Salah el-Saqladi

Front Line has received the following update in relation to journalist and human rights defender, Mr Salah Yahya el-Saqladi in Yemen. On 22 March 2010, Salah Yahya el-Saqladi and two other journalists, Mr Fu’ad Rashed and Mr Ahmed Al-Rabezi, were brought before the Special Penal Court (which acts as the State Security Court) charged with “disturbing public order" and "inciting hatred through their writings on Internet websites”.

Further Information

At the hearing on 22 March, Salah el-Saqladi requested his immediate release and that of the two other defendants on the basis that there were no legal grounds for the charges against them, especially since there is no law in Yemen regulating Internet media.

He accused the prosecution of fabricating the charges against them based on unpublished articles, drafts and notes that were taken form their private mail.

Salah el-Saqladi also gave details to the court of the torture he was subjected to, including being hung from the ceiling of the prison cell for many days. The court adjourned the case until 24 May 2010 for final ruling. As in the previous 14 hearings in this case, journalists were not permitted to attend this hearing.

Salah Yahya el-Saqladi has been held incommunicado since his arrest on 18 June 2009. Salah el-Saqladi is a journalist and the head of the Aden branch of the Organisation for Change and the Defense of Rights and Freedoms (OCDRF).

Since November 2006, Salah el-Saqladi has been the political editor of Hewar Human Rights Forum (http://hewarye.org). Prior to his arrest, Salah el-Saqladi had written articles criticising the authorities in Yemen for human rights violations, especially in southern Yemen.

Original Front Line appeal on behalf of Salah el-Sagladi