Leading Pan-Arab Paper Banned

Syria's ministry of information has slapped an indefinite ban on distribution of the influential London-based newspaper Al-Hayat, the pro-government website Syria News reported on October 5.



An unnamed "trusted source" said the ministry had banned the paper “until further notice”. There was no official statement about the ban.



Al-Hayat’s Beirut bureau chief Zuhair Qusaybati confirmed that Syria had blocked distribution, in remarks quoted by AFP news agency on October 2.



Al-Hayat is owned by Saudi prince Khaled bin Sultan. Saudi-Syrian relations have been tense for the past several years.



Ibrahim Hamidi, the newspaper's office manager in Syria, wrote in the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan on October 7 that Al-Hayat’s articles – particularly its opinion pieces – had become increasingly politicised and hostile to Syria of late, and especially since the September 27 bombing in Damascus near the intelligence agency building that killed 17 people, Hamidi claimed the paper was “trying to harm Syria during a difficult time”.

[The government has blamed the bombings on Islamic extremists, but Al-Hayat published several opinion pieces suggesting that these forces were not to blame.]



Hamidi told Syria News that he had decided to resign even before the newspaper was banned. He pledged not to return to Al-Hayat and insisted he would have no part in what he called its “campaign” against Syria.



[Hamidi was jailed for six months in 2003 after Al-Hayat published critical stories about Syria written by him.]