Hamas court halts distribution of major daily in Gaza
GAZA CITY (AFP) — A Hamas court has banned the distribution in the Islamist-run Gaza Strip of the Al-Ayyam newspaper, considered close to the rival Palestinian Authority, officials from the daily told AFP on Sunday.
"Today I received a letter from a Hamas court, which said that the court decided to ban distribution and publication as of February 10," said Sami al-Qishawi, director of the paper's Gaza office.
Al-Ayyam, which is sent to the Gaza Strip every day after being published in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah, is considered close to the Palestinian Authority headed by president Mahmud Abbas, who leads Hamas's secular rival Fatah.
Qishawi said the daily only received the copy of the ruling on Sunday afternoon and planned to proceed with distribution as usual on Monday despite the order.
"We plan to work normally and will see if Hamas moves to confiscate" the newspaper, he said.
The Islamist Hamas seized control of Gaza nearly eight months ago after ousting pro-Abbas forces in a week of deadly street clashes.
The editor of the daily, Abdelnasser Annajar, said the decision "proves that Hamas refuses to accept others and that they continue to prevent the freedom of the press, just like we have warned."
He told AFP that the court ruling apparently came in response to a complaint by several Hamas members of parliament after the daily published a cartoon that they said portrayed them in an unflattering light.
But Hamas denied that politics had played a part in the court decision.
"The decision was taken by the courts because the published cartoon was aimed agains the legislative council and this is a violation of the publishing law," Hassan Abu Hashish, the head of the government press office, told AFP.
"The legislative council made a legal complaint and the decision was issued in accordance with legal, not political, considerations."
The cartoon's author, Paha Bokhari, shrugged off the complaints about his drawing.
"They considered that I drew them as monkeys. I didn't draw them as monkeys. If they see themselves as monkeys, that's their problem," he told AFP.
