Exposed: How Houthi militias are killing off Yemen media

ADEN: Iran-backed Houthi militias were accused on Monday of an unprecedented campaign of violence, intimidation, abduction and murder aimed at journalists and the media in Yemen.

At least 26 journalists have been killed since the Houthi coup in 2014, said Women Journalists Without Chains, a civil rights group in Yemen.

The Houthis are also guilty of attempted murder, abduction, torture, threats, assaults, looting of property, the abduction of relatives, the use of journalists as human shields, closing newspapers and TV channels and blocking websites, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said.

Eighteen journalists are still in Houthi custody, and denied their right to medical treatment, the syndicate said. They include nine journalists arrested while working in Sanaa in June 2016, who remain detained. They are being tortured, their families are not permitted to visit them, and they are not allowed medical treatment. Yemen’s Minister of Information, Moammar Al-Eryani, said that before the Houthi coup Yemen had 17 daily newspapers, 155 weeklies, 26 monthlies, and other publications. There were also four official TV channels and 15 private ones. By 2015 there were only 15 newspapers and two official TV channels, the minister said.

A UN report in August said the Houthis had carried out a campaign of intimidation, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance and murder against activists, journalists and members of civil society. They had shut down 21 websites and seven TV channels, banned the publication of 18 newspapers, raided buildings and attacked 52 civil society and human rights organizations, the UN said.

The Houthis targeted all media institutions and their staff, and confiscated their equipment, and the legitimate government and its supporters no longer had any influence in areas controlled by the militias.

In March 2016, photographer Mohammed Al-Yamani was shot dead and four of his colleagues were wounded when Houthi snipers opened fire on journalists covering the fighting in Taiz.