Sunday Papers: Or Who will rid me of this meddlesome channel?
Al-Jazeera, as regular readers of Waq al-waq are well aware, is not endearing itself to Yemeni authorities as of late – but then really few newspapers or media outlets are, as this report from Reuters makes clear.
Someone within the GPC, however, seems to have taken President Salih’s mutterings about al-Jazeera to heart and is now suggesting (demanding is probably more accurate) that it be closed.
It is not too hard to see why. Take for instance, this report by al-Jazeera, which quotes a YSP member of parliament, ‘Aydrus al-Naqib – one of the few left – comparing the government’s treatment of protesters in the south to that of the Palestinians by Israel. Ouch.
Al-Naqib makes it clear that he believes the protesters are protected by the constitution, which I think raises an interesting if entirely academic question. Certainly, the constitution – even one that has been amended as many times as Yemen’s, which may have been necessary given Nasser’s late night writing party in Ta’izz in 1964 – can’t be said to protect the dismemberment of the very country of which it is the founding charter. But just as certainly it does protect the rights of citizens that take to the street to protest injustices. But where is the line? Are calls for secession protected, while action leading up to secession is not? Maybe I’ll need to get my J.D. to really answer the question.
In other, just as depressing news, there is increased security around embassies in San’a due to threats of future attacks – I’m guessing because Sada al-Malahim is due out later this month?
