Saudi minister bans Arabic paper

Saudi Arabia:Saudi Arabia has banned influential Arabic daily al-Hayatfrom circulation in the kingdom following the publication of a report saying that a Saudi had played a key role in a violent Sunni organisation in Iraq.

The authorities confiscated the edition carrying the article before it was distributed to subscribers and newsstands and imposed an indefinite ban on the newspaper, which sells 250,000 copies in Saudi Arabia and is the country's second largest newspaper.

There is no information on when the Saudi edition may resume publication; others have not been affected.

The immediate cause of the ban issued by the ministry of information was the revelation that Saudi citizen Muhammad Thibaiti was a leading figure in the Sunni fundamentalist group, the Islamic State of Iraq, said to be a front for al-Qaeda.

The paper said the Saudi, who also goes by the name of Abu Suleiman al-Otaibi, had studied at Muhammad bin Saud University, a stronghold of radicalism, and enjoyed close ties with senior Saudi clerics. The Islamic State's website reported that the Saudi, who had served as the group's justice minister, had been replaced by an Iraqi.

The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella organisation for several Sunni jihadi factions whose objective is re-establishment of the Caliphate. The group has a strong presence in Baghdad, Salaheddin, Anbar and Dyala governorates, as well as in the Dora district in the capital.

The Saudi authorities are highly sensitive to allegations by the US that Sunnis from the kingdom are crossing into Iraq to fight the Shia fundamentalist government there. But Riyadh has been unable to deny these accusations because a large proportion of foreign fighters captured by US troops in Iraq are Saudis.

The article on the Saudi militant appeared during a protracted dispute with information minister Iyad Madani who has been critical of the paper's approach to some issues.

He asked the paper to dismiss writers and to cease criticism of Saudi ministers which, Mr Madani charged, were personal rather than related to their performance. Al-Hayathas refused.

Daoud Shirian, a columnist for al-Hayatand former director of the paper's regional coverage, castigated the minister's action.

Mr Shirian, now deputy head of Riyadh's official al-Arabia satellite television channel, said the minister has "wrecked the image of rising press freedoms in the kingdom created over the past two years. This will harm the minister and the ministry, not al-Hayat. If the ban lasts for a long time, he may fall. But the paper will not close."

Founded in Lebanon in 1946 by Kamel Mroue who was assassinated in 1966, al-Hayat(Life) kept publishing until the country's second civil war forced it to close.

In 1990 the paper was relaunched in London under the ownership of Saudi deputy defence minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan, son of Crown Prince Sultan, half-brother of the king and defence minister.

Al-Hayatis a conservative-leaning paper boasting well-informed journalists, well-known columnists and a wide readership.