Jamal al-Sharaabi

Jamal Ahmad al-Sharabi, (Arabic: جمال احمد الشرعبي, c. 1976 – 18 March 2011) was a Yemeni photojournalist with the independent weekly, Al-Masdar, in Sana'a, Yemen.

Jamal al-Sharabi was the first journalist in Yemen to die while covering the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution, which were part of the Arab Spring. He was one of 50 who were killed by Yemeni security forces, and 600 others were injured, during a demonstration against President Ali Abdullah Saleh held on March 18, 2011.

Personal Jamal al-Sharabi was thirty-five years old and he was a father to four children.

Career Jamal al-Sharaabi was employed as a photographer for the independent weekly newspaper, Al-Masdar. [Not verified as al-Sharaabi was not mentioned in the linked article: update info]

Death Jamal Ahmed al-Sharabi was shot when authorities fired on the protesters in Sana'a on Change Square, in the capital of Yemen, while he was reporting on the scene. Many of the dead were shot in the neck and head, with the bodies being left in the streets. Jamal al-Sharabi, a thirty-five-year-old Yemeni photojournalist, was killed in the attack, marking the first journalist death of the protests.

It has been reported that the attackers were pro-government gunmen, though Saleh said that his security forces did not open fire and were even unarmed at the time. There are also reports that some of the protesters who were injured in the attack were taken away in national security vehicles to a local prison for treatment instead of to a regular hospital, sparking fears that the injured will be further harassed.

Saleh declared a state of emergency across the country,

Impact Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO expressed great disapproval for the death of Jamal Ahmed al-Sharabi during the attack that killed and injured of dozens of unarmed civilians on March 18, 2011. Jamal Ahmed al-Sharabi was among the first to be shot in front of the capital while covering a crowd of protesters. Irina Bokova said, "The killing of Jamal Ahmed al-Sharabi is an attack against the basic human right of the people of Yemen to freedom of expression." He continued by saying, "It is the duty of the authorities to ensure that journalists are able to carry out their professional duties in the safest possible conditions."

Reactions As a reaction to Friday's government violence against the protesters, Yemen is now in a state of emergency.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said the Yemeni people deserve the right to demonstrate peacefully, to freely assemble, and to express themselves without fear of being harmed.