Reuters cuts ties with journalist working for Yemeni president

Reuters defends its position for using stringer it knew was a government translator and says journalist is no longer working for the news agency

18 November 2011 By: Sarah Marshall

Reuters has defended its position in continuing to employ a stringer in Yemen despite knowing he was also working as a translator for the country's president.

The news agency last night released a statement to say Mohamed Sudam was no longer working for the organisation and confirmed it knew the stringer was also an English translator for President Saleh.

"Sudam’s work as a Reuters stringer over the course of many years has been fair and accurate. When he became a translator for the president, he disclosed his role to Reuters. On reviewing the matter, however, we believe it's not appropriate to use a stringer who is also working for the government. He is no longer reporting for us from Yemen."

Yemen has witnessed anti-government demonstrations during the past nine months with repeated calls for President Saleh to step down.

Last month Sudam was briefly kidnapped in Yemen, according to several reports including a post by Guardian correspondent Brian Whitaker, with the Yemen Journalists Syndicate calling for his release.

The severing of ties by Reuters follows a #shameonreuters Twitter hashtag and Facebook campaign against Sudam's links to the news agency stating "‫this page was created to tell Reuters to have respect to the people of Yemen".

Reuters posted its statement confirming it was no longer employing Sudam as a stringer on Facebook.