Last month the Yemeni government's cultural magazine, al-Thaqafiya, published an article about an Egyptian film, Heena Maysara. Directed by Khaled Youssef, a protégé of the lateYoussef Chahine, it's a gritty critique of Egyptian society, set in the Cairo slums. 

The film caused a fuss in Egypt when it was released in 2008 because it contains a lesbian scene.

The Yemeni article about the film, which appears not to have been scrutinised very carefully by the editor before publication (otherwise it would surely have been cut), included a discussion of homosexuality, describing it as “part and parcel of our society”.

This provoked an uproar from religious elements and some members of parliament in Yemen, with the result that al-Thaqafiya (the country's only serious cultural magazine) has ceased publication.

Meanwhile, the article's Yemeni author – Paris-based writer and filmmaker Hamid Aqabi – says he has become the subject ofdeath threats.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Yemen and in theory can result in execution. On the whole, the authorities are preoccupied with more pressing issues but, with little government control over much of the country, gay people are at risk from other elements taking matters into their own hands.

In 2008, three young men were killed by militants in Shabwa province on suspicion of being gay. One of them, 22-year-old Said Abdullah Hannan, was shot dead in the street in front of the main market in Jaar.

PS: I can't find Hamid Aqabi's article on the internet. If anyone has a copy, please send it to me and I'll post a translation of the relevant bits.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 April 2010.