A case filed by a privately owned Al Youm television station against information ministry was rejected by the Kuwaiti lower Administrative Court. Al Youm had appealed to the court because it wanted to cancel a decision concerning suspension of its programmes. In a surprising decision on Dec 20, the licence granted to Al Youm Television […]
A case filed by a privately owned Al Youm television station against information ministry was rejected by the Kuwaiti lower Administrative Court.
Al Youm had appealed to the court because it wanted to cancel a decision concerning suspension of its programmes. In a surprising decision on Dec 20, the licence granted to Al Youm Television Channel was revoked by the information ministry, claiming that it had failed to comply with the regulations governing broadcasting in the country. Since then the pro-opposition station station has been off air
The ministry reportedly said that the channel did not name a full-time manager to run the channel despite several warnings to abide by the rules.
However, the channel on the other hand denied the ministrys claims and said that it had complied fully with the regulations.
According to the media group that owned the television channel, chairman of the board of the group, Ahmad Jabr was the de facto manager of the channel. Al Youm charged that the ministry abused its interpretation of the full-time concept to deny the merit of Jabr as the channel manager.
As a result, yesterday the opposition party gathered with former speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun to discuss the situation. But until any solution is found, Al Youm will have to continue to remain closed for now.
