There are no political prisoners in Yemen, justice minister Ghazi al-Aghbari claimed yesterday. He was speaking to a technical team from the international "Friends of Yemen" group who had come to look at issues of justice and security.

This is ridiculous, as Jane Novak points out in her blog:

The problem with reform efforts in Yemen is that no one in the Saleh administration will acknowledge basic realities. Illegal, retaliatory and arbitrary arrests are among the main drivers of instability and civil unrest.

Political prisoners include journalists, children and activists as well as persons officially designated as "hostages" by the state, a particularly abhorrent practice of imprisoning an individual in order to pressure a wanted family member.

Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Yemeni government to "end its campaign of intimidation, violence, and politicised prosecutions against journalists".

The call came after Hussain al-Leswas, former editor of the Sanaa Press news website, was jailed for a year in connection with a series of articles about official corruption in al-Baydah.

Another journalist was briefly detained on Monday for holding up a sign at a public event calling for his release.

Meanwhile, a verdict is expected on Sunday in the case of four journalists from al-Nidaa weekly who are accused of "publishing false reports liable to incite violence". They wrote a series of critical articles last year about unrest in the south and the government's handling of it. The information minister considered the articles a "threat to national unity and democracy".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 13 May 2010.