New Hearing Sitting of Al-Zandani Court Trial, Today [Archives:2000/33/Local News]

The South-West Court holds its second sitting today morning to look into the case filed by Ministry of Information against Al-Zandani, Chairman of the Shoura council of Islah Party, President of Al-Eiman university. Al-Zandani’s attorney Mr. Mohammed Naji Allaw and ministry of information representatives are expected to present their argumentations during the hearing.
Zandani refused to appear in the first hearing without reasons, while his attorney pleaded that it was the responsibility of the Press and Publication Prosecution to look into such matters and not the court. The event comes after a heated debate between Islah and the official newspapers over re-publishing a novel written in the 1970s.
Informed sources have told the Yemen Times that the Minister of Information might tender his resignation during the cabinet meeting tomorrow in protest to violating the agreement on stopping campaigns against Ministry of Information, an agreement which was reached under the aegis of Vice President.
Ministry sources said that the Minister had not been to his office during the last two days.
In a report issued by Mohammed Naji Allaw, Al-Zandani’s lawyer, it was indicated that what was reported in newspapers about shiekh Al-Zandani’s refusal to appear in court was baseless. The report also indicated that the case was out of the South-West court jurisdiction as his client lived in al-Rawdah district which belonged to the Appealing prosecution of Sana’a governorate and not the Capital Secretariat.
The report also revealed that there were other appeals presented by the lawyer and that should be settled by the prosecution before asking his client to appear in court.

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