Yemeni journalist Mahmoud Al Otmi, who survived a car bomb that killed his pregnant wife in Aden last week, lay in hospital with an empty look on his wounded face. Tears rolling down his cheeks were the only expression of his agony.
“I wish I had died with Rasha,” Mr Al Otmi said as he recalled the horror of the past few weeks.
Rasha Al Harazi, 26, who was also a journalist, and her unborn child died when an explosive device planted on the couple’s car exploded. Al Otmi said he had become a target because of his views on repression carried out by the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
“A month and half ago, I received information that the Houthi militants were collecting information about me, my address in Aden, my movements and the type of my car,” Mr Al Otmi said from his hospital bed.
He said he spent days thinking about how to leave Aden, in southern Yemen, “as soon as possible”.
“I decided to leave for Mukalla, but my wife was about to deliver our new baby,” he said.
“On Tuesday, I was driving to take my wife to a medical appointment related to her pregnancy when suddenly I felt pressure accompanied by a huge flame that erupted in the car."
He woke up later on a bed at the hospital.
‘I was attacked for my views’
The attack left Mr Al Otmi with shrapnel in his back, fractured bones and damage to an eye.
“They targeted me because of my views,” Mr Al Otmi said.
“I was one of a few journalists and media activists who resisted the Houthi repression against the innocent people in the Tehama region."
Mr Al Otmi had been active in covering Houthis' prosecutions against civilians in Tehama in Hodeidah.
“I kept criticising their baseless trials that ended by executing nine civilians from Hodeidah on baseless charges, including being involved in the killing of their senior leader, Saleh Al Samad, three years ago.”
Mr Al Otmi and his wife were not the first journalists to be attacked in Yemen in the past seven years. A dozen have been killed by attackers in the country since 2015.
In October, three journalists were killed in a car bomb attack on the Governor of Aden, Ahmed Lamlas. He survived.
In April, journalist Hisham Al Baqiri was killed while covering clashes between pro-government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis in Taez province, south-west Yemen.
Last year, journalist Nabil Hasan Al Quaety was killed by gunmen near his house in Aden.
Nabil Al Osaidi of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, told The National that 46 journalists and videographers had been killed in the country since 2015.
“The majority were killed while covering the war, but the last terror act that targeted the married journalists Mahmoud Al Otmi and Rasha Al Harazi was a deliberate terror attack that directly targeted the journalists, similar to the attack on journalist Nabil Hasan Al Quaety last year,” he said.
“Such attacks are a grave indicator that the future of the press freedom in Yemen is getting darker and will be grim.”
The syndicate has documented 1,450 abuses committed against journalists since 2015, including killings, kidnappings, abductions, torture, threats and unlawful prosecutions, Mr Al Osaidi said.
More than 300 journalists have been abducted during the conflict, with the majority taken by the rebels, he said.
“There are 10 journalists still detained by the Houthis. Four of them were sentenced to death by Houthi-run courts, which is another Houthi crime against the press freedom in Yemen,” he said.
Fearing for their lives, many Yemeni journalists and their families have fled the country after receiving threats.
Taha Saleh moved to Egypt, where he failed to find a job.
Journalists in Yemen “work in a poisoned work environment”, Mr Saleh said.
“At the beginning of the war, I was injured while covering the clashes between the Houthi militants and the pro-government troops in Taez city,” he said.
He said he was later abducted by extremists and groups including the political party Al Islah before leaving Yemen.
“I feel lost in Egypt. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to manage the situation here, because I have become jobless,” he said.
Justin Shilad, a senior Middle East researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told The National that the attack on Al Otmi and Al Harazi showed journalists in Yemen are still considered targets.
“The result is a climate of impunity, where no corner of the country is safe for journalists doing their jobs,” he said.
Mr Shilad called on the international community to prioritise the safety of journalists or “the climate of impunity will not be confined to Yemen’s borders”.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
ENGLAND SQUAD
Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
SUE%20GRAY'S%20FINDINGS
%3Cp%3E%22Whatever%20the%20initial%20intent%2C%20what%20took%20place%20at%20many%20of%20these%20gatherings%20and%20the%3Cbr%3Eway%20in%20which%20they%20developed%20was%20not%20in%20line%20with%20Covid%20guidance%20at%20the%20time.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22Many%20of%20these%20events%20should%20not%20have%20been%20allowed%20to%20happen.%20It%20is%20also%20the%20case%20that%20some%20of%20the%3Cbr%3Emore%20junior%20civil%20servants%20believed%20that%20their%20involvement%20in%20some%20of%20these%20events%20was%20permitted%20given%20the%20attendance%20of%20senior%20leaders.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22The%20senior%20leadership%20at%20the%20centre%2C%20both%20political%20and%20official%2C%20must%20bear%20responsibility%20for%20this%20culture.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20found%20that%20some%20staff%20had%20witnessed%20or%20been%20subjected%20to%20behaviours%20at%20work%20which%20they%20had%20felt%20concerned%20about%20but%20at%20times%20felt%20unable%20to%20raise%20properly.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20was%20made%20aware%20of%20multiple%20examples%20of%20a%20lack%20of%20respect%20and%20poor%20treatment%20of%20security%20and%20cleaning%20staff.%20This%20was%20unacceptable.%22%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
More on animal trafficking
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
On sale: now
Price: from Dh195,000
Stage 5 results
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53
2 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team -
3 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott -
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:04
5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) CCC Team 0:00:07
General Classification:
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04
2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:48
5 Rafał Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
