Yemeni Press Agency condemns halting its website by German hosting company
SANAA, March 8 (YPA) – In a dangerous trend to suppress freedoms by Germany, the guardian country for freedom of opinion and expression, the editorial board of Yemen Press Agency was surprised by the closure of the agency’s website by the German hosting company (Contabo) as of 10 pm on Tuesday, March 6, until the moment of writing this statement.
This came days after the Agency’s website was exposed to hacking attempts by Algerian hackers last Friday, which was followed by technical problems and a partial halt of the website for a week.
The representative of the hosting company in Yemen said that the German company took that measure after a communication received against the agency that it breaches the standards of publication, while the company hosts dozens of servers for websites of porn and moral corruption without seeing that is a breach of the publication standards.
The Yemeni company responsible for the maintenance and protection of the agency’s website said that the German company Contabo has stopped the main server of the agency without giving a clear reason for that.
The German company said it had stopped the agency’s server as a result of a misuse, but did not specify the kind of that misuse.
“We at the Yemeni Press Agency confirm that the repressive practices of the Saudi authorities, which aim to silence us, will not prevent us from continuing our professional approach based on conveying news professionally and objectively,” the editorial board of Yemen Press Agency said in a press release issued on March 7,2018.
The press release saw the closure of the agency’s server by the German company a dangerous precedent that Germany has never seen before, for being a country protecting freedoms, especially freedom of opinion and expression.
“We consider this action by the German company a blatant and provocative intrusion in the agency’s publishing policies,” the editorial board said, pointing out that was a breach of the international conventions that protect the right to disseminate information.
The Yemen Press Agency has revealed crimes of the Arab coalition, which is waging a war of genocide on Yemen and is led by Saudi Arabia, which has a long record of violations of human rights and freedom of opinion and expression.
It seems that Saudi Arabia has expanded its objectives to include journalism and media, after targeting civilians, including women and children, in Yemen, the press release added.
Finally, the press release called on all media to solidarity with the Yemen Press Agency and to condemn the position of the German Contabo company, because it is a humiliating position for Arab and international media.