On the sixth day of Ramadan (in 3 days), it would be the one year anniversary of sentencing to a state security prison the well-established Yemeni journalist and blogger, Abdel Elah Shaye.
Shaye, accused by the state of being the “media man” for Al-Qaeda in Yemen. The 34-year-old, was taken, by force and without charge, from his home on August 2010, by Yemen’s Political Security Organization (PSO) and held for 34 days without access to a lawyer or his family. After his previous appearance in court, on 22 September 2010, Shaye had a five year sentence and was transferred to a state security prison. His lawyer, Abderrahman Barman, claims Shaye was kept in solitary confinement, tortured and beaten during his detention.
During one of the court hearings, shouted Shaye through the bars of his cell and said, “I disappeared for 35 days. Then I was kept in prison for another 30 days, on your orders, judge,”. “Now the 30 days are over, I request immediate release and demand you order the arrest of the intelligence officers who kidnapped me.”
Since those moments, independent journalists and newspapers in Yemen have been in the tightest spot ever. While Yemen's uprising began, Yemeni independent journalists faced double aggression and censorship, just because they were doing their job and covering the uprising. Today, there are many similar cases of Shaye but we still don't have clear and certain numbers. However, I've always wondered how would Shaye have covered the recent events! It's awful that such well-established journalist is still behind bars for practicing independent journalism. He never had a proper judicial system to look about his case. Shaye didn't spend last Ramadan with his family, nor he will this year :"( ..
