Yemeni court revokes newspaper closure order

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

SANAA (AFP) — A Yemeni court Saturday overturned a government decision to shut down an independent weekly newspaper, a move welcomed by journalists on World Press Freedom Day, the official Saba news agency said.

The court in Sanaa said the Al-Wassat newspaper could resume publication, reversing the closure order handed down by the information ministry. Publication of Al-Wassat had been suspended for the past month.

The court also ordered the ministry to pay the newspaper's legal costs and banned it from withdrawing operating licences for other Yemeni publications, Saba reported.

"Al Wassat will be back in the newspaper kiosks next Wednesday," its owner and editor-in-chief Jamal Ameur told AFP.

The ministry said it had based its decision to close the...