Yemen hints at al-Jazeera closure

The Yemeni ruling party threatened to close down the al-Jazeera office in Sana'a and deny it working in Yemen if it continues to threaten Yemeni unity, instigate sedition, and ignite conflict and grudges.

A ruling party information source called on the channels’ executives to review their objectivity, credibility and commitment towards their professionalism. The source pointed out that if the channel went on pursuing the same approach following their protest addressing, Yemen might take steps to close the channel’s office, cancel the correspondents’ permit and ban al-Jazeera from working in Yemen in response to the desire of the Yemeni people who have voiced their protest and condemnation against al-Jazeera’s aligned attitude on the Yemeni issue.

The source regretted the recent loss of al-Jazeera to their neutrality and professional spirit, by targeting the Yemeni unity through their seditious misleading reports, information and images that arouse sedition and hatred. This wrong attitude deprived al-Jazeera of its Yemeni audience due to its unjustified targeting of their homeland’s unity.

The source said that al-Jazeera knows of the huge support and facilities provided by Yemen to its Sana’a based the office and correspondents in Yemen who have been working freely and without hindrance, adding that this behavior is not limited to al-Jazeera but it also included al-Arabia channel whose transmission equipments were withdrawn.

It is notable that the Ministry has confiscated the transmission equipments of al-Jazeera and al-Arabia in Yemen last Saturday.

An official source at the Ministry of Information has seized the transmission equipments, as the ministry did not authorize them.

The two seized devices will not be confiscated but they will be sent back to the places they came from, at the knowledge of al-Jazeera and al-Arabia offices directors Morad Hashim and Hamoud Munasar, who were summoned to the Ministry of information for coming to a legal understanding over this issue. They were requested to cooperate with the ministry’s relevant authorities for implementing the legal provisions, the source explained.

The source said that the seizure of these devices happened in a legal manner following the meeting of Ministry's General Information Director and the Public Relations' Director with al-Jazeera and al-Arabia managers.

The source denied any abusive or offensive assaults during the seizure. It welcomed any channel's transmission devices that enter the country legally to be used in conveying the real media messages without creating confusion or amplifying the events to destabilize the country’s security and quiet.

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