(S) PUBLISHER THREATENED AND IN SECLUSION AFTER

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 003548 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2015 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL YM SUBJECT: (S) PUBLISHER THREATENED AND IN SECLUSION AFTER REFUSING PRESIDENTIAL ORDER TO PUBLISH FAKE OP-ED REF: SANAA 3187 Classified By: CDA Nabeel Khoury for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: During a visit to Aden, CDA met on December 14 with Basha Bashrahil, International News Editor of the independent Aden-based daily "Al-Ayyam." Bashrahil (strictly protect) expressed to CDA his alarm about recent signals from the ROYG, describing in detail threats against his family and playing excerpts of a tape in which President Saleh dictated by phone to Al-Ayyam an article he wanted published. These developments come on the heels of a rash of violence against the press in recent weeks, capping a year of unprecedented repression of the media in Yemen. END SUMMARY. -------------- You'll Print What We Tell You To Print -------------- ¶2. (S) CDA visited Aden on December 13-16 to attend the GPC conference and a German-sponsored conference on media and the Islamic world (septels). While in Aden, CDA visited the headquarters of independent daily newspaper "Al-Ayyam" to meet with a group of journalists and for a brief interview. Before the interview, however, International News Editor Basha Bashrahil gave CDA details on a series of disturbing recent events. First, Bashrahil described word of a possible assassination plot against his father, Hisham Bashrahil, Al-Ayyam's Editor-in-Chief. Bashrahil said that word of this plot came from a prisoner released from detention, who had heard it while in custody at a Political Security Organization facility. Bashrahil and family were sufficiently concerned by the report that Bashrahil senior is remaining behind the walls of the Al-Ayyam office compound, where the family also resides. ¶3. (S) Bashrahil next launched into the subject of the recent reform initiative proposed by the opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP). Bashrahil expressed that the ROYG's extremely aggressive reaction to the JMP initiative stems from a growing fear at senior levels about the government losing control. He said that orders from the top regularly are ignored at lower levels. He also expressed his surprise and anxiety at the heavy military presence imposed upon Aden during the GPC conference, asserting that as many as 80,000 ROYG forces were in Aden and the nearby vicinity to keep order in the event of a breakdown. (Note: Post believes this number to have been grossly exaggerated. End note.) ¶4. (S) Bashrahil supported his comments about the ROYG's anxiety regarding the JMP initiative by playing an audiotape of a telephone conversation between his father and President Saleh. Bashrahil said that the tape was made about two weeks previously, two days after the release of the JMP initiative. On the tape, Saleh accuses the JMP of attempting to model Yemen on Iraq and Israel and of offering the reform initiative solely to please the United States. Saleh then describes the JMP as an "atheist communist party," and proceeds to dictate to Bashrahil senior an opinion piece for publication in Al-Ayyam ravaging the JMP and its reform initiative. Saleh finally provides Bashrahil senior a fictitious name under which he wants the article published. Al-Ayyam decided not to publish Saleh's op-ed, Bashrahil said. In a subsequent taped conversation, Saleh calls Bashrahil senior a "coward" for his reluctance to publish the article, then says that he will "protect" Bashrahil senior. Bashrahil said that these calls were not the first of their kind. He described other, similar phone calls from President Saleh in which Saleh has dictated articles and demanded their publication. Bashrahil added that Saleh's behavior in such calls has become increasingly erratic. (Note: Based on the voice on the tape and Bashrahil's general trustworthiness, post has no doubt that the tape we heard does reflect Saleh's voice. End note.) -------------- Interview with Al-Ayyam -------------- ¶5. (U) Following the impromptu meeting with Bashrahil, CDA accorded a brief interview to Al-Ayyam, conducted by Bashrahil and subsequently published on December 15. In the interview, CDA emphasized that the GPC conference scheduled to begin the following day would provide an opportunity to launch necessary reforms awaited by the USG and other donor countries and organizations. CDA characterized corruption and press freedom as the two prominent areas in which the donor community expects to see significant reform movement. CDA noted Yemen's drop in international rankings on both issues, and commented that the slow pace of movement has harmed the ROYG's international reputation. CDA also noted that President Bush spoke frankly with President Saleh about these and other issues facing Yemen during the latter's recent visit to Washington. CDA's interview was printed in full by Al-Ayyam and excerpted on the news website of "Al-Sahwa" (Islah Party media outlet),on NewsYemen.Net (widely-read independent news site),on RayNews.Net (news site of liberal opposition Rabita Party),and in the Yemen Times (independent bi-weekly English language newspaper). -------------- Press Harassment Continues -------------- ¶6. (U) Al-Ayyam's brush with Saleh comes on the heels of a rash of additional incidents involving the press since November 1, when two reporters were assaulted by ROYG security forces while attempting to cover a strike at a textile factory in Sanaa (ref. a). On November 12, journalist Nabil Sabaie, an outspoken critic of the President, was stabbed on a Sanaa street. On December 10, Sadeq al-Odeini, journalist and head of the Center for the Protection of Journalists, was dragged out of his home during the early evening and severely beaten by masked men. On the same day, a Yemeni court suspended two seperate newspapers; one for defaming a government official and the other for writing about a supermarket chain that sells "sub-standard" goods. There has been no official comment from the ROYG on any of the incidents or court cases. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. (S) We generally view Bashrahil's political alarmism with some skepticism. On this occasion, however, his genuine and evident fear, taken together with the death threat to his father and the audiotape of Saleh attempting to manipulate his newspaper, all combine to paint a distressing picture of a deteriorating political climate, with Saleh becoming increasingly think-skinned, particularly with regard to the press. End Comment. Khoury