Gulf | Oman
Journalists' appeal to be heard on October 15 by Appeals Court
All three appealed against the verdict to Appeals Court and the lower court sentence has been suspended till the case is heard at the Appeals Court
- Staff Report
- Published: 12:29 September 27, 2011
Muscat: The case of Azzaman Newspaper will come up for hearing at the Appeals Court on October 15, according to a report by the government-owned Oman news Agency (ONA).
The Primary Court in Muscat last Saturday sentenced the editor of the newspaper Ibrahim Al Maamari and reporter Yusuf Al Haj to five-month imprisonment along with their source at the Justice Ministry, Haroon Saeed. The court also ordered closure of the newspaper for a month.
All three appealed against the verdict to Appeals Court and the lower court sentence has been suspended till the case is heard at the Appeals Court.
The four-year-old newspaper carried an article last May in which the Justice Minister Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Hinai and the undersecretary at the ministry were accused of fraud and corruption.
An official source at the Public Prosecution said that the appeal by the convicts is the second degree of litigation and that the primary court judgment is not final. He added that the Appeals Court has the authority to affirm or reverse the judgment in favour of the plaintiffs.
In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA), the source said that a three- judge bench will hear the case in the Appeals Court with a jury panel that is different from the primary court panel.
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