations human rights chief called on all parties in Yemen to release their detained journalists, warning today that attacks against the men and women documenting the conflict may amount to war crimes
"Journalists are under attack from all quarters,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. “They are jailed and sentenced to death for merely trying to shine a light on the brutality of this crisis."
Since the start of April, the UN Human Rights Office has documented “one assassination, one abduction, three cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, the sentencing of four journalists to death in violation of international human rights law and jailing of six others, three physical assaults and threats of physical violence.”
Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement seized the capital, Sanaa, and captured large swaths of the country. The next year, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition that intervened on the government’s behalf.
