Ali Farzat and al-Doumari Syrian satirical weekly problems
Syria, Politics, 6/19/2001

Owner and publisher of the Syrian satirical weekly al-Doumari told the London- based al-Hayat daily in its Monday's issue that he phoned the Syrian minister of information on Saturday to know about the reasons behind banning the publication of two reports criticizing the government and that the minister was persistent to cancel the two reports and to honor the "rules," as may happen in any place in the world.

Farzat told the paper that he found it most suitable to publish caricatures instead of the two reports.

A source at the Syrian ministry of information told the paper that the banning decision was taken because there is a defaming against high ranking officials which the law punishes according to the publication law, noting that what happened was a natural matter that does not undermine the right of publication.

The source denied news that members of the police and security broke into al-Qabas private publication house where al-Doumari is printed.

In a similar statement to the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan, Ali Farzat called on the government to get accustomed to a new type of non- official press which aims at correcting inappropriate conditions in the country, noting that abrogating two pages from his weekly was made in an agreement between the prime minister and the minister of information.

Farzat told al-Watan:" we have got a licensing in February this year and now we are not able to make constructive criticism for correction because they consider criticism as defaming." Al-Watan indicated that al- Doumari is widely read and prints 100,000 issues every week.

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