Yemen frees two journalists

Mohammed al-Maqaleh (Maqalih), editor-in-chief of Aleshteraki, the Yemen Socialist Party's website was released from arbitrary detention yesterday on "health and humanitarian" grounds.

Maqalih was abducted by armed and masked men last September and it was several months before the Yemeni authorities admittted they were holding him. He is thought to have been detained because of his critical reporting of the Houthi conflict in northern Yemen.

Hisham Bashraheel, proprietor of the banned Aden-based daily,al-Ayyam, was released on Wednesday. He was arrested in January after security forces besieged his paper's offices. His two sons are still in jail but are expected to be released in the next few days.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 March 2010.