International Committee Calls on Houthis to Immediately Release Journalist Ahmed Awadhah
Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of journalist Ahmed Awadhah, whose whereabouts remain unknown since his disappearance on March 10 in the capital, Sana’a. His disappearance follows threats he received from a Houthi intelligence officer, according to local press freedom groups.
In a statement, CPJ said that Ahmed Awadhah is the latest Yemeni journalist to vanish suddenly from the streets without a trace.
Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, stated that this alarming pattern highlights the severe dangers faced by Yemeni journalists covering events in one of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.
He added, “Those responsible for Awadhah’s enforced disappearance must be held accountable. All factions in Yemen have waited too long to put an end to this abhorrent practice of targeting the press.”
Awadhah is a prominent Yemeni journalist who founded and runs the local radio station Ather FM. He also contributes to the local news website Khatwat, the Jordan-based nonprofit Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and the independent platform Noon Post.
Najmuddin Qasim, an investigative journalist close to Awadhah, told CPJ that several members of the Houthi group had been harassing him and pressuring him to broadcast their propaganda on Ather FM.
