Union official: Houthi militia seeks to prepare new draft law for the press

An official in the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate revealed, on Tuesday, Houthi efforts to prepare a new press law instead of the current law, as part of its plans to adapt the laws to serve its oppressive and sectarian project.

Journalist Jamal Anam, head of the Rights and Freedoms Committee of the Journalists Syndicate Council, said in a post on his Facebook page, monitored by the editor of "Yemeni Youth Net", "The Houthis, through what they call the Ministry of Information in Sana'a, are working on cooking up a draft law for the press, instead of the Press and Publications Law of the Republic of Yemen for the year 1990," without further details.

The union official recalled the draft press and media law that was prepared in 2010 by the union, parliamentarians, and local and international legal experts, over two years through internal and external workshops and courses, and presented to the House of Representatives, which has not yet approved it.

Anam pointed out that the project submitted to the House of Representatives is “an advanced and forward-looking project that accommodates new media, champions freedom of expression, and meets journalists’ aspirations for a free press, modern media, and protected professional practice supported by a law that belongs to the era and is consistent with the changes in reality and time.”

He wondered in surprise: "What is the secret behind this postponement or deportation? And why does such a fundamental issue fall into oblivion? As if freedom is not something we are betting on in our struggle to overthrow this abhorrent priestly apostasy?"

Observers believe that the militia's efforts to prepare this law come as a continuation of its sectarian project and a re-tailoring of the laws to serve its interests and increase its war on freedom of the press and media.

Since its coup against the government in the fall of 2014, the terrorist Houthi militia has launched a fierce war on the press and media, closing and looting dozens of different media outlets, blocking hundreds of websites, kidnapping dozens of journalists and issuing death sentences against some of them, while a number of them are still in its prisons to this day.