The Journalists’ Syndicate in Yemen announced on Tuesday that 38 of its members have been killed in the country since 2014, Shabab news website has reported.

In a statement issued on Journalists’ Day, held on 9 June every year, the Syndicate said: “Journalists celebrate this day in a very dangerous and very miserable situation for freedom of expression. We regret that on this occasion in 2020 there are 16 of our members suffering in prisons and some who have received oppressive sentences from the Houthis in Sanaa.”

Two other journalists are in the government’s prisons in Mareb and Hadramawt, added the Syndicate. A third was “disappeared” by Al-Qaeda in 2015.

The organisation said that the wave of oppression against journalists has been increasing across the country. “This includes the murder of our colleagues,” it added, citing the murder of photojournalist Nabeel Al-Qitee’e. He was the 38th journalist to be killed in Yemen since 2014.

Renewing its call for the release of all journalists who have been kidnapped, the Syndicate added that all hostility against journalists and their profession should be brought to an end.

Yemen is going through “the worst humanitarian crisis” in the world. At least 80 per cent of Yemenis depend on humanitarian aid and millions are facing famine.