[14/05/2023 02:39]

Aden - Saba
President Dr. Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi, Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, received at the Ma’ashiq Palace in Aden today, the journalists recently freed from the prisons of the Houthi militia backed by the Iranian regime.

In the meeting, the President of the Presidential Leadership Council expressed his sincere congratulations on the freedom of the four recently released journalists. He also renewed his congratulations to their fellows who had been freed in previous prisoner exchange deals after years of absence and disappearance in extremely harsh conditions.

In the meeting which was attended by the Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Yahya Al-Shuaibi, and the Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani, the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council listened to journalists, Abdul Khaleq Emran, Tawfiq Al-Mansouri, Al-Harith Hamid, Akram Al-Walidi, Hisham Tarmoum, and Hassan Annab, brief testimonies about the circumstances of their abduction and disappearance and the types of brutal torture they were subjected to at the hands of militia leaders, and under their direct supervision.

The President praised the liberated journalists, their courage and inspiring patience for their legendary steadfastness in the face of terrorist militias, and their effective contribution to keeping the flame of change burning towards a future in which all national and societal forces participate in making.

The head of the Presidential Leadership Council confirmed that the grave violations that the national press was subjected to under the grip of militias did not occur in the history of the Fourth Estate since its inception in the country.

The president said that "during the past nine years, dozens of truth-tellers about the crimes of these militias have been killed by snipers, bombings, and assassinations, by all means in their efforts to obscure the witnesses to their violations and the devastation they caused to our gains, our heritage, and our legitimate aspirations."

He added that the militias "did not make their repressive machine a threat only to the journalistic work environment, but also to the status of this venerable profession through misleading information, hate speech, and racism, contrary to its mental image in the popular and national memory associated with truth, knowledge, enlightenment, and advocacy for the oppressed."

The chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council encouraged journalists to build their independent collective platforms that shed light on the extent of suffering and tragedy left by the coup of the Houthi militia, and to put an end to the impunity of their leaders for the crimes they commit against the press, as well as the urgent need to end the distorted narrative of the Yemeni issue and the protection of public liberties on which the fate of the entire nation depends.

His Excellency the President pledged to make the release of the rest of the journalists a top government priority to reunite them with their families and end their long-term suffering.

The Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council directed the government to provide full health care to the released journalists, support any collective initiatives on their part to commemorate the memory, and involve the victims in building and making peace and the future

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