The ''Yemen Observer'' ( ar, يمن أوبزرفر) is an English-language, Tri-weekly newspaper published in the

Republic of Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and sha ...

. It was founded in 1996 by Faris Sanabani, aide and press secretary of then Yemeni President

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...

. Its editors include Editor-in-Chief Abdulaziz Oudha, ''Yemen Observers feature writers are Abdulaziz Oudha, Faisal Darem. Since 1996, the '' Yemen Observer Publishing House'' has diversified dramatically from a single bi-weekly newspaper to a five-armed media institution, publishing both in English and in Arabic: '' Yemen Today''. ''Yemen Today'', ''

Arabia Felix Arabia Felix (literally: Fertile/Happy Arabia; also Ancient Greek: Εὐδαίμων Ἀραβία, ''Eudaemon Arabia'') was the Latin name previously used by geographers to describe South Arabia, or what is now Yemen. Etymology The term Arabia ...

'', Sports, and Spectrum are examples for the company's fast and successful expansion. Today, it has become the first English-speaking publishing house of the country, actively supporting Yemen in its socio-economic transition. It also launched magazine '' Yemen Today'' is the most dynamic branch of the Publishing House, promoting investment and tourism in Yemen, a country which has promising potential in this field.

2006 cartoon thumbnails and blasphemy trial

On 4 February 2006, the ''Yemen Observer'' published two articles on Muslim reactions to the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad. The articles were accompanied by photographs showing 20-30,000 Yemeni women demonstrating against the cartoons, and empty shelves in a Sanaá supermarket with a sign informing customers that

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

products had been withdrawn. Also included were crossed-out

thumbnail Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of pictures or videos, used to help in recognizing and organizing them, serving the same role for images as a normal text index does for words. In the age of digital images, visual search engines and imag ...

images of three of the Danish cartoons. On 11 February 2006, former chief editor Mohammed Al-Asadi was arrested on charges of offending Islam. He was released on bail on 22 February 2006. In a trial that began on 23 February 2006, prosecution lawyers called for al-Asadi to be sentenced to death, for the paper to be closed and for all of its assets to be confiscated. Al-Asadi denied all charges and his defence team argued that the thumbnail images were accompanied by articles that condemned the cartoons and reported reactions from across the Islamic world. The prosecution claimed that the charges rested on the pictures alone, and that the accompanying articles should not be taken into account. After his release, Al-Asadi founded the '' Yemen Mirror''

During the trial and for nearly six months afterward, the ''Yemen Observer'' had its license to publish suspended by Yemen's Ministry of Information, but its staff continued to produce material and publish it on the paper's website.

Yemen's Youth Revolution

The outbreak of the Youth Revolution in Yemen on 3 February 2011 affected the ''Yemen Observer'', too. Particularly critical articles on the policy of

and the often violent and brutal crackdowns on unarmed demonstrators brought trouble to the journalists.

External links

''Yemen Observer'' official website
Outdated link)
''Yemen Today'' official website
Outdated link)

– by Brian Whitaker,

Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

, 11 February 2006
Yemen Journalists Fight Cartoon Crackdown
– by Nabil Sultan, Inter Press Service, 22 February 2006
Yemen editor 'faces death calls'
– a

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

report, 8 March 2006
Lawyers Demand Capital Penalty for Al-Asadi and Observer Close
– a ''Yemen Observer'' report, 8 March 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Yemen Observer 1996 establishments in Yemen Newspapers established in 1996 English-language newspapers published in Arab countries Defunct newspapers published in Yemen Banned newspapers