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Yemeni report: 2,250 violations against journalists since Houthis' coup

JEDDAH, Jan 12 KUNA) -- Up to 2,250 violations against journalists, and media figures and their institutions, have been observed since the Houthis' coup against legitimacy in Yemen in September 2014 till the end of 2017, a report said Friday.
The latest report of the Organization of National Media Professionals (Sada), held the Houthi militias responsible for 85 percent of the total violations against journalists in 21 Yemeni provinces.
The militia committed 88 percent of its overall abuses in the capital Sanaa.
Sada documented "20 types of violations," including abduction, forced disappearance, killing, torture, bombing houses, dismissal from public job and crackdown.
Over the past three years, the militia killed 22 journalists by sniper shooting, and using others as human shields.
Some 141 journalists were abducted, 14 of them were subjected to the atrocity of forced disappearance, the report stated.
Up to 1972 journalists were abused in Sana'a, the highest number, followed by Taiz, 81 journalists.
Since 2015 till the end of 2017, east Yemen's Marib governorate, held by the legitimate government, received 219 journalists, out of 544 ones the Houthis dismissed from their jobs.
The report urged the government to pressure the UN and other relevant international organizations to guarantee the release of journalists held, and tormented, by the Houthi militia. (end) nsa.msa