Agora

Mohammed al-Asadi gave this interview which was published today, to the Danish newspaper Information’s correspondent in Cairo. He was released on bail February 22, following international pressure. Al-Asadi is still in good health and managed on March 10 to leave Yemen to attend a journalists’ conference. Contrary to some reports he is facing the death penalty as this article makes clear. He intends to return to Yemen to fight the good fight.
See below the article for relevant links to resources on the al-Asadi trial.

It’s not my Prophet

“I don’t regret printing those cartoons. I was defending the Prophet, I was defending Islam against those who wish to use the religion to create conflicts and maintain their grip on power,” says Mohammed al-Asadi - the editor in chief of The Yemen Observer who is now on trial for his life for having printed three of the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

By Rune Lykkeberg

The Friday after he was released from jail, he went to pray at the Mosque. Mohammed al-Asadi had become a known face in Yemen: He had been presented as a criminal on national TV and in government-friendly newspapers. He was also a known face outside of Yemen: Newsweek did a telephone interview with him in prison where they called him a “martyr for the free press” and BBC World has told his story. This Friday Mohammed al-Asadi didn’t wish to be recognised. All he wanted to do was to go to Friday Prayers, so he walked towards a Mosque in a part of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, where he doesn’t usually go:

“When I entered, I bowed my head and listened. The preacher warned against a terrible sinner among us, against one in Yemen who has dishonored our religion and our prophet. He talked of how disgraceful this man was. I realised that I was who he was talking about. I was their sinner. I dared not lift my head. I covered my head with my scarf and looked down. There and then I realised how bad things are. If the others in the Mosque had recognised me, they would have killed me. With their shoes if they had nothing else to do it with.”

Mohammed al-Asadi is at the Shepheard Hotel in Cairo, both proud and humble, telling his story to Information. He is no more than 1.70 [metres] tall and he has just turned 31. Happenstance allowed him to escape from Yemen last Friday:

“They looked at me in the airports and asked: ‘Do we know you from somewhere? Are you famous?’ Then they laughed and let me through. The government’s central records aren’t connected to the airport’s database in Yemen.”

“My trial will recommence on March 22. I have three children and my wife in Yemen, who I must return to. And I have my newspaper and my fight against our fanatical leaders.”

The Yemen Observer is a weekly newspaper critical of the government published in English. Al-Asadi calls it ‘Yemen’s window on the world and the world’s window on Yemen.’ The publisher of the newspaper has close connections to the government, yet al-Asadi was allowed to write of corruption and abuse of power n Yemen.

February 4th this year, al-Asadi chose to print three of Jylland-Posten’s caricatures of the prophet. He printed them as miniatures less than two centimetres square with a big X across. They were the size of thumb nails. Al-Asadi had been to a lokal govery store in Sanaa and reported how Danish goods had been removed and placed in boxes. Signs had been placed on the empty shelves: “This is were we used to sell Danish products.” The Yemen Observer also printed a big photo of the 20-30,000 black-clad Yemenitic women who demonstrated against Denmark.

“You had a large story about the protests, drawings and Denmark with two large photographs. Why did the caricatures need to be shown?”

“For two reasons. The first, professionalism: As a journalist one should alway tell the other side of the story, ask the other side and show their way reasoning. That is what we blame our governments for doing.”

“The other is religious. I don’t understand why Moslems bought into the story that it was their prophet in those cartoons. We’ve made them bigger and more important that way. Our leaders accepted the idea that those cartoons provoke our faith and our prophet. Those cartoons aren’t sacred. I won’t recognise the premise that it is my prophet who is depicted in those cartoons. I don’t get insulted by cartoons, because the prophet, to me, is above insults.”

By accident the miniature reproductions of the the caricatures were printed on the front page. The editor in chief had gone home and an editorial secretary put a small text on the front page about the article about the demonstrations inside the newspaper. The secretary chose the small reproductions with a X to illustrate this text. Shortly thereafter al-Asadi was contacted by another newspaper from Yemen demanding blackmail to not report them to the Ministry of Information. They threatened to collect signatures to a petition demanding that the editorial board be jailed. Al-Asadi refused.

A couple of days later, al-Asadi received a phone call from a friend in Italy;

“Muhammed”, the friend shouted into the receiver. “I have just heard over Reuters that the government has withdrawn your license. Is it true that the Yemen Observer has been closed?”

Al-Asadi had heard no such thing. But the day after he was picked up by some police-men and a public prosecutor.

“I asked them if it was their prophet the Danish newspaper had drawn? If their prophet was insulted by such things? They didn’t answer but took me straight to jail.”

Al-Asadi received a call on his cell phone in jail: His mother had seen him on the BBC. She was terrified:

“‘My son,’ she said ‘How did you become like this? How did you become such a terrible blasphemer?’ I told her thet the Ministry of Information had been spreading false rumors about me through their newspapers and television channels. She believed me in the end.”

But the mother is exposed in the village in southern Yemen where she lives: Neighbours and friends see her son as a ‘criminal’. They didn’t see the Yemen Observer, of course. They’ve only seen pictures of al-Asadi and heard the word ‘blasphemer’ and ‘criminal’ on TV. Al-Asadi made his wife promise him that she won’t turn on the TV while he was in jail.

“Many see me as a criminal now. The advertisers have stopped paying the invoices the Yemen Observer sends them. And they won’t advertise in the future.”

According to al-Asadi it took some time to find staff for the Yemen Observer who both know of conditions in Yemen, have skills as journalists and who can write in English. Now the staff is slowly melting away. The writers have found other jobs to make money:

“It will be hard to rebuild the editorial staff. We have written of the government’s corruption. In our last issue we wrote of how Yemen’s embassies abroad are so corrupted that it is fair to call it ‘exporting corruption’. So when we printed the cartoons, they took their chance and shut us down and destroyed our foundation.”

Mohammed al-Asadi was incarcerated from February 11 to February 22. Before the trial began he was released on bail, following international pressure. Now he is facing 21 public prosecutors:

“They don’t speak English, so they can’t read the Yemen Observer. I have asked to have the article from February 4th transled into Arabic for evidence. They’ve denied that request. They haven’t even seen the Yemen Observer.”

The 21 prosecutors keep adding charges against al-Asadi. They’re stalling:

“They want to continue until I can’t afford my attorney anymore. They tell my attorney: ‘Why do you defend him? A man who defames our prophet.’”

The prosecutors started the trial against him with a parable: There was once a woman who insulted the prophet Muhammed, saying horrible things. When a man of her city heard of this, he went and killed her. A couple of days later, the prophet Muhammed passed through the city and said: “That was good, that was just.” That was how the prosecutors presented their demand for the death penalty for Mohammed al-Asadi.

Mohammed al-Asadi is in the lobby of Hotel Shepheard in Cairo. He doesn’t look like a man who is afraid. And he says he will return to Yemen:

“I don’t regret printing the cartoons. I defended the prophet, I defended Islam against those who want to use the religion to create conflicts and maintain their grip on power. Islam is still a good religion, it is a million times more tolerant than those who persecute others in its name.”

“The important thing is that this is a battle. It won’t stop. We will have to yield for the time being, which lets the fanatics run loose. Right now we have strong hearts but empty vallets. Right now I don’t see how and when we will resume the battle.”

Al-Asadi is responsible to the publisher of the newspaper, Faris Abdullah Sanabani, who hired him as editor in chief a year ago:

“I was nervous of his reaction. I feared he would say: ‘Mohammed, you have destroyed my newspaper and all of ours’ reputation.’ But his reaction was that I did the right thing - professionally and religiously. ‘You are a good Moslem Mohammed,’ he said. And than I felt safe. I knew I was defending the prophet against the fanatics.”

But al-Asadi emphasises that this isn’t only his battle. Reporters Without Borders supports him, colleagues in the West have told his story and international media have appealed to the government of Yemen to release him and two other journalists who are also on trial for having printed cartoons:

“In Yemen we are outnumbered and the fanatics have succeded in pressuring us. But this is an international battle in all countries against all fanatics. And there the balance of power is much more equal. It’s an international battle for release from the bondages of extremisms and fanatics.”

Al-Asadi adds that he doesn’t like his family paying the price for his battle:

“My mother grieves deeply. She has done so for weeks. She is on the verge of breaking. Recently I was driving between Sanaa and Taiz, my hometown. I was thinking: ‘Who is doing this to me? Who has rallied the forces that are making my mother miserable, my wife nervous and my father frustrated?’ And then I hit a stone in the wayside. My car was cooked. I was just sitting there by the side of the road watching the other cars drive past me. And I wondered if they could tell that it was him from the television and that is why they didn’t stop. But then I was given a ride to the repair shop. And now I am in Cairo with my colleagues, telling my story.”

Relevant links:

The Yemen Observer, February 4: Demonstrators Outraged, Apology Accepted
The article mentioned in the interview with “black-clad women” protesting the Danish cartoons.

The Yemen Observer, February 7: The Art of Losing Opportunities

The Yemen Observer, February 8: Government Revokes Yemen Observer for Covering Danish Crisis

Jurist, February 12: Yemen to prosecute newspaper editors for publishing Muhammad cartoons

Reporters Without Borders, February 13: Cartoons controversy : “Absurd and dangerous” measures continue in the Arab world

The Yemen Observer, February 14: An Appeal from Jail from Mohammed al-Asadi, Editor-in-Chief.

Reporters Without Borders, February 17: Call to free journalists imprisoned in Prophet cartoons row

Newsweek, February 17: ‘Of Course I’m Afraid’
Interview with Mohammed al-Asadi from his Yemen jail cell

The Yemen Observer, February 18: FREE AL-ASADI! International Call to Release Yemeni Journalists
Call to free al-Asadi from Observer staff. Details of how to sign a petition in support of al-Asadi.

The Yemen Observer, February 22: Al-Asadi Free But Trial Continues

The Yemen Observer, March 8: Lawyers Demand Capital Penalty for Al-Asadi and Observer Close

FOXNews.com, March 9: Cleric’s Lawyers: Death to Yemeni Publisher of Muhammad Cartoons

American Daughter, March 9: The Shame Of Yemen
Report on the al-Qaeda background of one of the prosecutors

PIA CAUSA, March 9: Demands for Capital Penalty for Al-Asadi
Pia Causa was the first to break the news of the demand for the death penalty to the blogosphere. Links to other blogs at bottom of his post.

Michelle Malkin, March 10: FREE MUHAMMAD AL-ASADI

Jurist, March 15: Tolerance on Trial: Why We Reprinted the Danish Cartoons
Interview with Faris Sanabani, Publisher of the English-language Yemen Observer newspaper

Information, March 17: Det er ikke min profet