Yemen banned a new magazine Sunday for publishing a picture of the nation's president deemed "inappropriate" by authorities, the Associated Press (AP) has reported quoting the magazine's editor.
Nabil al-Soufi, editor of Abwab, said the security authorities banned the first issue of the magazine because they believed the picture of President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the cover made him look dour. "They told me the picture reflects a crisis," al-Soufi told the Associated Press. Al-Soufi said the backers of the magazine planned to republish the issue without the picture on the cover.
The editor said the picture was a reprint and speculated that the magazine was rejected because one of its articles addressed the political tension between the northern and southern areas of Yemen. Yemeni authorities have frequently banned publications for carrying articles the government considered hostile.
