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Sanaa: Five main opposition parties in Yemen on Tuesday condemned the kidnapping and beating of a journalist for his critical writing, while the government considered the incident a "fabricated play" to offend authorities.
The journalist Abdul Kareem Al Khaiwani was found late Monday, about six hours after seven armed men kidnapped him from the heart of Sana'a, bundled him into a luxurious car and drove to the outskirts of the city where they beat him and threw him out.
"These are the criminal styles of gangs and thugs of the authority against Al Khaiwani who has been kidnapped and attacked over and over again since 2004," the opposition alliance said in their statement.
The opposition held the authorities responsible for the attack and asked the government to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The security authorities denied that they were behind the kidnapping saying it was only a "fabricated ploy" to damage the government's reputation.
Rebellion
"The allegations are pure lies and fabrications similar to a play arranged with the objective of offending the reputation of the security agencies and the political regime, pluralism and democracy," the state-run media quoted an unidentified security official as saying.
"This made-up issue seems to be an attempt to affect the case being looked at by the court, in which Al Khaiwani is accused within the third Sana'a cell [group accused of sabotage acts] which carried out bombings in Sana'a during which two security officers were killed, in addition to two children, one killed and the other injured."
Al Khaiwani, whose writings are very critical to senior officials including President Saleh, was arrested last June on charges of spreading the ideas of Al Houthi rebels in Sa'ada.
He was put on trial with a group of people accused of attempting to carry out sabotage acts in Sana'a to support Al Houthi rebellion. He was released on bail, and the trial is ongoing.
Al Khaiwani always denies that he did anything against the law.
"They gave me the last ultimatum, and they threatened to kill me, my children and my wife if I write again about my masters," Al Khaiwani told reporters.
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