A Yemeni court on Monday sentenced journalist Majed Karoot to one year in prison and fined him YR 200,000 for criticising local government officials on the popular social networking site Facebook. The director of corporate communications for the Al-Baida governorate, Mohammed Al-Karfoshi and his deputy, Kamal Al-Najar filed the complaint against posts made by the journalist on the site last year. The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) called the verdict a “threat to freedom of the press and freedom of expression”.