https://arab.news/8t32e
- Explosive device planted in the car of Saber Al-Haidari, Information Ministry employee and journalist at Japan’s NHK television
- No group claimed responsibility for the attack
AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: A Yemeni journalist burned to death when an IED explosion ripped through his car in the southern city of Aden, the country’s interim capital and seat of the Presidential Leadership Council, security officials and media reports said.
A local security official told Arab News on Thursday that Saber Al-Haidari, a former Information Ministry employee and a correspondent for a Japanese media outlet, was driving his car on Wednesday night in Aden’s streets when an IED planted by unknown people exploded.
The blast sparked a fire, killing Al-Haidari and destroying his vehicle.
Amateur videos posted on social media showed fire engulfing a car shortly after the explosion. Al-Haidari was born in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah in 1980 and was a worker at Yemen’s Information Ministry in Sanaa until 2017.
He was among thousands of public servants, officials and journalists who have escaped Sanaa since 2015, fleeing from the Houthi militia’s repressive rule. He settled in Aden where worked at the Information Ministry’s new office and also worked for NHK public radio and television network in Aden, and as a fixer for foreign journalists.
Aden has been beset by a string of drive-by attacks and explosions targeting journalists as well as security and military officials. In November, journalist Rasha Al-Harazi, who was pregnant, was killed in a similar car explosion in Aden. Mohammed Al-Otimi, her husband, who was in the car, was wounded. Al-Otimi also hails from the western province of Hodeidah and settled in Aden after fleeing his home province due to Houthi repression.
No one has claimed responsibility for assassinating Al-Haidari. But Yemen Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani blamed Houthi operatives in Aden for planting the IED in order to intimidate journalists who report on the militia’s crimes in Yemen.
“Our condolences to Saber’s family, his colleagues and the press community. We demand a clear international stance regarding this heinous crime and all crimes committed by the Houthi militia against journalists, including killing, abduction, enforced disappearance, displacement and looting of assets,” he said on Twitter.
Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the UN in New York, told Arab News that the organization hopes the journalist’s death will be thoroughly investigated. “We deplore all attacks that harm and kill media around the world and we offer our condolences to his friends and family and colleagues,” he added.
The journalist’s friends and relatives also condemned the assassination and called upon security and military authorities to end attacks on journalists.
“The security services should pursue the perpetrators and put an end to insecurity,” said Abdul Baset Al-Qaedi, undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry and a colleague of Al-Haidari.
Other Yemeni journalists, such as Fatehi bin Lazerq, editor of Aden Al-Ghad, urged the international community to order warring sides in Yemen to avoid targeting journalists.
“The assassination of journalists is a dangerous indicator of the regression of the conflict in Yemen to a dangerous stage,” bin Lazerq told Arab News by telephone from Aden.