The Printings and Press Court ordered on Saturday jailing the weekly Al-Masdar Editor-in-Chief Sameer Jubran for one year and suspending him from assuming the post for a similar period.
The court also ordered jailing Journalist Munir Al-Mawri, residing in the United States of America, for a two-year term and stopping him from writing for two years.
This has comes several months after filing a lawsuit against both Jubran and Al-Mawri for what the official sources called as slandering President Saleh and fabricating lies against him.
Commenting on the court's decision, Jubran told the newsyemen.net that the ruling was expected especially when the trail followed a certain course right from the very beginning.
Jubran further noted that there are still some surprising aspects in this ruling especially when it is the first time in which the court suspends a publisher and a writer from work.
He continued that the ruling is politicized and it has gone far beyond all legal considerations and it clearly points to the darkness of press freedom in Yemen, demanding the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and journalists to stand against the ruling and defend the shrinking margin of freedoms.
Meanwhile, official sources stated that the ruling was fair and hinted that President Saleh has set a sublime pattern when he restored to judiciary to defend himself and take his own rights.
Though the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) has not yet commented on the ruling, YJS Secretary General Marwan Damaj denounced the ruling and stressed that the ruling was toughest since the introduction of democracy and multiparty system in Yemen in 1990.
For its part, the Islamist Islah Party denounced the ruling against Al-Masdar newspaper, believed to be close to the party, and considered it to contradict the spirit of the law and constitution.
The party considered the ruling to be a violation of press and opinion freedom in the country and a weak attempt to silence journalists, calling on all human rights organizations and public opinion leaders to support the newspaper which has been dragged to courts.