Dozens of Yemenis demonstrated outside the presidential palace in the capital of Sanaa Wednesday to demand the release of two journalists held for allegedly "inciting confessional sedition."
The protesters, who included opposition politicians, lawyers and journalists, handed palace officials a petition to President Ali Abdullah Saleh calling on him to "intervene to secure the release of Abdul Rahim Mohsen and Ibrahim Hussein."
The petition, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, said the arrest of the pair "over their political writings makes us fear for our security and lives."
A Sanaa court on June 4 convicted Mohsen, Hussein and a third Yemeni journalist of "inciting confessional sedition," handing them five-month suspended prison terms, their lawyer said.
Mohsen, Hussein and Khaled Suleiman were sentenced for a series of articles published in February in the weekly newspaper Ath-Thawri, Jamal al-Jahbi said.
The information ministry filed the complaint. Informed sources in Sanaa said Mohsen and Hussein had been detained "in mysterious circumstances."
In January 2001, a Sanaa court ordered a Yemeni weekly closed for a month for libeling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. (Albawaba.com)
