An explosive device planted in his car killed the Yemeni journalist Mohammed Aidha in the eastern city of Mukalla on 24 June 2026. Aidha had worked since 2019 as a correspondent for the Saudi channels Al Arabiya and Al Hadath.
Three days later, on 27 June, security forces in Marib detained another journalist, Hammoud Hazaa, while he was covering a public event. Hazaa said he was held incommunicado and released after two days only once he had signed an undertaking not to criticise the internationally recognised government or its information minister.
A death toll counted in dozens
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate condemned the killing and placed it in a longer sequence of attacks on media workers, among them the killings of the journalist Rasha al-Harazi and the journalist Saber al-Haidari in Aden.
Sada, the National Organisation of Yemeni Media Professionals, said in a statement that more than 90 journalists and media workers have been killed since the conflict in Yemen began in 2015. The organisation said the toll reflects an attempt by the warring parties to impose a comprehensive media blackout and to entrench impunity.
Attacks are not confined to one side. In March, Houthi forces seized the journalist Salah al-Din al-Rouhani from his home in Sanaa, and nothing has been heard of him since, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
A human rights report published in September 2025 documented systematic abuses committed against Yemeni journalists by parties to the conflict, including killings, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment. It found that all parties — the Houthis, the Southern Transitional Council and the Yemeni government — had committed serious violations against journalists and media workers without being held to account.
What the law requires
International humanitarian law obliges all parties to an armed conflict to protect civilians, including journalists who are not directly participating in hostilities. International human rights law protects journalists’ rights to liberty and security of person and to freedom of expression, and prohibits arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.
Rights organisations have called on the Yemeni government to open a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation into Aidha’s killing, to investigate other attacks on journalists in areas under its control, and to hold those responsible to account. They have also called on the Houthi authorities to release all journalists and media workers they are holding, including al-Rouhani.
This report was produced by the HuMedia newsroom.
