Manama: A Kuwaiti court on Monday shut down a local newspaper for three months and sentenced its editor-in-chief to six months in prison.

The criminal court, however, fixed a 1,000 Dinars ($3,580) payout for the editor-in-chief to avoid spending time in prison.

Al Dar was initially shut down for two weeks and the decision was renewed later for another two weeks, Al Aan news site reported.

The case against the daily was filed by the information ministry following the publication of articles judged by the court to have violated the laws governing publishing in Kuwait.