Government closes country's sole satirical newspaper

Reporters Without Borders today urged Prime Minister Mustapha Miro to rescind his decree of 31 July withdrawing the weekly Addomari's licence to publish. The decree, which follows months of administrative harassment, censorship and intimidation of the country's only independent, satirical newspaper, will "undoubtedly further tarnish Syria's image," secretary-general Robert Ménard warned. The decision was "clearly political" although the official reason for the closure was an alleged breach of the law governing news publications, Ménard said. "Addomari was a breath of fresh air in a colourless news media environment and its closure bodes ill for freedom of expression in Syria," he added. According to an information ministry press release, the 31 July decree was adopted because Addomari "violated laws and regulations in force by failing to appear for more than three months." The newspaper's owner and editor Ali Farzat was given two warnings, the release said, adding that "the licence to publish is withdrawn from any publication that does not appear for more than three months." Addomari had not been published since April because of difficulties with its distributor and advertisers, and because of warnings from the authorities and censorship. The information minister had demanded that Addomari agree to let every issue be inspected prior to publication, but the editor refused. Because of all of these problems, Farzat decided to suspend publication. But knowing that Addomari would be banned if he did not bring out an issue by the start of August, Farzat prepared one for 28 July with "The Issue of Faith in Reform" as its lead headline. The newspaper's lawyer, Anwar al-Bounni, said the authorities banned its distribution on the grounds that it contained reports about news media "subject to censorship" as well as messages addressed to President Bashar al-Assad and information minister Adnane Omrane. Several of the newspaper's journalists were also summoned for questioning by different security agencies. Bounni condemned this act of censorship and said he would appeal against the withdrawal of Addomari's licence. Addomari was launched as a result of the passage of a law in September 2001 allowing the publication of newspapers not controlled by the government for the first time since 1963.