Washington, D.C., July 29, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of journalist Abduljabar Bajabeer, general director of the TV3ad channel, after his July 28 arrest in Yemen’s conflict-torn Hadramout governorate. He was detained on unspecified charges and transferred to the Criminal Investigation prison in the city of Al-Mukalla.

His arrest follows a warrant issued by a specialized criminal court that also targets two other journalists — Sabri bin Mukhshen and Muzahim Bajaber. All three journalists have been critical of the local government in recent reporting and social media posts. The warrant violated Article 13 of Yemen’s Press and Publications Law, which protects journalists from prosecution for expressing their opinions.

“Bajabeer’s arrest is yet another example of the systematic campaign to silence journalists in Hadramout and the areas controlled by Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government (IRG),” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “We call on the IRG to immediately release Bajabeer and end all forms of intimidation against the three Hadramout-based journalists.”

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate condemned the ongoing harassment, threats, and surveillance against Bajabeer, his family, and colleagues by local authorities in a July 4 statement.

Bajabeer’s arrest comes a week after the July 21 release of journalist Muzahim Bajaber, who had been detained for more than a month and still faces three open cases related to his journalism. He spent 12 days in the Criminal Investigation prison without being presented to a prosecutor, in violation of Article 76 of Yemen’s criminal procedure law.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since Houthi rebels seized the capital in 2014. The Saudi-backed IRG intervened in 2015 in an effort to restore the government to power.

CPJ contacted the IRG’s Ministry of Human Rights for comment but did not receive an immediate response.