Almotamar.net - Freedom Foundation for media freedom, rights and development launched on Wednesday the second annual report of the media freedom 2013, the award for press freedom and the documentary film (Pen ... Bullets).

The launching ceremony of the report and award was attended by Human Rights Minister, Hooriah Mashoor, the ambassador of the European Union in Yemen Bettina Muscheidt and the Resident Coordinator of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, George Abu Al-Zulof and many human rights activists and journalists.

It was held in cooperation with the EU mission, in which three Yemeni journalists were awarded with three Press Freedom Awards launched for the first time in Yemen. It received the great appreciation and interaction of the audience from the journalists and human rights activists.

The press freedom was awarded for the veteran journalist Mr. Abdul-Bari Taher, as a one of the most prominent defenders of the media freedom in Yemen, and the journalist Mansoor Noor Mohammed, the reporter of the (26-September) newspaper in Aden, who was subjected to an assassination attempt in April 2013 by gunmen who shot his left leg.

He was wounded with a permanent disability, where his left leg was amputated for its effect with the bullets, as well as the journalist Mohammed Ali Al-Emad, the chief editor of (Al-Hawyah) newspaper, who was subjected to an assassination attempt by blowing up his car, resulting in serious injuries and the complete destruction of his car.

The president of Freedom Foundation, the journalist Khaled Al-Hammadi said that these awards were given for three winners in recognition of their efforts and sacrifices during their journalistic work, and it is a morale more than financial award because its morale value is higher than that, and said, "We made a morale award so as we can give it annually and the financial obstacle stands before its continuation.”

He explained that this award is given to two types of winners, the first type is a journalist or an opinion writer subjected to a gross violation because of his journalistic work or publishing his opinion, and the second type is a defender for press freedom in his activities, works and stands, whether he is a journalist or a lawyer, or even a politician.

Meanwhile, Freedom Foundation launched its second annual report of the media freedom in Yemen, Al-Hamadi said, "Here we are today announcing the launching of the second annual report of media freedom in Yemen in 2013, which was more professional than the previous one, due to the financial capabilities available, through the project of (Media Freedom: monitoring and advocacy), which we are keeping pace with it today by launching the Press Freedom Award ... as well as keeping pace this celebration with distributing a short documentary film about the media freedom in Yemen, entitled (Pen .. Bullets), in a symbolic expression of the pen against the threat of the bullets. "

He explained, "The report included 282 cases of violation, during the 2013 year, compared to 432 violation cases last year 2012.We find that the violations number decreased in number, but the year 2013 experienced a serious change in the violations types and severity against the journalists. It was witnessed by 1 murder case, 12 attempted murder cases and 13 kidnapping and disappearance cases, including two kidnapping cases of the foreign journalists. "

He pointed out that the violations cases in 2013 gives a clear indication that the media freedom in Yemen is still in danger and also indicates that these violations are not new and many of them are similar with the violations types of the previous years, and that some of them has been decreased at the expense of other types. The most of the violation cases contains more than one type in a single incident, which were distributed among 11 violations types. "

At the launching ceremony, a copy of the report and documentary film (Pen... Bullets) were distributed on all attendants. The documentary film (Pen... Bullets) was produced by Freedom Foundation and considered the first of its kind in this field. It discussed the problems and obstacles faced by journalists in Yemen in the era after the Arab Spring revolutions, in which many Yemeni elite Journalists have talked.

The Minister of Human Rights, the Ambassador of the European Union and the Resident Coordinator of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Yemen have praised the efforts made by Freedom Foundation to complete the media freedom report and also the initiative of launching the Press Freedom Award and the production of a documentary film (Pen ... Bullets) for the media freedom in Yemen.