UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.— On Sunday, Amnesty International, the Arabic Network or Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Front Line Defenders, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement denouncing the trial of five bloggers, calling  for their release. The statement read, “UAE authorities should drop charges against five activists arrested after they called for democratic reforms.”

Ahmed Mansoor, Nasser bin Ghaith, Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis are accused of “publicly insulting” top officials in the UAE. The blogging activists also face charges for inciting others, and calling for demonstrations and democratic reform in the UAE.

Ahmed Mansoor, a human rights advocate, and Nasser bin Ghaith, a noted economist and scholar, are reportedly charged with using uaehewer.net (Dialogue), an internet discussion forum, to “conspire against the safety and security of the state in association with foreign powers.”

Uaehewar.net, Created by Mansoor, was the only free UAE discussion forum. It was blocked by the country’s proxy server about a year ago with no explanation. Its members have been repeatedly harassed by the security services ever since.

Gamal Eid, director of ANHRI, claims it is not only the five bloggers being targeted for detainment. In 2007, two reporters on the UAE’s Khaleej Times newspaper were sentenced.

“They arrested the five to send a message to other online activists that it’s not allowed to talk about democracy [in the UAE]… We feel it’s a step back for freedom of speech in the UAE because it’s an accusation against bloggers and activists … because of what they wrote on [an online] forum about democracy. It’s not a crime to talk about reform and democracy,” Eid explained.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE, issued a decree in 2007 stating that journalists should not be jailed for their work.

This is the first occurrence in years in which individuals have been tried for speaking or writing critiques about the government.

New Zealand freelance reporter, Glen Johnson, was arrested on June 25 while investigating a story on the human trafficking trade from Africa to the Middle East.

On Friday, a Yemeni official stated that Johnson had been arrested in the town of Lahij for “illegal entry” and that he was to be deported.

Johnson had been based in Egypt since January, and had reported on the situation there for international publications such as Le Monde Diplomatique and the International Herald Tribune, in addition to reporting to several other New Zealand media outlets.

This is not the first threat if deportation for Johnson, however. Just over a year ago, while in Yemen reporting on sexual abuse, the country’s national security bureau ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours.

Ashraf Alrifi, secretary of freedom committee at the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, explained that the past six months have been the most challenging time for Yemeni journalists, with the highest amount of violations against press freedom since the unification of Yemen.

From the months of January to June 2011, the syndicate registered 211 cases of press violation, with numerous cases still being investigated.

Media outlets have been a central target. Yemeni authorities stormed the Al Jazeera bureau in Sanaa, taking the news network’s equipment, and deporting two of its correspondents. Similar raids have been carried out on Suhail TV, an opposition station. Following  a recent raid, the army shelled Suhail TV’s studios and destroyed its remaining equipment.

Yemeni journalists are finding themselves unable to work in a large area of the country, particularly in regions controlled by security forces loyal to Saleh.

Reporters Without Borders explained that it is becoming increasingly more difficult for the media to cover the protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Jean-François Julliard, the general-secretary of RSF stated, “Amid the chaos in Yemen, the authorities see control of news and information as essential… by blocking the flow of information, the government manages to make the rest of the world forget that pro-democracy activists are also being killed or imprisoned in Yemen. It is time the international community ended its embarrassing silence on the situation in Yemen and assumed its responsibilities.”

Johnson is one of thirteen foreign journalists to be deported during the uprising in Yemen, according to the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate. There continues to be widespread violence against journalists, from physical attacks to kidnappings and censorship.