GENEVA – The Geneva Council for Rights and Liberties strongly condemns the killing of a pregnant Yemeni journalist and her husband’s injury in an explosion targeting their car in Aden, southern Yemen.
On 09 November 2021 in the evening, an explosion occurred in Aden’s neighborhood of Khormaksar targeting pregnant journalist Rasha Abdullah Al-Harazi and her husband, journalist Mahmoud Al-Atmi, who were heading to the hospital to give birth Al-Harazi and her unborn child died, while her husband was seriously wounded and hospitalised in acritical condition.
Preliminary inquiry showed that an explosive device was planted in the journalist’s car. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Rasha Al-Harazi Al-Harazi worked for the Emirati news channels Al-Ain and Al-Sharq and her husband contributes to Al-Arabiya and the Saudi news channel.
The Geneva Council notes that this crime comes a week after the anniversary of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which falls on November 2 of each year. Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Yemen in 2014, 19 journalists have been killed in Yemen, including 2 last year in Aden, according to CPJ research.
Over the past decade, 226 murders of journalists have gone unpunished out of a total of 278 such crimes related to corruption, organized crime, extremist groups, and government retaliation, according to the 2021 Impunity Index recently released by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
While the Geneva Council strongly condemns this horrific incident, it calls on the authorities in Aden to open a serious investigation into the circumstances of this crime, bring those involved to justice, put an end to the policy of impunity, and guarantee the freedom of work and protection of journalists.
