Reporter Yusuf Al Haj and Editor Ibrahim Al Mammari of the Muscat-based tabloid Azzaman are appealing to a higher court, after being sentenced yesterday to five months in prison for insulting the Oman Justice Minister, Mohamed al-Hanai, reports said.

The sentences as well as an order to close the newspaper have been suspended pending appeal, the BBC reported.

In May, Al Haj and Al Mammari published an article that accused the minister and an undersecretary of “fraud and corruption,” Gulf News reported on its website. Al Haj told Gulf News: “I have full documentary proof supporting my claim about the corruption in the Justice Ministry; therefore I am confident of getting justice at a higher court.”

Al Haj was also accused of working without accreditation, and Al Mammari was charged with illegally employing him, AFP reported. Watchdog group Reporters without Borders said that Al-Mammari had applied for press accreditation for all of his staff, all of whom received press cards – except Al Haj.  According to RSF, many journalists in Oman work without permits.

Alleged whistleblower Haroon Saeed, who works at the justice ministry, also received a five-month sentence.

“This case goes to show how insult laws, in Oman or elsewhere, are often used not to protect the dignity of ordinary citizens but to clamp down on those who allege that officials are abusing their offices,” said IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “Journalists should never be jailed for their work. The justice minister is a public figure and journalists who receive a reliable lead on alleged criminal activities have a right to report them.”