FreeKareem.org and Yemeni websites
February 13th, 2008In this latest action alert by RSF you will find information on the latest events concerning Yemeni websites, including the blocking of FreeKareem.org, which apparently has been lifted on the 3rd of February:
Online programmes for circumventing censorship, or “proxies,” are also inaccessible from within Yemen and several opposition websites are regularly blocked. They include al-Shoura (www.al-shora.net) and the Yemeni Council (www.al-yemen.org) and Yemen Sound (www.yemen-sound.com) discussion forums, which are among the most popular in the country. The support site for Kareem Amer, an Egyptian blogger who has been arrested for almost a year for using his right to online free expression, has also been inaccessible since 28 January.
The new information and communication technologies seem to be subject to severe restrictions in Yemen. We learned in June 2007 that your ministry had banned several mobile phone news distribution services, such as those proposed by Nass Mobile and Bela Qoyod Mobile. The reason given was insufficient control over the SMS messages. Reporters Without Borders finds these measures to be disturbing for free expression.
Read the full letter to Yemen’s information minister, Hassan Ahmed Al-Lawzi, here.
