Omani paper faces court case

MUSCAT // An Omani daily newspaper faces closure after it published an article accusing the minister of justice of not paying an employee his financial entitlements, its editor said yesterday.

"We have been informed by the prosecutor yesterday to appear at the court next Sunday for insulting the minister of justice. We understand that, if we lose the case, then the newspaper will be closed," Ibrahim Al Maamary, the editor-in-chief of the Arabic daily Azzaman, told The National.

Mr Al Maamary said the minister of justice, Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Hinai, had brought slander charges against him and his managing editor, Yussuf Al Haj.

But another journalist, who declined to be identified, said that the newspaper was paying for a series of articles published last year accusing senior government officials of graft, land grabbing and embezzlements.

sashaibany@thenational.ae