SANAA, 15 Nov — Speaking at the opening of a 2-day seminar organized by the Ministry of Information to review successes and failures of journalism in Yemen, Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi Sunday said “the number of newspapers in Yemen has reached 400 in addition to 22 other newspapers owned by political parties and civil society organizations,” and unveiled plans to publish a daily government newspaper in Hadramout at the end of this month.  He said his ministry is “keen to implement the Journalism law in order to protect journalism from parasites,” stressing “the law helps journalism in Yemen and protects it from diverting into a crocked discourse,” adding “spreading hate and discrimination is prohibited in all laws and pre-censorship on newspapers in Yemen is long gone,” stressing “neither me nor employees at my ministry would ever be involved in pre-censorship and words no longer intimidate us.”  “Freedom of expression must be bounded by respecting others and two days ago we confiscated a newspaper because it defamed an opposition figure not a state official because we are determined to preserve peoples’ dignities and reputations.”  He said his ministry “doesn’t ban publication permissions but some permissions are delayed for necessary considerations,” and vowed to “stand by journalists who were attacked,” and hailed what he described as “one of the greatest accomplishment of democracy in Yemen is press freedom.”